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On the morning of the 17th of February, that was a Sunday, we started quite early to Dhadim. On our way we had a flat tire but that was not a big problem. We arrived safely in Yabello, where we greeted the others but then we directly went on to Haro Bake, the big market. We first went to see the cows and camels. My father wanted to kiss a camel, but the camel didn't want, so we went somewhere to eat some roasted goat meat. I always eat that when I'm in Haro Bake and I really like it by now.
After some more walking around on the market and seeing things, we finally drove back to Dhadim. Anthony and the dogs were standing in front of the compound to greet us and also the others came soon to get to know my father and my sister. As the others went for praying, I showed my sister and my father the clinic and the kindergarten from outside, but because it was already past 6, everything was closed.
The next morning we made the round again, first the clinic, this time it was open and Sister Annie showed us everything, although I know the most things myself. Then further to the kindergarten where I taught the kids, my father and my sister the numbers in Borana language. The kids know them already, but my father and my sister didn't. Then I practiced the alphabet with the kids and after that, they had to practice writing single letters, so I just went from table to table where they showed me what they have done and how far they were. I told them that it was good what they did and corrected some things or helped them with the letter.
After a visit in school where we visited almost every class we went to Yabello with Anthony, where Iara, one of the Swiss students at the moment there explained me about one hour some work I'm going to do for her. Iara and Nadja are both from Switzerland and they are there for their studies, Nadja for the doctor work and Iara for the master, both are studying Psychology. They have some kind of hand washing program in 4 villages and for that, they are doing some interviews with the local people. My job is to fill the results of the interviews in some excel files. Normally, some local people should do that but they are to slow, that means that if they would manage to type 10 interviews a day, they would earn enough money, but because they are not fast enough and their computer skills are not there, they wouldn't manage to type 10 interviews a day. So I help them by doing that because I don't care if I work during the night or day and it doesn't matter if I do one day nothing and on the other day 20. I actually started that evening.
On Thursday we decided to go and visit Jillo Elema, the student girl my family and I support for many years now so she can go to school. At the moment, she is in university but because of holidays, she went home, so we visited her, her mother and sister in Jijiduu the home village of Jillo Elema. First we got some tea, then they brought some milk from that morning for my father and Boniface and after that, they made some coffee. The coffee was a great honor for us, because you only do that for people you really like or visitors who are important. But for the coffee, she had to go to the neighbors to get some ingredients.
The house was divided in two rooms, the first big room was quite clean and there was nothing in it besides the fireplace and a bed.
The second room was really dark because there was no window anything and there were at least two beds and some decoration and their things they own.
In the Afternoon we had a traditional Borana coffee ceremony again for my father and my sister to see and we invited some local people. The guards had slathered a goat in the morning and after the coffee, they cut some pieces of the skin and took them as bracelets. Not really my thing.
The goat we ate together with some other things with the sisters, the cooks and the guard in the evening outside, but because we the generator is broken again, we had no light so we had to sit in front of the kitchen because there is light from the solar power.
Besides the missing electricity, we also miss the water again, so it is quite difficult to take a shower.
In the morning of the 20th February we walked through Dhadim to greet some people and just to see how the village looks like. But most of the people were out, because most of them went with the cattle to search for food and water or they went to get some water in Jerry cans themselves.
We entered one house to see, as we came in there was a calf on the left side tied just next to the fire. On the left side were some chairs and strait there was a bed next to a door, which led into the second half of the house. She wanted to prepare some coffee, but we didn't want because we didn't want to stay so long and it was still morning.
In the afternoon, Boniface, my sister and my father went to Yabello to see the town and to look if they could find some clothes. I didn't want, so I stayed in Dhadim, but in the end I drove with Anthony to Yabello to find the mechanic. He came with us to fix the generator of the school. In Khela, which is just before Yabello, we left a tire to be repaired but as we wanted to go on driving, the engine didn't start anymore. Luckily there was a mechanic near and it was easy to fix.
I wanted to wash some T-shirts for my sister and myself but Sr. Shirley said there was not enough water, so I had to wait till Boniface came back and in the end, I washed with the light of a candle, because it was already dark when the others came home.
On Thursday, we left at 7 o'clock in the morning to Awassa. We stopped somewhere in a Hotel where we had lunch at 11 and where we met sister Annie, she is also from Dhadim and Father Iede, he is based in Yabello. They were just driving back to Dhadim from Awassa.
In Dilla, a quite big town we stopped again because there was the starter of our generator with the mechanic who had to fix it.
I slept most of the time in the car while driving.
As we arrived in Awassa, we first went to the lake to see it and then to a huge market. The market was really huge and the air was somehow bad. Not that it smelled really bad, but there was a lot of spices and dust in the air, so we had to cough the whole time. In the market we found some clothes and some other stuff for home.
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