On the move in Ethiopia – moving like never before

We have a friend who has been teaching in Ethiopia at the University of Mekele as a visiting professor for several years, and he has aroused our interest in Ethiopia.

So in April 2018 we made our way to Addis Ababa.

After two days in the capital of Ethiopia, the journey continued to Bahir Dar on the Tana lake. There we spent two days with our friend, got to know the city and some of his friends / acquaintances. Also through our private accommodation, we came in personal contact with the local people.

The next point of our journey was Gondar. This quiet town was very appealing to us, even in the private accommodation there we felt very comfortable.

By air we went on to Lalibela, where our host had organized the pickup from the airport, the visit of the rock churches and a “city tour” with TukTuk for us. After 2 days in the city we went with 2 donkeys, their owners, a cook and guide on a 5-day trek through the highlands with accommodation in Tukuls with local families.

It was a strenuous hike in the heights between 2600 and 4200 m with gigantic landscapes, encounters with baboons, contact with the shepherds on the way.

The best part was the contact with our companions and the local families, who welcomed us as guests. We spent the evenings by the fire in the cabin talking, eating, laughing, dancing.

We got to know the way of life in the highlands, saw the pride of the people, experienced the hospitality.

After another two days in Lalibela we had four nights in a lodge in Debre Zeyt to “relax” and meet with our friend, before we flew back home.

Conclusion: These three weeks in Ethiopia have touched us a lot, moved, partly shocked. We saw much hardship, misery, joy and pride. We were able to get a glimpse of the daily life struggle there, we felt the importance of clean drinking water on our own, the hard daily work without electricity, the fields full of stones, the gender differences, the need for schools and toilets, permanent houses and hospital wards.

It is our desire to support the people of this country because they gave us so much and so no journey in our lives has been so moving!

Carmen Zepf Schreiner and Michael Schreiner

Carmen and Michael found the projects of PBF in Ethiopia via our website and sat down u. a. for the water supply in Kualit. Many Thanks! (P.B.)