Recap: Hello, Langano.

Shane left right after breakfast with Justin and Robert to pick up some supplies for the camp. The rest of us took a land cruiser and van to Langano. The 4 hour drive from Addis to Langano brought a stark shift in economic status and cultural norms. Addis is a very westernized, capitol city with very western clothing, dance clubs, bars, restaurants, and plenty of shopping. Not too long after we got out of the city, roads stop having names, dresses became a requirement for women, pants became optional for youth, and there were often more animals in the road than cars. This was all a welcome change to the constant distractions of technology and over-packed schedules.

Towards the end of our drive, we turned off of the nice, paved roads onto a red dirt road, surrounded on both sides with lush green vegetation, mud huts with thatched roofs, and semi naked youths running beside the cars, screaming hello and asking for handouts. We eventually came upon a freight container that was being used as a bridge. This was the entrance to the Langano camp grounds. We had to get out and unload the luggage from on top of our land cruiser so that it could fit through the container. So we walked the rest of the way (a little over a mile).

The walk was surreal. We entered a jungle of sorts with black and white, shaggy calabas monkeys jumping in the trees, birds of every color flying around, warthogs sun bathing in the field, dic dic (small antelope) quickly evading any sightings. We were in Africa!

Life didn't slow down a lot from there. We unloaded bags, got our rooms set up, had a tour of the camp, helped with a pregnant lady with respiratory problems, attended a funeral, visited the hospital, and met the camp staff in various fashions. Heather and Victoria helped with the pregnant lady and went with her to the hospital while some of the other guys were the token firenges (foreigners) at the waiting benches. Half of our group went with Shane and Yonas (the camp director and my favorite Ethiopian staffer) to the funeral, while Austin and I went with Allyson and Laura (community health worker) later on.

The funeral wasn't like I expected. Laura eventually got us there after almost tipping over the truck and driving through a few people's fields. But there wasn't the screaming and crying and wailing, like I experienced in Sudan. Rather, it was a pretty low key hang out. The 4 of us firenges just sat on a bench and stared at the widower. Laura and Allyson brought some medicines for the widower b/c he had a blood clot in his leg that he was supposed to get treated when his wife died. After a long awkward staring contest, Laura and Allyson convinced Galeto (the widower) to receive the treatments. Then they invited us to eat, much to Allyson's dread.

Maybe it was the build up from Allyson, maybe it was my palette, but the food wasn't too bad. They just brought out a pot full of what looked like mushy chorizo, and surprisingly, tasted like mushy chorizo. I would've loved to of had some tortillas and picante sauce right then. But soon, the amount of butter used in this dish started to weigh me down, and we left to finish up our day at the camp.

We were able to end the night with some great spaghetti made by the camp cook, Yeshi, and pray over Shane and his family. It was a great start to the week, and an appropriate pre-cursor to the events ahead.