A Change of Scenery

I was having night sweats in the middle of the day. The heretofore smooth flight had suddenly turned very bumpy as we began our descent to Oliver Tambo airport in Johannesburg, South Africa. The cabin had suddenly become very warm and I had broken out in a cold sweat. I tried to think of anything but the seemingly inevitable. Meanwhile Amani and Sophia seemed to be doing well. They were pretending they were on a roller coaster and bounced up and down with the cabin dips and rises. They didn’t notice Dad turning a whiter shade of pale. Ever been in a moment where time seems to be in slow motion? The plane seemed to glide downward forever. When it landed I felt a rush of gratitude and relief, even though I was still quite queasy.
The Ethiopian Airlines flight #809 went well overall, in spite of the turbulence at the end. We had gotten up early so as to be out the door at 6:30 a.m. The Ring Road around Addis was mostly quiet except for joggers on the side of the road and early church goers dressed in white walking slowly beyond the Ring Road on their way to worship. We stood in line at the airport entrance and had our bags screened. We stood in line to get our tickets and check our bags. We stood and filled out security cards. We stood in line and then handed those security cards in. We stood and waited for each other to finish going to the washroom. We stood in line to have our persons and our carry-ons screened. We waited for the plane to be ready and then stood in line to go to the shuttle bus that would take us to our plane. Finally we walked the tarmac and climbed the steps to the Boeing 737 Ethiopian airliner that would take us to our destination. When we arrived in Jo-Burg we did more standing and waiting as we lined up to leave the plane (we were in the back row) and we waited for our luggage, as well as when we were processed through passport control and customs. Patience is the key to flying these days.
It had been quite a week and Wanda and I needed a change of scenery. So here we are in the outskirts of Johannesburg. It is late evening (10:30 for us, 9:30 for South Africans) and everyone is in bed after a long day. But I can’t help but muse about the week’s events.
It started on Monday with an MCC guest, Ted DeKleine from Peace River, AB. Ted was at MCC for an internal audit. We liked Ted and he joined in playing games of Dutch Blitz and Pit which, even though he hadn’t played them (or played long ago), he was a good sport and hung in there. Actually he started to get pretty good and win at the end. Tuesday we had other MCC guests with Tina Burnett Mast, who works in the MCC Akron offices and her family. Wednesday through Saturday became a blur of activity as we tried to get a bunch of last minute stuff done in the office and for the house before we left. On Thursday noon, we met with leaders of the Meserete Kristos Church over lunch (love those power lunch deals, you get a good meal out of them!) and on Friday morning we attended a CRDA (Christian Relief & Development Association) plenary session.
But Friday afternoon was one of the highlights, mostly for our daughter Sophia. We hosted a birthday party for the girls in her grade 3 class. Wanda worked hard to pull it off, going all over town looking for birthday stuff and Sophia had a very happy birthday by all accounts. She was so excited about her special day on Friday. On the day of the party we were both worried we wouldn’t be able to pull it off. When I went to pick up all the girls at Bingham after school on Friday, all 8 of them (three were ours) were so hepped up, excited. After driving them home in 15 minutes and letting that chattering, screaming, laughing bunch out of our Toyota Landcruiser, my ears felt like they had just come out of a rock concert. They were ready to party, but were we? Would the girls like simple games like “pin the tail on the donkey” and “scavenger hunt” and “piñata” and “musical chairs”? We needn’t worried. It seemed to be a big hit. Wanda, with a big hand from Tamara (the one and only MCC’er other than us) and from Yeshi, our housekeeper helped to get the games and some of the food ready. I made homemade pizza and planned the scavenger hunt. One family even arrived early to pick up their daughter and we invited them to stay for the supper. So the house was full (fed 16 of us!).

Sorry I can’t name all Sophia’s little classmates (I do know a few). Wanda had the girls starting out by playing musical chairs with a small prize for the winner. Tamara made the piñata the day before so we put it in the oven on very low all day to dry it out. It was still wet inside but we used it anyhow. The piñata was so well built that the little girls had absolutely no chance to break it. They took turns hitting it with a wooden stick over and over again, didn’t even dent the thing. Finally we needed to be moving on so I thought I would take a swing at it. It took me a half dozen direct hits with an aluminum softball bat before it finally broke open. The scavenger hunt game I designed went all over the compound. The party-goers were divided into two groups and had to find 6 locations with riddle-type clues to go on. They discovered everything on their own even though they wanted us to give them the answers sometimes. Wanda had made a ‘pin the tail on the donkey” game and had the other team do that while the one was doing the hunt. Then there was the opening of presents followed by the supper. My pizza dough is getting better each time and I think this pizza was the best so far here. There was also a birthday cake with a big ‘8’ candle on it. All the happy party-goers got a gift bag as they left. It must have been a success because a couple of the girls told their parents they didn’t want to go at the end and the twins said they wanted a party just like that for their birthday (Wanda and I were anxious about the party and so relieved to have pulled it off, but Wanda made no promises. These parties take a lot of time and energy to coordinate, all you parents know what I’m talking about).
But the week wasn’t over. Saturday we spent the morning at the International Evangelical Church Bazaar. A great place for buying handicrafts or local produce and to meet up with a varied international crowd (languages overheard at the Bazaar include; English in American, British, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and South African accents, Amharic, Dutch, Danish, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Italian, French, Spanish, Korean, possibly Greek, and a Slavic tongue). Then in the afternoon we went to our first Mennogroup meeting. Held at Negash and Janet Kebede’s house (he is the new president of MKC College), it is a meeting for all those who have Mennonite connections in Addis. There was a potluck meal and we met Calvin and Marie Shenk from Harrisonburg who were visiting their old stomping grounds. They had lived with their family in Ethiopia 40 years ago for a number of years.
Darkness falls early, and regularly, in Addis (between 6 and 6:30 every day of the year) and we had to excuse ourselves to go home to pack for Sunday’s early morning flight. Driving home in the dark in Addis is a scary adventure, even on the blessing that is the Ring Road. It’s hard to describe how it feels to be driving and looking out for potholes, slowing down at the roundabouts, coming upon stopped vehicles on the road in what seems like faint lighting (which, I hastily add, is better than no lighting in many places) and a population that jumps rails and fences to dart across in the semi-lit darkness. Seeing light colored bodies in white clothing would be hard enough but black bodies in dark clothes is very difficult and nerve wracking. So far we have made it safely every time (for us and the general population).
Well friends, it’s been almost 3 months since we landed in Addis Ababa. And here we are in the midst of our long anticipated trip to South Africa. Our whole family has travelled to Johannesburg where Wanda and I will participate in MCC All-Africa Country Representative meetings. Looking at the schedule, it looks like they will keep us in our seats in meetings for most of the week. The girls will be occupied with children’s meetings. We met the children’s program leaders, South African youth: M’pho, Nouria, Sam and Duncan. We packed clothes for sunny weather in the 80’s (high 20’s C) and it is a good thing. The warm sunshine and blue skies welcomed us when we left the airport. The air seems desert dry (I remarked to Wanda and the girls that the climate and terrain remind me of New Mexico and southern Texas) which means hot by day, cool by night.
That’s all for now, ciao!