Every once in a while, I feel the need to remind you why Ethiopia is amazing:
Wenchi Crater
Wenchi Crater lake is about 3-4 hours west of Addis and is (as the name implies) a lake in a giant crater that used to be the Mount Wenchi volcano.
The surrounding area is beautiful.
Blue Nile Gorge
About 4-5 hours north of Addis the road to Bahir Dar passes the Blue Nile Gorge, where the elevation goes from over 2,000 meters at the top to about 500 meters at the bottom (where the Nile runs).
I know it looks like the gorge runs vertical in the pictures/video, but there is actually a network of gorges and the Nile runs through one that goes horizontal in these pictures (just harder to make out).
And at the bottom...the Blue Nile.
One final note this week. I spent the last couple days in Amhara spending time with a smallholder farming family (working with them, sleeping in their home, talking with them). While I'm not supposed to share specifics or pictures, I can say that the experience was incredibly humbling. The challenges facing this family were vast, out of their control, and in many ways seem insurmountable (not just for the family but for the country overall). The level of despair I felt simply on their behalf was amazing. Clearly, there is much work to be done, and I don't think we'll ever fully solve all these problems until Christ comes to the earth again.
However, I also witnessed the indomitable spirit of the human will. I was inspired to see this family get up each morning and work hard all day despite the many, many obstacles because the alternative is literally starvation and death (as opposed to simply consistent hunger). Beyond that, I'm not sure I've ever seen a family enjoy each other as much (though mine comes close). The feeling of love in that home was pervasive and strong. At the end of the day who is poorer: the smallholder farmer on the brink of starvation each year who is loved completely by his family and spends quality time with them every day or the family in the US who are strangers from each other because there's not enough time in the day to make money for all the world's "nice things," buy and use those nice things, and spend time together. This life may be more difficult for the smallholder farmer, but the eternities will be lonelier and more difficult for the other. Thanks be to my mother and father for giving me the best of both worlds, and I only feel bad that so many others are not as lucky as I..
Wenchi Crater
Wenchi Crater lake is about 3-4 hours west of Addis and is (as the name implies) a lake in a giant crater that used to be the Mount Wenchi volcano.
The surrounding area is beautiful.
And then there's the actual lake...
Blue Nile Gorge
About 4-5 hours north of Addis the road to Bahir Dar passes the Blue Nile Gorge, where the elevation goes from over 2,000 meters at the top to about 500 meters at the bottom (where the Nile runs).
Or in video form:
And at the bottom...the Blue Nile.
One final note this week. I spent the last couple days in Amhara spending time with a smallholder farming family (working with them, sleeping in their home, talking with them). While I'm not supposed to share specifics or pictures, I can say that the experience was incredibly humbling. The challenges facing this family were vast, out of their control, and in many ways seem insurmountable (not just for the family but for the country overall). The level of despair I felt simply on their behalf was amazing. Clearly, there is much work to be done, and I don't think we'll ever fully solve all these problems until Christ comes to the earth again.
However, I also witnessed the indomitable spirit of the human will. I was inspired to see this family get up each morning and work hard all day despite the many, many obstacles because the alternative is literally starvation and death (as opposed to simply consistent hunger). Beyond that, I'm not sure I've ever seen a family enjoy each other as much (though mine comes close). The feeling of love in that home was pervasive and strong. At the end of the day who is poorer: the smallholder farmer on the brink of starvation each year who is loved completely by his family and spends quality time with them every day or the family in the US who are strangers from each other because there's not enough time in the day to make money for all the world's "nice things," buy and use those nice things, and spend time together. This life may be more difficult for the smallholder farmer, but the eternities will be lonelier and more difficult for the other. Thanks be to my mother and father for giving me the best of both worlds, and I only feel bad that so many others are not as lucky as I..
What a truly beautiful place! I hope things are going great and that you have an awesome Christmas coming up ^_^
ReplyDelete