{"id":259,"date":"2015-05-25T19:23:26","date_gmt":"2015-05-25T19:23:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mjsilver.co.uk\/blog\/?p=259"},"modified":"2015-05-25T19:23:26","modified_gmt":"2015-05-25T19:23:26","slug":"gotta-get-out-of-this-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mjsilver.co.uk\/blog\/2015\/05\/gotta-get-out-of-this-place\/","title":{"rendered":"Gotta Get Out of This Place…"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Country<\/a>

Country roads<\/p><\/div>\n

Don\u2019t worry my<\/strong> enjoyment of life in Adola has not suddenly dissipated, nor am I in desperate need of an airlift to safer climes.\u00a0 Nevertheless, it is always good to get out and explore the local area rather than staying sat in at home watching films or reading the e-book; two activities which have possible occupied unhealthy proportions of my time here.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\"View<\/a>

View from the hill<\/p><\/div>\n

Adola, in spite of its many plus points, does rather lack in providing distraction.\u00a0 Consequently any opportunity to break out and enjoy the countryside is welcomed.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A resting place on the road<\/p><\/div>\n

Unfortunately having no transport of my own (certainly a feature of my top 5 things I have missed the most) means that I am reliant on friendly others to fulfil this desire.<\/p>\n

\"Green<\/a>

Green fields<\/p><\/div>\n

Fortune has favoured me to some extent in the local community of Catholic priests.\u00a0 They don\u2019t reside in Adola \u2013 rather they stay about 30km to the west in a beautifully tranquil place called Qillenso and come every week in turn to Adola.\u00a0 After Mass in Adola they travel out each week to different rural communities and have kindly invited me on several of these expeditions.<\/p>\n

\"Country<\/a>

Country home<\/p><\/div>\n

Not only is it a chance to see more of Ethiopia, it also has allowed me to experience very rural life in the Guji zone and helped me to appreciate all the more the little Adola does have to offer- and there were you all thinking that Adola was the remotest place on Earth- wherever did you get that idea?\u00a0\u00a0 Most importantly though it goes someway to dispel the myth of Ethiopia land of desert and famine as I have had the opportunity to experience some of the most incredible vistas of lush green valleys throughout the year.<\/p>\n

\"Massina<\/a>

Massina Community<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Illala<\/a>

Illala Community<\/p><\/div>\n

Being able to take part in these visits has been a great opportunity to explore how the communities have grown and developed over the time I have been here with progression from small wooden hut to extended wooden hut or, in one place, direct to concrete church \u2013 although they do need to fix the doors there.<\/p>\n

\"First<\/a>

First choice for a community<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Zambaba<\/a>

Zambaba Community with old church – now replaced by a concrete church.<\/p><\/div>\n

The roads to the majority of these places are a little rougher than the lovely stretch of tarmac that now serves my beloved Adola and there have been one or two occasions where I have wondered if I might be walking back to town, however somehow the cars have always made it and long may that continue (as I think about the potential journey this coming weekend \u2013 sadly my last).<\/p>\n

\"Country<\/a>

Country Roads<\/p><\/div>\n

On Good Friday this year (one week later here) I somehow agreed to join the Catholic community on the way of the cross; imagining this to be a little jaunt around the town and then a couple of kilometres into the countryside to climb a hill.<\/p>\n

\"Walking<\/a>

Walking on the road<\/p><\/div>\n

It soon became apparent that I was right on the first account, but not on the second.\u00a0 It turned out to be a walk of several hours, concluded with a climb up a pathless and steep hill.<\/p>\n

\"Crossing<\/a>

Crossing a bridge on the walk<\/p><\/div>\n

Clearly I am still in need of some fitness training in spite of the huge increase in the amount of walking I have done since arriving in Ethiopia.\u00a0 I also needed to bring a larger water supply as we were \u201cblessed\u201d with a beautiful sunny day.<\/p>\n

\"Freshening<\/a>

Freshening up<\/p><\/div>\n

Although I was assured it was nowhere near as hot as the first year they had done it, when no one had brought any water.\u00a0 I must confess to taking advantage of my friendship with the priest to take a ride back in the car.\u00a0 Most people had to walk.\u00a0 We did go back and collect a few after dropping off the first load though!<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The hill approaches<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Climbing<\/a>

Climbing the hill<\/p><\/div>\n

\"At<\/a>

At the top<\/p><\/div>\n

The college has also been great for getting me out a few times. \u00a0Recently we took a walk to a place a few kilometres from the college to plant some trees – several thousand, but light work for so many students and staff.<\/p>\n

\"Hunduma<\/a>

Hunduma needs a break!<\/p><\/div>\n

The walk involved a fantastic bridge across a river, through some forest and up a hill (there’s always a hill!). \u00a0I was one of the last to get to the planting area as I had been photographing the students crossing the bridge, of course I wasn’t hoping someone would fall in, but seriously 600 students – at least one!<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The great bridge!<\/p><\/div>\n

Getting there so late there were only a few trees left, but I managed to plant some.<\/p>\n

\"Saving<\/a>

Saving the planet!<\/p><\/div>\n

We have also \u00a0been able to visit neighbouring districts as well as the longer trips to Negele (see previous blog entries).\u00a0 One particular trip was to an area called Seba Boru.\u00a0 It took most of the morning to get there via Shakiso (the gold mining area).<\/p>\n

\"Miners'<\/a>

Miners’ Huts<\/p><\/div>\n

We met with the district officials for a couple of hours and then drove back; the purpose being to collect some data.\u00a0 Sadly (or conveniently!) there was no power, so, no data.\u00a0 Of course they promised to send it on later.\u00a0 The trip might have taken place more than sixth months ago.\u00a0 We might still be waiting.\u00a0 Naturally, I have no comment\u2026<\/p>\n

\"These<\/a>

These mischievous girls are great fun. They kept hassling the priest to take them out and finally he relented. He couldn’t keep them out of the tree though!<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t worry my enjoyment of life in Adola has not suddenly dissipated, nor am I in desperate need of an airlift to safer climes.\u00a0 Nevertheless, it is always good to get out and explore the local area rather than staying … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mjsilver.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mjsilver.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mjsilver.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mjsilver.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mjsilver.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.mjsilver.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":291,"href":"https:\/\/www.mjsilver.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259\/revisions\/291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mjsilver.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mjsilver.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mjsilver.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}