Water Problems and Goat Butchering April 1, 2010

April 1, 2010

We have had a difficult time here on the farm this last week. Most of our problems are due to H2O, or water. Either too much or too little. It was dry last week, and then this week we have had too much rain. When it rains, it pours here, and it rains always at the same time which is early morning. By 10:00 am, the sun is usually out and the puddles disappear. However, this soil really soaks up the water and makes a slimy greasy mess. After we walk around in it for about five minutes, we’re all about two inches taller, and we all look like we’re wearing clown shoes. It doesn’t seem to bother those people who live here or the Americans who have been here for awhile, but I’m constantly trying to get the muck off my shoes, and I know the people are probably laughing at me thinking, “silly white woman, why is she bothering?” And I ask myself that too, “What’s the big deal about clean shoes, I’m the only one that’s worried about it.” The rain also stops the farming from progressing. Those of you from Ashton and our other farming followers know that you can’t get too much done when you have just measured about 2 inches of moisture in the last 24 hours. The winds start first at about 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning and then we know the rain is soon to follow. The rain lasts until around 7:00 am. Our houses are not the kind that are really weather proof. I have cracks in the corners that I can see daylight through, and the windows let in ginormous amounts of rain, so when we wake up in the morning we sometimes are standing in good amount of water. This morning, there was a huge puddle in my living room. I was once again irritated when I saw it and I waited for the maids to come and clean it up. When I told Birka that she needed to mop up the puddle, she laughed and ran over to it and used it to wade in and wash her feet. I got a kick out of watching her; Birka is teaching me how to make lemonade out of lemons.

Another problem with all the rain, is that it literally shuts down our way of getting out of here. The roads are like pools of water in some places, and they’re very difficult to maneuver. In some places where there were small streams of water, they are now rivers and we haven’t been able to navigate our way through them. For the last few days we have not been able to get our normal amounts of water for running the farm because of all the rain. All these many people here depend on the water truck with its large tank to bring water for cooking, washing, making cement, laundering, etc. When the truck can’t make it through the muddy and flooded conditions, we’r e all concerned. Mark brought a couple of small tank loads of water in yesterday and that got us by, but we really needed more. They went out looking for water this afternoon with the water truck, a loader and I think a tractor to pull them through the worst parts. What a production.

Another problem that we have been having is getting anything ordered from Addis. One truck of fertilizer is here, and another is stuck in Ginir. Bracken, along with about eight workers went to Ginir to get the fertilizer and a PTO. Bracken sent Hailii in a tractor and I think two other tractors with drivers and two more in each tractor also went. Bracken took the Land Cruiser and will stay the night there and he hoped to return on Friday. He was also supposed to stop at a town along the way and ask the government authorities there if it would be OK if the farm could use some area close by where we could store containers coming and going from Addis. There is a river between here and Ginir that is bad (no bridge)and those truckdrivers don’t want to cross the river with their containers. I don’t blame them. It could be treacherous. I think that maybe we will have to go get the containers and bring them across the river and then to the farm. I think that’s the plan. I thought it would be fun to go to Ginir, but Alan and Bracken both said it wasn’t a great place. I asked if it was as bad as Hanksville in Utah, you know out in the middle of nowhere with very little in the way of amenities. Alan said it was like Hanksville only with 2000,000 people. Ginir is one of the places where Val got bit by bed bugs. I hope Bracken doesn’t get bit. Needless to say, Bracken was not thrilled with his assignment today.

Tomorrow is good Friday which is a holiday here in Ethiopia. Saturday is the day the Muslim population have off for their weekend day, and then Easter Sunday is also another holiday. Many of the workers planned to get off the farm and go somewhere for the weekend, so it will be a quiet weekend for the Americans. Bracken hopes to make it home so he doesn’t get caught in Ginir during the holiday time.
Now, I must tell you my goat story. On Tuesday, I wanted to have some goat meat and after some investigation I was told that we could buy a goat from the restaurant, you know the tarp and stick place. Wes, went and bought the goat, and arranged to have it slaughtered also. He then gave them a garbage container to put the goat in after the demise of the goat. We got the goat delivered in large pieces, four legs, a back bone, two rib pieces, the pelvis area and one or two other pieces I couldn’t identify. No one was too excited about butchering the goat, so I cut up a little bit for dinner that night and put the rest in plastic bags in the freezer. I worried about it all night for fear it might have ecoli. The next afternoon, I went to work and cut up the unidentifiable pieces and the two back legs. I wanted to keep the legs in large pieces for our Easter Sunday dinner. However, I still don’t think they’ll be tender. I kept thinking to myself, “Im cutting up this stupid goat on Alyssa’s kitchen table, and I’m actually getting pretty good at it.” I had to keep saying to myself, “goats are related to lambs, and lambs are good to butcher and eat.” It was the only way I could keep on going. I can’t say that I like goat meat, I find it tough and not very tasty, but just ask me if I can butcher a goat and I can say “Yes, like any good Ethiopian, maybe not as good as an Ethiopian, but I can do it!”