Ethiopia log: Monday, November 02 2009
Evan, Lloyd, Miesa, and I left Sashamene for Goba. The first part of the drive had a landscape of large golden grainfields. This new area had a look very similar to back home. It was a wide open valley with hills in the distance. I saw more machinery and some combines threshing grain.
CLAAS, John Deere and New Holland combines were the makes that I saw. They are not models I was familiar with and small by our standards with about 16 foot headers.
We stopped at a State-run farm that was raising 80 acres planted with Jefferson hard red wheat which Evan had brought over to try some months ago. We met up with some head honchos of the place and they took us to the field. Evan had heard bad reports of how it was going to yield but soon found the field to be in good condition. It was about a week or two away from being harvested. Evan felt much better after seeing it. It bolstered his confidence that the variety could do well here in Ethiopia. We took pictures and left.
We then went to another state -run farm which was also planted with Jefferson wheat. It was in an area that had received a lot of rain and the ground was a little waterlogged. Consequently the wheat did not fare as well and had lots of grass weeds growing in it. They still felt the variety still held promise.
Soon we started to climb in elevation. It was a pretty sight but the road was terrible. They were repairing the road so it could be paved in the future. It was very wearing on the body. The road climbed to about 11,500 ft in elevation. and we drove right near Bale national park.
We saw some Nyalas (a dear/elk like animal) and some wart hogs.
The hogs were rooting on the side of the road having no worries about nearby traffic. They looked to be about two to three hundred pounds. They had large tusks and a mane of long hair on the hump of their back.
As we approached the Goba region it became very green and beautiful. It was obvious they receive a lot of rain. The grain had just barely headed and was lush. It was as if we had changed seasons. However, the road continued to be terrible.
As we approached the Goba region it became very green and beautiful. It was obvious they receive a lot of rain. The grain had just barely headed and was lush. It was as if we had changed seasons. However, the road continued to be terrible.
The Sheneka farm, which I would be assigned to, is situated near Goba and Robe. I was told of the Robe and Goba area before and for some reason I had a preconceived idea that it had some good services and that the Hotel in Goba was pretty nice. It is critical to my committment to Morrell Agro that I have decent support for parts and repairs and a good place to stay. As we drove through Robe it was evident that it was a poor little town with meager resources. It was a rough dirt road lined with tiny shacks for stores. I looked for the John Deere dealership that I heard was there but I didn't see it. My first impression wasn’t good. I was anxious to get to the Goba hotel.
I was told that at one time the Hotel was very nice; catering to tourists at the near by Bale National Park. We drove in and could see it was a little run down.Our rooms were run down, drab and grimy. The floors were dirty enough that I didn’t want to go barefoot.
This was a major set back for me. I had so badly wanted it to be nice enough for Shelley. Evan and Lloyd could tell my reaction wasn’t good. Lloyd admitted that he didn’t know what he would do if he were in my shoes. Evan told me he would certainly understand if I chose not do this but I could tell he sure wanted me to.
What am I to do? I have felt the spirit tell me that I need to help the people of Ethiopia. I have tried to be a good sport in tolerating the unfamiliar food, the large crowds and the different culture. The conditions are not acceptable for having Shelley join me living out of a run down Hotel and a farm some 45 minutes away. She would have nothing to do. The vision I had before coming, was a nice home to live in on the property where we have a garden, good home cooking and privacy. I had so badly wanted the Goba ad Robe area to be nicer and have more services; especially those that I would need to farm Sheneka. The Main streets are trash lined dirt roads with hundreds of people and horse drawn carts moving back and forth. The businesses are nothing more than tiny shacks where they sell a minimal amount of goods. If Paul were here at this moment I would have to tell him not just “no”, but “Hell No”!
I have mixed feelings because my desire to help the people here is battling with my intolerance of the living conditions. Can I humble myself enough to live in these conditions? If I had a breakdown in the field it may take days if not weeks to get parts and repairs. I would have little to do but return to a depressing motel. The restaurant has maybe two items on the menu at any given time. If I brought Shelley here she and I would go nuts. This definitely will take thought, prayer and a lot of faith.
Today was the first day of rain since arriving in
We headed to some government offices to talk about the ground in Sheneka. My impression of government buildings is not good; they are very run down, dark, and dingey. We went to another building to pick up a government official, Sheki, who would accompany us to the property. He is obviously Muslim, wears a jacket with the African styled Muslim type hat and tinted glasses. He spoke little English and he is very serious.
It took us about 45 minutes from Goba to the Sheneka farm. They showed us the approximate place where the 500 hectares of land would be allocated to us. They could not tell us exactly because they would have to relocate some farmer peasants who have begun to farm portions of the ground. The ground seemed to be a heavier soil than I had hoped. When wet the mud will collect easily on the bottom of shoes. The grass and weeds growing on it were grazed down to the ground in most places. It should be easy to disk and make ready to seed.
It was too late to head to Beltu where the Alyssa farm is located so we decided to spend the night once again in Goba.
Trip to the Alyssa Farm (named after Wes' wife)
We arose and once again picked up Sheki, the Government official who was to travel with us, (Evan, Lloyd, Miesa, and Girma our driver), to the remote area of Beltu some seven hours away. We had to make a brief stop at his home to pick up some personal items because we knew we would not be back for a couple of days. We found it very interesting that Sheki came back with clothes and an older made semi-automatic (Russian made) with about a 30 round clip and a pistol. We were told it’s just good to have them with us just in case. I thought to myself “just in case of what?” Are there to be Lions, Tigers, Hyenas, or wild tribesmen? Is there something we should know? He reassured us there would be no problem. Hmmm…
Seven hours of more miserable rough roads awaited us. We stopped in a small town and had some charcoal lamb tibbs to eat and had one of our tires repaired.
The tibbs were cooked on a ceramic type pot/plate thing where charcoal was placed in a holder to heat the plate above to cook the chunks of meat mixed with onions and peppers. It sat on a larger plate that had engera and rolls circled around it. I would have to say it was one of the best meals I have had here. They placed piles of Burberry off to the side rather than on the meat so as not to ruin the flavor of the meat (in my opinion).
Sheki seemed to have a lot of friends every where. When he stood in the street he was greeted by many. He must be a respected individual among his Muslim faith.
We took off and went through varying terrain. Field crops were far between. We dropped in elevation about 2,000 feet into a valley where there were beautiful mountains similar to some I've seen in southern Utah
Soon trees and brush were on both sides, with no crops, and fewer people along the road. We hoped that these mountains would be in view of the farm but we still had a couple more hours of travel. I had a first good impression of the area because it seemed secluded. Occasionally we saw a person or a small herd of cows, goats, and even some camels.
Sometimes there was a small clearing of a few huts. I thought how cool they would be to live in for a short time. We got to the area of the Alyssa property and looked for Wes, Joe, Mark B. and Mark U., who had come the day before. We knew they were camped out in tents somewhere. We couldn’t see them for the longest time. Finally just past the end of the property the area opened up and there was a village of huts. The kind of village you imagine to be in Africa with thatched roofs stick fences etc.
In the middle of the village were some camping tents which were surrounded by a small crowd. We greeted the villagers and we were excited to reunite with our comrades. They told us that they had camped out in the brush a few kilometers but the villagers insisted they move camp into the Village. They said they were very friendly and told of a festive gathering they had the night before to welcome them. They were even given a live goat that was paraded in front of them which was to be dinner for that night.
It was dusk and they brought another goat over to be butchered. They went around a hut and proceeded to do just that.
Meanwhile, we were treated to a handful of a mix of ground barley and wheat to eat, then we were to drink from a community cup of milk poured from a really cool gourd flask. Of course we did not want to offend them so we partook. The milk was warm with a charcoal smoked flavor. At the time we had the idea that it was camel's milk. We must have been quite a sight to see us gagging it down. Later we learned it was just cow’s milk. Someone there must have had a good laugh. We were invited into a gathering shack where we sat around an oil lamp on blankets and awaited the cooked goat. There were some tribesmen on the far side of the shack who were chewing on the hallucinogen chat; it seems to be more common than originally thought. They finally came in with two large platters loaded with chunks of goat meat on layers of engera. Oh what a savory sight. We were asked if we wanted to pray over our food so Joe volunteered the prayer and we feasted.
We thanked them for the meal and went for the tents, where we would spend the night. Wes offered to share his tent with me and we had a good visit then went to sleep.
Tribal Discontent
We awoke from our tents to a beautiful sunrise over the Village huts.
We congregated around some meager food supplies brought by Wes for breakfast; bread, peanut butter, jelly, and some apples. I just had some bread because of no utensils.
We planned to see the area where the crew of about 60 Villagers had cleared the day before; approximately 1 hectare (2.4 acres). They cleared thorny bushes with no shoes, no gloves, and primitive tools. We were to look at the job they did and I was to take some soil samples.
After that we planned on coming back to the Village pack up the tents etc. and go back to Goba for the night.
We were a Caravan of two Land Cruisers loaded with Wes, Joe, Mark B., Mark U., Evan, Lloyd, Miesa, Mikonen and two government officials, Shaki and , an armed police guard, and our 2 drivers. We got to the location some three miles down the road. To the side of the road was a gully that paralleled the road. It was about 8 feet deep. We crossed and headed to the clearing. Suddenly, out of nowhere, appeared about thirty young men with sticks, etc. and undrawn guns. They started to yell at us. We clearly could see they were not the welcome wagon. We turned around and headed for the Land Cruisers. As we crossed through the gully they raised their sticks.
We loaded into our vehicles and our guards and Government officials talked amongst each other. We promptly turned around and headed back to the Village. The young men with sticks were lined up on the side of the road. Lloyd waved at one of the younger boys and smiled at him and the boy couldn’t resist and smiled back and waved. That seemed to be somewhat telling. I never felt they intended to do bodily harm but as we were driving back we asked what that was all about and they said that those people are a tribe of nomads that live off the land and don’t want us there. Wes recognized some of them as the same men who helped clear brush the day before. When we got back to the Village the police guard loaded into a pickup and headed to the city of Beltu five miles away to get more help just in case. The incident caused a sudden meeting with the men of the friendly Village, our accompanying Government officials, Shaki, Miesa and Mikonen. In the middle of this meeting was the Village Elder who was older and very tall. He wore a loose dull red turban over his head, a beard colored red, and a wrap around his waist and a walking stick. (For those who have never met Wes this is him next to the Village Elder)
They were in a lengthy discussion in Oromo language. Lloyd, as usual, decided to entertain some of the young children who were there with his magic tricks. He soon got the attention of many of the slightly older young men who found Lloyd more interesting than the meeting. There soon came an older man who scolded them and told them to pay attention to the meeting. We got a bit of a chuckle and we all thought that if we had thought fast enough we could have had Lloyd show the Nomads his magic tricks and somehow all would have been OK. By the serious tone of the meeting, we knew there was now a new dimension to this project that we did not count on but it certainly makes sense that there would be people there who didn't want to be displaced, even though they have no legal right to the land.
There were multiple communications via satellite phone to Paul Morrell as to what we should do. At first we thought for safety reasons we should plan to leave the area through the north route, which would add two hours to our trip back. Knowing how rough the roads were, I was prepared to fight our way through if it would save those two miserable hours. Lloyd, Evan, and I wanted to go back to a safe distance away from the young Nomads to get our soil samples. Our drivers were not willing to go back down the road, even to a safe distance. We were told to be patient that thepolice would be back to escort us through.
As we waited, I wondered how these Villagers felt about us being here. Were we truly welcome? The meeting broke up and we were told not to worry about the incident and that they really wanted us there to provide jobs and opportunities. The villagers that were friendly feared that we would decide to pull out and go away for good. They said the other unhappy tribe was not an educated people and that they know little of what we plan to do. They clearly wanted us to proceed with the project, this was very reassuring. The police arrived in a Toyota
They said they wanted to go first with a couple of government officials to make peace with the nomads and secure the area and they would soon be back for me so I could take soil samples.
About an hour later they came back and told me to jump in the front seat of the pickup and we would go. Wes jumped in the back with countless other police. At the last second another man jumped in the front seat with me, making for a tight fit. They chattered back and forth as we bounced down the rough road with people hanging out both sides. I wished some how I had a video of all this, what a sight and experience. As we pulled up to the site of the incident there must have been some 150 tribesman sitting on the side of the road. They were being talked to by the government officials and Tribal leaders. I wondered where they all came from, especially when it seemed the area was loaded with brush and void of people.
I was escorted by the police with my shovel in hand to the clearing made the day before. I pulled two soil samples, put them in zip lock bags and returned to the crowd. The whole time Wes was trying to make nice with the tribe. Soon our Land Cruisers showed up and the rest of our group bailed out and tried to show that we were friendly people. Once again Lloyd was back to his antics and the children were again entertained. He does a trick with his finger where he folds it over and makes it look like he is detaching then reattaching it. It is a sight to see the sick look on their faces when he does this. He does it so well, I fear they may think he is a devil and might haul him off and burn him at the stake or something.
Sheki then addressed the tribe and seemed to give them a bit of a scolding. He is an interesting man who apparently is held in high regard by others. Everywhere we go with him he is greeted by others with respect, maybe there is some significance to the that. Anyway all appeared to be peaceful and Sheki said it was time for us to go. We all loaded up and we were off to Goba. Wes said he thinks there may have been some tribal jealousy; one being hired and the other not. Our group wants to make sure all tribes are ok with us, we shall see.
DISCLAIMER: Since I (Morgan) posted this post and not my dad I had to guess which pictures went where. He just sent a bunch of emails with a ton of pictures so I don't exactly know what goes where so I hope I guessed correctly but probably not. My dad will explain further when he returns home on the 21st. For now here are some pictures I didn't know where to put.
The following is a picture of the house/mansion located in Addis.
Morrell Agro employees. Wes is in the background.
Banana trees
This picture is of a well that was drilled for this village by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
I know, it's hard to see the well, but that's what it is.
2 comments:
All I can say is Wow! This seems more like a movie than real life.
I go along with Sara. My goodness, what adventures Alan is having. I will continue to keep him in my prayers and I only hope that he always travels with Sheki. I'm grateful that he is there to smooth the way.
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