Habitat's Global Village Ethiopia Trip, Day 1

Guest Blog by Betsy Dehmer, 
Global Village Team Member 

Selam all! We have arrived safely in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia! The last of our crew landed early this morning and despite jet lag, our day has not lacked adventures. 

After a quick minute to rest our eyes, we began our day with lunch at the hotel accompanied by special guest, Dereje, from Habitat for Humanity Ethiopia. He has been such a gracious host and has already taught us so much about this wonderful city.

After lunch we all piled onto an eclectic bus and aggressively weaved our way through the busy city streets, where people do whatever they need to do to get where they need to be. The bus brought us up some steep inclines and around some hairpin curves, but the view of the city from the hillside was worth the anxious feeling in my stomach. In addition to enjoying the view, our stop in the countryside provided an opportunity to meet some of the suburban children who were delighted by our presence and anxious to see pictures of themselves on our cameras and phones. We continued on up the hill to visit a small museum that was home to many important and historic Ethiopian artifacts, followed by a visit to the church next door that certainly didn't disappoint with its colorful decorations.

Our trek back down the hill brought us to dinner at a lovely restaurant in the city where several people received more than they bargained for... We learned the hard way that a dish called "chi ken tobies" was not a misspelling of chicken as assumed, but in fact was a beef dish. Although not the chicken that those team members expected, it was delicious nonetheless. Our evening wrapped up with an intense game of Pit and some of Ethiopia's finest brews (you could even say it's 'cold gold').

Tomorrow our journey will bring us to Fiche, a city about 50 miles north of Addis, where we will spend our week building. We can't wait to see what’s in store for us. Stay tuned for more blog posts as our unreliable internet allows.