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Scaling Mountains and Sleeping Under the Stars
An update from the Imagine Ethiopia 2010 trip!
The Imagine Ethiopia 2010 family mid-hike to their overnight stay in the community of Abada.
Days 5, 6 and 7 were chalk full of visits to imagine1day’s schools in some of the most remote communities of Northern Ethiopia. As a result, most of the drives to these communities from the Imagine Ethiopia 2010 participants’ base-camp at Gheralta Lodge ranged between four to five hours each way so everyone agreed that there was no better time to take a few days to relax, get out of the jeeps and explore the wild outdoors.
October 1st afforded the participants the opportunity to go rock climbing on six different routes traversing a small part of the stunning Gheralta Mountain Range. Under the careful supervision of Ethiopia adventurers and IE2010 leaders, Majka and Peter, the group learned the ropes of outdoor rock climbing.
Rock climbing in Gheralta. Not too shabby!
“There was so much that impressed me about the experience that Majka and created for us,” says Chelsea, an IE2010 participant from the USA. “There was an awesome dynamic during the day because for a lot of people, it was their first time ever to climb. There were a few people who were nervous but the entire group was super supportive and patient with everyone. Everyone was generous with his or her gear and so many people took their turns belaying for the other climbers. Overall it was just awesome!”
The next day the team took on a rather treacherous hike (again, safety was ensured by ropes, harnesses and guidance from the dynamic Majka and Peter duo) to the remote Abuna Yemata rock-hewn church. This church is located at the top of a huge rock pillar and was carved by hand out of the mountainside. The church can only be accessed by climbing a sheer cliff face and then traversing a narrow ridge to the other side of the rock face. The reward was more than worth the effort as the intricate paintings of the saints and apostles within the church date back to the 6th century are immaculately preserved.
The narrow path on the way to the historic Abuna Yemata rock-hewn church.
“There was a cliff where there was a sheer drop to the bottom right next to the path,” Jeremy, a participant from Australia, recalls. “There were no handrails or even a clear path and the drop was thousands of feet down so if you fell off the edge you would die. It was a very spiritual moment for me because there was so much freedom in that risk. I felt comfortable walking up the path but there was also a sense of danger and openness. It was a passageway into the past where so many people have journeyed before me to reach this church. It was incredible.”
One of the best experiences the participants had on their visit to Ethiopia was their overnight stay in Abada on October 3rd to 4th. The Abada Community’s Grade 1-4 Primary School is an imagine1day “supported school,” which means that the government provided the community with a school building but we have partnered with them in providing school supplies, teacher training, a water point and a new latrine. Their commitment and success in implementing school driven income generating activities, like onion farming, has been impressive and in one year they have grown their bank account from 56 birr to 12,000 birr – all to be poured back into school maintenance and programming! They are now set to partner with imagine1day’s in building a new Grade 5-8 school in their community. Construction is now underway and the Imagine Ethiopia 2010 participants went to celebrate this monumental occasion with them.
Abada students were all smiles with so many visitors and new friends in town for the night!
“What was special for me was the chance to integrate with the community,” Ioana, a participant from Ontario, remembers with a smile. “There were two oxen slaughtered for the community meal later in the day, we helped them with various chores like weeding and planting, we saw the home of one of the members of the community, there was lots of dancing around a fire, a community dinner and playing games like soccer and volleyball. It was great to have a chance to settle down and be more involved with the local culture. We also got to learn a great deal about their day-to-day activities. I loved the chance to create more in-depth connections with the people who live in Abada.”
On October 5th the group spent an entire day participating in Susanne Conrad’s amazing Liv’N it UP! forum alongside many of imagine1day staff, imagine1day’s key partners from the regional government and even Principals and students from our schools. Together participants explored effective communication strategies and the spirit of possibility. It was a great success and everyone walked away from the forum having learned something new and applicable for their lives.
From there on out the team has just been slowly starting to make their way home. They left Gheralta Lodge on October 6th and drove two and a half hours to Mekelle to spend one last day and night with the imagine1day field team. Early the next morning they departed Mekelle and flew to Addis Ababa, and spent the day exploring Ethiopia’s capital city.
Today, the team got to run with the legendary Haile Gebrsellassie on one of his morning training runs. Haile is like the Wayne Gretsky of Ethiopia and is considered to be one of the greatest long distance runners to have lived and has countless world records, marathon titles and Olympic medals to his name. Haile participated in this run today as a contributor to Imagine Running to Ethiopia!
The last three weeks have been a whirlwind adventure. The team has gone from acquaintances to friends and complete strangers to family. They have met hundreds of inspiring Ethiopian men, women and children and developed countless precious friendships. From all accounts Ethiopia has left a deep impression on the participants and they are now ambassadors for imagine1day – people who will be catalyst for future discussion, education and change in Ethiopia.
To learn more about the Imagine Ethiopia 2010 trip visit our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/imagine1day) or our website (http://www.imagine1day.org/imagine-ethiopia-2010.htm).
