Ethiopia in Crisis - Everything since Day 2
Hi everyone. I hope you'll forgive this long, stream-of-consciousness post. I've been on many, many mission trips. This one is unlike any I've ever done. I'm grieved we couldn't finish what we started in Ethiopia, but I'm trying to play the long game by making a good choice now so that we can return later. If we ignore the counsel of those who told us to leave, would they trust us enough to return later? There will be other opportunities to serve
SUNDAY – June 23
It’s Sunday morning and I’m up getting ready for
church. I can hear the Muslim call to
prayer being sung somewhere in the distance.
I don’t know how long it is, but that was what woke me around 6:25 am
and It’s 7:06 now. And he’s still
trucking.
It was a strange night.
I fell asleep quickly around 9 – esp since we didn’t have any internet –
but about 1:45 AM, I was awakened to the sound of a man and a woman
arguing. LOUDLY! Shouting and screaming at one another. I couldn’t tell where it was exactly – in or
out of the hotel – and it was jn Amharic so I couldn’t understand what they
were angry about, but they were plenty mad!
They argued and slammed doors for almost an hour. I thought of calling the hotel desk, but I
couldn’t tell where it was to send them.
Instead, I turned my “white noise” app on, read and tried to go back to
sleep. Around 3 AM I guess, I feel back
asleep.
It’s later now – about 9:45 AM. Things have changed a lot since I finished
that last paragraph. It seems the coup d’état
last night was a bigger deal than we realized.
The regional president of the Amhara state, the chief of staff for the
Ethiopian Army and his staff and security forces were attacked last night right
here in Bahir Dar. The president was
killed as one of his spokeman. The
General of the Ethiopian Army was killed as well. The government caught the killers but they
have shut down everything from the internet to cell service to most activities. It’s surreal.
Thus, we’re not going to church today which breaks my heart. This was to be Christian’s only Sunday in
Africa and we’ve missed the chance. Instead,
Getaneh is at the airport trying to change our flights back to Addis from
tomorrow to today. Our hosts assure us
there’s no danger – this all precautionary – but the serious looks on their
faces, the hushed tones of their voices and their concerned expressions make it
clear to me they’re trying to be confident for our sake. I was able to get a call out to Julie and to
Larry Grimes to let them know – just in case someone sees it on CNN – it’s
there front and center – that we’re all good and that we’re in safe care. Our plans are shifting but we’re safe and
well. Including us, there are 12 Americans
in our hotel. I’ll write again when we
have better information on what happens next.
It’s 8:19 PM now. The
situation has changed at lot for us. We’re back
at the Nexus hotel in Addis where we were before we left to go to Bahir Dar. It wasn’t easy getting back here. After a long wait at the Bahir Dar airport,
Getaneh was able to secure enough seats to get us back to Addis. On the way back to the airport, we saw
hundreds of troops mobilized and awaiting further orders. The plane we rode out on brought additional troops
to the area. The military we’d been
seeing since we arrived were security force type – blue camo uniforms with billy
clubs mostly. These today, however, were
green camo with M-4s and M-16s. I couldn’t
tell for sure, but it looked like a couple of 50cals as well. They are prepared for trouble.
The flight back was packed.
Not a seat open. It was bumpy and
yucky. I was really glad I had taken my
air sickness meds. We landed in the rain
and went inside to find an absolute zoo.
People everywhere trying to either get in from the outer regions or out
from Ethiopia. It was a madhouse.
We called the US Embassy here. No answer.
Just an answering machine. Leave a message and we'll get back with you. That's great, but we only had one working cell phone (an iPhone 5! My iPhone XMax was worthless!) m We called the Office of Crisis Management
in Washington like our passports say we should.
No answer. Just a phone
tree. We watched the news and realized
CNN, France 24 (French CNN) and the BBC were covering the story, clearly
expecting more developments. I hope not,
but we cannot afford to take that risk. We
called our friend and FBC member Congressman Mike Conaway and got him to ask
around in the state department. He recommended us to stay in Addis if we are going to remain in Ethiopia. But that’s not what our plans are. We’re supposed to fly to Dire Dawa tomorrow,
return on Thursday and then drive 60Km south to Adama later in the week. Both are outside of Addis. That means our time here is complete.
MONDAY - June 24
It’s early – 1:29 AM.
I slept hard for several hours now, but woke with an upset stomach. Little wonder, isn’t it? Our challenges are numerous from here. I wish we could’ve settled everything last
night before bed, but that would require more than we have and I don’t mean money. Without the internet to look at flights or
see what’s going on in the outside world, we are driving without a windshield. At least that’s how it feels. We must make choices based on what little we
know. Or what we think we know. The story about this coup seems to shift a little
every time we hear about it.
It’s 3:31 AM now. For
the last hour, I’ve been playing one of my favorite games “Railroad Tycoon.” It’s an entrepreneur game where you compete
against the computer to build a better, more productive and more profitable
railroad. The winner is the last man
standing once all the stock is bought. A
fun distraction from the drama of the day.
At breakfast today, we learned a little more about what was
happening with the coup. The plan was to
kill the regional president, his chief of staff and a primary general in the
army thus weakening them to impotence and be able to overthrow the prime
minister. Fortunately, that failed. If the military had gone with the coup, there
would be no stopping it and we would be stuck here in Ethiopia for an extended
stay. Instead, it failed. Yet Ethiopia is a hot mess. A state funeral for the victims
will be held on Tuesday.
We spent the day at the hotel, awaiting our flight time at
4:20 PM to Nairobi. Finally, we took
off. It’s a short flight from Addis to
Nairobi – about 1.5 hours. We landed and
got through customs and immigration and were met by our dear friend Jeremiah
Kibobbi and his son Barracha. Jermiah
had arranged accommodations for us at The Mary Magdalene retreat center in the
southern part of the city. It was a long
drive to get here – about an hour – but worth it. It’s quiet and very secluded. Every once in a while, I can hear the sound
of a departing plane from Kenyatta Intl but otherwise, very quiet. The opposite o the hotels we’ve been staying
at.
TUESDAY MORNING - June 25 2019
When we arrived in Kenya, our phones came to life
again! I had well over 300 emails awaiting
me. I called Julie to let her know where
we were.
I underestimated how tired I was. When we were driving here last night, I could
hardly keep my eyes open! When we got here,
the staff had made supper for us and we ate it gladly. I came to bed immediately. I was so spent, I laid down with my clothes
on thinking I’ll just rest a moment and then change. That was about 9 PM. I woke up at 1:45 AM still laying exactly
where I had been. I decided to skip
changing and just go back to sleep and thus I did. Just woke up a few minutes ago around 6. This was definitely the best night of sleep I’ve
had since we got here and I’m deeply grateful to the Lord for it.
Today, we will go visit a work we’ve partnered in. It’s not close. In Subukia, Kenya, about a 3 hour drive from
here, we’ve helped with an orphanage.
Both Mike and I wanted to see the work in person, esp since we are this
close (as opposed to when we are in Texas that is). Jeremiah has graciously agreed to take us
there. Thus, in just about an hour and
half, we will join for breakfast and then depart. This will be a remarkable journey! We are below the equator here. Subukia sits right on top of it. Their latitude is 0.0019. That’s about as close as you can get to being
right on top of it!
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