A day of natural beauty and human kindness

July 19, 2007.

Definitely one of the highlights of the week was visiting Ghebre's home village, Adi Gulti.

Off the main 'road', one normally takes a bus to the closest big town and then walks a couple of hours on the dirt path to reach the remote village.

But we rented a car and driver and made it a day trip.

Along with Nigisty, Saba, Haileb and Ghebre, Ghebre's father, who is ill and has been staying in Asmara, made the journey as well.

It was quite an emotional event, to see him reunited with his family and friends.

Throughout the day, there was a constant flow of visitors, bringing eggs, injera and sweets as a welcome-back gift.

And although for most of the day i couldn't understand what was being said, it's amazing how much you can deduce from tone of voice and body language.

In a small community anywhere in the world, the relationships forged and moulded over many generations are precious, and Adi Gulti is no exception.

See pic of an elderly village woman demonstrating how the flour is made.

Just next to her is the bed where Ghebre was born.

After the obligatory coffee ceremony, we hiked up to the top of the nearby hill to the monastery.

A fabulous view of Adi Gulti greeted us down below, see pic.

On our way down we passed the local clinic, where there was a solar panel installed.

It is used to power the fridge in order to keep the vaccines and other meds cool.

Following a delicious injera lunch (see Ghebre's uncle, the local priest, breaking the injera, traditionally done by the head of the household), Matt and I headed outside, armed with a few frisbees, and got busy throwing them around, teaching the village kids how to do backhands and flicks.

We soon noticed that it was mainly the boys who were willing to come forth and throw with us.

The girls just hung back and looked on timidly, although obviously very interested.

We got the pick-up sticks and I proceeded to teach the girls how to play that game.

Soon the boys wanted to learn the new game too so pretty soon there was a massive mob of children all pressed around me.

I'm not totally convinced that they understood the rules to the game, but i figure they will make up their own rules afterwards.

Part of the game involves counting so I did manage to incorporate some English counting from 1-10. It which was great!

Imagine about 3 dozen kids screaming "... eight - nine - TEN" at the top of their lungs; that's what i call surround sound!

Without much fuss or fanfare, we said our thank you's and farewells and left Adi Gulti before dark.

Probably one of my most fondest memories from the day will be the kids, running after our jeep, waving and screaming as we left them in a trail of dust.

On our route back, we stopped in Nigisty's village so she could say hello to her relatives.

By then it was raining and we were quite exhausted from the long day.

It was a bumpy ride back again, but i fell asleep instantly, even with 3 chickens making a ruckus in the back seat.

In several day's time, we would be feasting on one of them.

We were told that Adi Gulti produces the BEST chicken this side of Asmara.

It was rather tasty.