First of all, I have to make some corrections on the entry of 21.1.2013 concerning the baby with the head burned. It wasn't the sun which had burned the baby, but the mother wasn't careful and the baby felt into the fire. The wound of the baby is healing really well, although the sister and the baby are still in the hospital. The mother doesn't really care about the baby.

On the morning of the 23. Of January we went to Yabello, because there were some activities for the president of oromio. It wasn't that spectacular, but they had some exhibition things were there were some traditional houses. The houses looked quite nice, it was always a round house and mostly there was a separate room in the round house with a bed, but there was always a bed also in the house when you came in not separated. The separated place was just some sticks put together to a wall or separated with some blankets. In the middle, all the different houses had a fireplace, out of three stones. Under one stone, they burry the umbilical cord of their children, although I don't know if all are buried under one stone or just the firstborn his umbilical cord or whatever. Just something like that.

The sister of the father of one of our kitchen girls died, she was really sad because of it and we sent her home on Saturday. She was really happy that she was allowed to go home.

On Thursday the 24. We went to Yabello again, to see what was happening in the stadium, where the feast and the exhibition were going on. But again, there wasn't much to see, so we didn't stay long. It was just Abba Anthony, Fenna and me. We went with the car of Abba Anthony and I guess that car is as old as I am. It sounds like an old airplane, a really old one and the inner things like radio etc are more gone than there.
On the way back we saw some zebras again and I made some really nice pictures. I have seen them this week almost every day and I often followed them into the bush to make some pictures. They still look fantastic to me and I love to see them in the wild.
In the evening I went out and I was able to see how Dabassa, Dabasso and another man (All watchmen in our compound or in the clinic or school) took some honey from the bees. They used smoke to dizzy the bees and then took the combs with their hands out of the nest. That's how I was able to eat the honey coming directly from the bees. But here, the bees are really aggressive, when they sting you, it really hurts and when you have a few p****, you can die because of that.

The next morning we had to get up quite early, because there was again some program in Yabello and this time, the prime minister was coming too, although I wasn't that interested in seeing him, because I don't know him at all. And we saw him, but I didn't recognize him, Abba Iede had to tell me that it was him. The program itself wasn't that good, because the people showed their traditional dances etc but they were chased of the stage quite fast every time, which was quite sad. Once there were even two groups at the same time on the stage. And there were again a lot of speeches, like on Wednesday, which was boring too, because I do still not understand a word.
There is another funny story about how we came into the VIP-Area. First of all we came into the stadium because we are foreigners and the military people wanted us to get in, so they organized some tickets. And then, on Friday, we wanted to see the show on the stage, so we walked towards there, although it wasn't allowed for people to go there. Then they chased some people away for us, so we had some places to sit. Then, after 5 minutes or something we went closer to the stage, they chased again some people for us to sit. And then, the military people even organized some VIP-Cards, first only three, so the sisters went in. Then, they found one more, but because Fenna said we were four, they let all of us in with one card. So we had great advantages about us being foreigners.
Later in the evening there were some people saying that we were on TV, Fenna, Abba Iede and I were already on TV on Thursday, and on Friday, they showed all of us on TV.

On the 26.1.2013 I'm for exactly one month in Ethiopia, but it doesn't feel like on e month. I have experienced and seen so much, but still, time is passing so fast.
That morning I slept till 9.15, I was so tired that I had to sleep that long. At the moment I am tired a lot, so I sleep often till 7 or 7.30.
The two Dutch Women and Fenna went today to Yabello, because they will travel to Addis Ababa on Sunday. I went with them to Yabello and there, Abba Anthony and I went to buy a nice black-red scarf for Fenna. She liked it a lot.
Later Abba and I went eating in a Motel. I ordered something and the server went and after about 10 minutes he came back to tell me, that they didn't have my order. Then I ordered something else and I waited long time for my food. And when it came, they didn't have the full order and the rest wasn't good. At the end, the cats under the table had eaten more than I did.
That was the day when I uploaded a lot of pictures and I was working for about 2 hours on it, when the electricity went and my laptop became dark. It was a big shock, but happily, the pictures were already uploaded.
In the evening I found a keyboard, so I had the chance to play a little bit, but I'm used to a normal piano, not such a small one. More as some finger exercises I won't do, but at least I can do something.

On the following morning, I went to mass again. But this time, I left earlier, because we went to the big market in Haro Bake. By the way, that is the biggest animal market in Ethiopia. We went to buy a goat for when my father and my sister are coming. It is weird to buy a goat and to know, that you are going to slather it 2 weeks later. But you get used to such things.
We also bought 10 chickens, because the chicken gets less. And we bought some roasted goat meat to eat for lunch. We first wanted to try camel meat, but they didn't sell it anymore, because camels are quite expensive and they do not get their money back when they slather them.
Instead of that, I was allowed to watch, how they slathered a goat. Actually, I didn't see how they killed it, but every further process I saw. It does look less ugly than I thought, but maybe that is also because I get used to the things that happen here. We came there when the man started cutting the skill of. Then he cut off the head and opened the stomach, to get the inner organs out. And then we went away.
We also saw a lot of dogs there in the market; many dogs walked away from home or came from far to that market, because there is a lot of food, especially meat and bones they can eat.
Finally, we put all the animals in the car, together with 3 boys and 4 women. First Boniface drove, but after a time when we went of the good road, I drove. It's the road to Dhadim and there a quite a lot of holes and bad places in it.

I slept again till 7.30 on Monday, the weather and my allergies making me really tired. AT the moment, it is really quite hot outside; I don't do much during the day except from eating and sometimes washing my clothes or playing cards. I walked to the clinic and walked a little bit with Sr. Annie, but there wasn't much to do, maybe I will go tomorrow again, because on Tuesdays there are mostly more things to do because of the vaccinations.
In the late morning, Abba Gerald and someone else came and stayed for lunch. Abba Gerald was travelling with us the first time we went from Addis Ababa to Dhadim.
Some time after lunch, Abba Gerald and the other man went home. So we went out to say goodbye and then there was an old woman coming towards us. She started talking to Abba Boniface and I always tell him not to give some money, because then they come and disturb him every time. So he said to the woman, that she has to talk to me. She came to me, took my hand, asked how I am and kissed my hand. The basic knowledge about greetings and asking how they are I learned. But then she started talking about something, I think it was about that she was thirsty or hungry. She asked for some water out of our compound, so I told her to walk down to their water place. But that is about 2km away from here. As far as I know, there is another generator somewhere near in the village, but there is something broken and the man who should repair it is not here or people are too lazy to repair it. So people come begging for water at our place. And if they do not come for water, they come for money or food.
I was also in the office of Abba Anthony today writing my blog when an old woman with a stick came in and asked Abba Anthony for money. He told me that she is coming every week and that he just had discovered that she was actually the stepmother of one of our guards. And the guard had even pretended not to know her.
In the afternoon, the women for washing our laundry came, but she didn't do it very clean. I think I have to do some T-shirts again.