We started our journey on Friday, the 17th of May 2013 around 8 o'clock, but because of a lot of traffic and traffic jams and our lunch break, we arrived in the evening at 30 minutes past 6. Lunch we had in a restaurant which looked really nice and clean, but the services didn't belong to that hotel. The food came quite late and mine and Boniface's chicken was cold. So we sent it back, because it was really not nice to eat, but as they brought it back, it was still cold. So in the end, I didn't eat much at all. We came with Abba Anthony and 3 other people from Uganda, which are students and also becoming priests somewhere in the future. All three of them have been in Borana land for one or two years pastoral work, but all on other places.

Finally we arrived in Dhadim. I was really happy. There was no water in the fathers' house. Abba Iede and Sebastian were already there, because in the evening there was a feast because some lots of years ago, the Congregation of the sisters was founded. First there was mass and then we ate dinner all together.

The next morning was Mass again because it was Sunday. After that, I went straight back to bed because I became sick. There I stayed for the rest of the day with a little bit of fever and a lot of pain.

Also on Monday I stayed most of the time in the house, but in the evening I was already more or less fine again and went out to stay with the dogs for some time. Only with the kids I didn't play yet, that was still too much.

On the 21st of May there was kindergarten again. We showed them a movie. In the afternoon I read most of the time or was with Abba Anthony and the dogs out.

On Wednesday I taught some of the kids separately again. This time the kids which know everything already. I taught them the numbers above 100. For me it is sometimes funny when they write 108, 109 and then 1010 or when one is already at 500, but he forgot most of the numbers, so he wrote 209 and den 300. But they are learning really quickly.
There was no water in the whole compound anymore, because Boniface closed it to repair the water in the fathers' house.
In the afternoon I went to Yabello. At the moment, Boniface is driving every day for choir practice for Kilimppes Ordination.

Also the next day was normal Kindergarten. The kids really like it when I teach them separately; they always run to the other classroom.
In the afternoon I started doing some of my laundry, but honestly speaking, I just have too much of laundry. Somehow I like doing my washing, but for example my socks are not nice to wash, they are too small and too many. But the laundry mountain is growing and growing and the clean clothes are getting less, so I have to.

In the morning, everything was normal on Friday. In the afternoon I went with Abba Boniface and Abba Anthony to Yabello, to get a birthday gift for Sr. Annie. We found a coffee cup, a bag and a lot of chocolate.

Somewhere in the middle of the night from the 24th to the 25th of May, Boniface and Anthony drove to Awassa for an Ordination. I didn't want to go. During the day on Saturday, I read a lot and helped sometimes. In the evening, Iede, Sebastian and the three from Uganda (Jude, Denis and Vincent) came for Mass and Diner.

Because Abba Boniface and Abba Anthony were still not back the following day, a catechist preached. But it was weird. Later I read a lot again and did some more of my laundry. In the evening, the others came back with a lot of nice smelling Pineapples.

The next day there was no Kindergarten, so I read a lot and helped with some cooking. On Thursday there was a national day, so no school, but because the teachers are coming from Yabello, we did it on Monday, so they had a longer weekend.

So the next day was the 28th of May and normal Kindergarten. Abba Iede came with a girl, who stays in Yabello for some study research, but she is actually from Germany and her father comes from the Netherlands, so she speaks Dutch and German. I showed her everything and after lunch, they went, so I went on with my reading. In the evening Kilimppe and Denis came for Mass and Diner, because Sr. Shirley is leaving for Holidays by the end of the week and the sisters gave the present for the ordination to Kilimppe.

On Wednesday, I went to the Kindergarten in the morning. During the break, I went with Sr. Ancia to visit one of our children, one of the smallest. His foot is somehow swollen since over 3 days and there is liquid in it, so not really healthy, but extremely painful. His parents refuse to go to the clinic, they first try it with the local healer. But that family is somehow funny, the mother is married with a man called Malicha; he is the biological father of the first of seven children. All other kids are from another one, also called Malicha, but way younger. That happens quite often in Borana land.
I went to the boy several times already, sometimes to bring biscuits because they are very poor. All the times I went there, I saw nor father nor mother, just the boy and his smaller brother.
In the afternoon I went to Yabello, to check my mails, but the internet was too slow. So I went to the choir practice, which went extremely long. We were in Dhadim at around 8 o'clock, without having eaten anything the whole afternoon.

Thursday, the 30th of May, I went to the Kindergarten in the morning. Suddenly, the father which is married to the mother, not the biological father from the boy with the swollen foot came to us and said that his son is really sick. So we told him to go to the clinic. I also went there several times to make some pictures of the people working and some clothes distribution for the babies which got vaccinations. During break, Sr. Ancia and I went to the clinic to ask if the boy had appeared, which was not the case, so we went to his house again. There we found the mother after some calling and told her to come with us and finally, luckily, the boy got treated. I was really really happy because the children often don't get treatment in time.
During the kindergarten, I found the brother of the small boy somewhere outside, so I took him to the kindergarten. He was really happy. That boy doesn't hear properly and also speaks not really, but I think that is because of the hearing.
In the afternoon I am now in Yabello, to try the email and the blog again, but the internet is still extremely slow.