Ethiopia. Return journey with obstacles

We set off on Thursday morning at 8.00 in the direction of Addis Ababa. With a good buffer. My flight was due to leave at 4.00 on Friday morning. So 20 hours for a 5-hour journey. After only 4 hours of travelling, we were 1 hour south of Addis. But we were informed that the roads were closed 

• by the government, which did not let anyone into Addis
• by demonstrators who had set up roadblocks themselves.

The entire area around the capital is inhabited by the Oromo ethnic group, which makes up 30% of the population but often feels disadvantaged. There are regular demonstrations and clashes between the Oromo and the government. The most recent occasion: the opposition leader gave a speech on television that stirred people up and led to protests.

Just imagine 1 May earlier in Berlin or in Hamburg's Schanzenviertel. You wouldn't want to drive in there by car. The only difference is that in Ethiopia, the Schanzenviertel is not in the capital, but the capital is in the Schanzenviertel.

Detention in Ethiopia

So we were stuck in a small town, phoned the German and Swiss embassies. The Swiss said: "Listen to your local driver..."

The German said: "Stay where you are. Or try to get a flight to Addis. There were deaths in the riots. We have reported their whereabouts to the Foreign Office. They are now under consular protection." That didn't do any practical good, but at least it sounded good: "consular protection"...

There are 3 provincial airports that were 5, 6 or 8 hours away and had extremely long waiting lists for flights due to the unrest. Wait and see and drink tea. We did this for 4 hours until we were really at a loss. The only hotel we knew was, of course, fully booked. 

The big surprise

Then a group of foreigners arrived with an Ethiopian guide (who later turned out to be an Ethiopian-American called BETE). They were doctors who had worked in a hospital for 14 days (15 minutes away in the Pampa Pampa) and now wanted to go for a drink together. 

Bete, who lives in the country, strongly advised us not to drive on because it would be far too risky and the roadblocks would not be cleared by the army until the next morning at the earliest anyway. He said: "We all have to go to Addis tomorrow and there is no guarantee that the roads will open. We have therefore decided to drive 6 hours to the provincial airport in the south. We chartered a plane for the whole group. Because there were only aeroplanes for 50 people, we still have room. There are only 20 of us, so we invite you to come along. You can also spend the night in our guesthouse. You don't have to pay anything - you're our guests."

So we spent the night there, I helped a woman to overcome her fear of flying and gave another woman tips on what could help her traumatised daughter. 

The highlight: the group also consisted mainly of Christians, with a more evangelical flavour. In the morning, after the prayer time, one girl had the impression that God was telling her (she had never experienced anything like this before): We will meet people today who will become friends for life. 

The return journey with Clou and the cow

So we set off at 4.00 a.m., our ingenious driver always pointed out particularly deep potholes to the others' bus with hazard warning lights, which made the journey much easier for the group.

For one woman, it was a special gift because she had grown up as a missionary child near Arba Minch airport, but had not seen the area for 40 years. She couldn't get enough of her old home.

We were at the provincial airport at 10.30am and flew off to Addis at 11.00am. We took off at full speed and braked just as hard. Whilst still on the runway, the pilot made a crass emergency stop - a cow had just run across the runway!!! 

In Addis, it was still a bit of a hassle to book a new flight. I could book online but couldn't pay because there are no international banks in Ethiopia that accept credit cards....So we had to go back to the airline office to pay cash for the flight we had booked online... sometimes we don't realise how comfortable we have it in the West...

The situation in the Oromo region slowly calmed down...., but there were obviously still roadblocks until Friday afternoon.

I am hugely grateful for new friends and for God's miracle of provision - I tried to work out the probability of meeting what is probably the only group that has booked a charter flight and still has free seats. And I am thankful for new friends. Although a little sad that I couldn't be there for my friend's birthday.