November 6 - 8

2009Nov06 Ethiopia


“Travel from Goba to Shashamene”

We had breakfast in the Goba Hotel. Joe, Mark U., Mekonen, and I made a quick trip to Sheneka Farm to take soil samples. We drove around to assess the fields but we are not yet sure where they will lie. I felt the grass was thick enough that it will need to be sprayed first with Roundup. We then headed for Sheneka. It was a long bumpy ride which made it almost impossible to get any rest.

Mekonen invited us to meet his family when we arrived at Shashamene. His home was a nice modest home but very nice by ET standards. He has a wife and four daughters, six through sixteen, as well as a niece who helps in the home. They were very hospitable. They quickly made us a meal that was more than we could eat. The girls wanted to practice their English with us. Their daughter had to sing “ Twinkle Twinkle little star” to me; such a cutie. They helped me make a list of common words in Amharic to study. Amharic is the language of the larger cities and to do business. Oromo is used in the more rural areas. I sense that it is more the language of the lower class. People sometimes seem offended if I say hi to them in Oromo if they are more professional. We arrived the Lilly of the Valley Hotel were we met up with all the others. Alyssa and Everett were there as well as Carol and Kate. Wally arrived later.My room was nicer than the one I had here before.



2009Nov07 Saturday

Ethiopia “A day with Mr. Chombe Seyoum”

We awoke in the Lilly of the Valley Hotel and waited for Mr. Chombe to arrive. He is the owner and manager of the John Deere dealership in Ethiopia. We all met him a week ago when he treated us to dinner and entertainment in Addis. He arrived shortly before noon and we were off to see some of his custom harvesting operation not far from here. Our group included Wes, his soon to be adopted son Tofik, Mark B., Mark U., Joe and me. I had the privilege to sit next to Chombe along the way. He is a down to earth, intelligent man in his later 40’s; full of ambition. He is operating several older New Holland TC 55 combines some 14 years old and one 1165 John Deere. I asked why mostly yellow? He proceeded to tell me his life story how he only bought the dealership three years ago and had this harvesting operation for about 15 years and felt comfortable that he can maintain these older machines, some with over 24,000 hours on them. I had to re-ask if I heard right and he said 24,000 hours. That is unheard of in the US for a combine.

His story is very inspirational. When he was just a boy in the early 1970’s he remembers his father being successful and who had acquired a fair amount of land. He had a tractor too. The politics in Ethiopia changed drastically in 1974. The country was taken over by a communistic regime which is referred to as “the Derg.”. The leaders decided that people could not have more than a certain amount of net worth. They took land from the people and certain assets. He remembers being afraid. His father was forced to take his tractor to a large lot in the town where they lived and give it up to “the people”. He has a vivid memory of going with his father to give up his tractor. Fortunately they were permitted to retain their home and barn as well as the crop they had just harvested. With the money from their crop they were able to purchase an oil extraction machine and motor to extract vegetable oil from oil seeds. The family ran it in their barn around the clock and Chombe and his brother would take the night shift. He would go to school during the day, sleep a little after school, then he would press oil at night. The family was able to make enough money to eventually send Chombe to school in Scotland. When he came home from school in Scotland he purchased a small tractor and plow to farm for hire at surrounding farms. He was so successful he purchased another. Fifteen years ago he had the vision of bringing in a combine to the area, the first one in the whole area. He traveled from one area to the other gathering all the business he could. He was able to pay for a $60,000 combine in a year and a half. After many years of struggling to get parts for all the combines he had owned he decided to purchase the John Deere dealership which was not doing much business. He drove us to a large gated yard in his home town where he kept his custom farming operations. There were many combines being used for parts for his running ones. He said; “this large yard is the very yard where my father drove our tractor and gave it up during the Derg, and now it is mine.”

Chombe drove us close to the center of his hometown and wanted us to get out and walk with him to his home. Many people along the way greeted him with a lot of respect. He is obviously “the home town boy who done good.” He said he lived there until only three years ago. His home was very simple with a barn behind. In the barn was the old oil extraction machine. He was excited to explain how it worked and tolfd us more stories of his childhood. When we left an emotionally distraught elderly lady encircled by some young men came to him pleading for help. She tearfully explained to him her plight. She had lost her childhood home to some government project. She knew he would have the power to help her regain her home if any body could. He took some paperwork from her and told her he would do what he could. It was a sad scene.

Chombe treated us to a meal at an outside restaurant and of course we had injera and Tibbs, goat I think. While we were eating, he told us another story of when he was a young boy and had to be sent to a hospital in Addis Ababa for treatment of an eye infection. It was his first visit to the big city and he was amazed at what he saw. When he returned home he tried to explain to his friends what pavement was, how it was hard like rock but smooth. He tried to tell them about television and how little people were in the box doing things to entertain and when they were tired they would go away. His experiences were so thrilling that after some time at home he wanted to go back to the city. He desired to go so much that he put some kernels of wheat under his eye lids and then showed his mother how swollen his eyes were and explained that he needed to return to Addis Ababa. Of course after seeing his eyes, his mother immediately took him to the local clinic where the physician peeled back his eye lids and found the wheat. Rather than enjoying a trip to the Capital he ended up being disciplined by his mother.

We got back to Shahamene at around 7 pm to stay the night before heading back to Addis in the morning early.



2009Nov08 Sunday

Ethiopia

Chombe arrived at 5:30 with his driver and one other guy at 5:30 am to drive us up to Addis by 9:30. I rode in the back with Chombe and once again had some interesting conversation. He explained that the Government of Ethiopia is trying to rid itself of most of its holdings it acquired during the Derg period. It was apparent that there are many business opportunities. Many other countries have moved in to purchase or lease long-term the property from the Government. The costs for land and buildings are like bargain basement prices back in the US. He treated me to breakfast at a fairly nice restaurant along the way and I had an omelet which seems to be a common breakfast food here. We arrived in Addis at around 9:45, so everyone was gone from the Addis Home where Paul lives. Paul’s brother Joe showed up an hour later, then Paul arrived soon after. Paul knew I was coming so he came home before Priesthood mtg. started and invited me to come to church with him. Joe is not a member and stayed behind.

The teacher for the week was Bro. Tanner, who is here from Lethbridge, Alberta, with his wife. They are of retirement age ad involved with NGO work and have been here in Ethiopia nearly six months. He gave a very good lesson and he is a very dynamic teacher. I got to visit again with Daniel Mekonen and he was excited to tell me he was going to go to a nearby city to work with the missionaries for several weeks, while he awaits his mission departure. He has yet to get his mission call and I said maybe he will go to the states. He said that was very unlikely, because many missionaries who have gone there in the past fly the coupe into the US society. That was sad to hear, but he was still excited to serve in another African country. He told me he came from a part-Jewish background from an area in northern Ethiopia that has a large population of Jewish people. He is the only member from his family, yet he’s very solid. I’m so impressed with him. After church the Tanners joined Paul and I for lunch that Paul’s maid prepared. We had a good conversation with them.

Next Sunday there will be a conference involving all four Branches here where they will organize a District calling a district president and many other callings. The Ethiopia mission is an extension of the Uganda mission and it has been somewhat difficult for missionary work here due to the language difference. As I understand, this organization change will facilitate a new mission to be formed. I look forward to that meeting; however there is a wedding planned for the same time, between two Morrell Agro employees, Danny and Worknesh, who are of another faith. Everyone is in a quandary what to do. Go to the conference or go to the wedding.