Best day of the year? The day we get to hand out all the school supplies to these adorable children.
Nov. 2022 Humanitarian Trip
Daily Journal Entry by Jan Eshete
Day 1 (Oct 22, 2022):
I've arrived! Not only to Ethiopia but in life (at least that's what I feel like I would tell my teenager self since I've always wanted to be brave enough to do something like this). I made the journey to Africa all on my own! Prayers were answered because I had so much anxiety about the airport scene in Ethiopia (since times are extra crazy with the country right now and I've had such bad experiences in the past with them searching our bags/confiscating school supplies etc) and I came away unscathed! On the last leg on my flight, I made friends with a Romanian group and asked if I could tag on to them going through the airport so I wouldn't be the focus of any thieves. It worked and all is well! Photos include the sunset above the clouds, a super empty plane (wish that was the way it was for my 14 hrs leg of the trip), a desert in Saudi Arabia area that looks like a ship covered in sand in a dry river bed, and my new Romanian friends.
Day 2 (Oct 23, 2022):
Today was my day to chill with some awesome families in the capital city that recently visited us in the states a few months ago. Olkaba and his family have been super hosts giving me a bedroom to myself while the family of 4 camp out in their only other bedroom. I was also lucky enough to be able to crash an Orothodox holiday gathering at Tsigia's home and participate in their food ceremonies and then for dinner Olkaba treated me to KKFC (a rebranded KFC restaurant). Oh and of course one of the best parts was hanging out with my favorite almost adopted daughter, Meti Eshete.
Day 3 (Oct. 23, 2022):
My sleep deprivation and jetlag caught up to me, but despite that, it's been an interesting day. Tadela (my nephew and trusted driver/assistant) and his son picked me up 1st thing in the morning and we headed to the Markato, which is an experience in itself! It is pure craziness and chaos and the pictures and video I tried taking don't do it justice. I continually wanted to pull out my phone to take photos or videos but was continually told by Tadela to not have it out due to the rampant thievery.
We went there to buy exercise books for our school to add to their meager backpacks (since I only could bring my 2 suitcases worth of school items). While there, we also bought another 1500+ notebooks and pens to give to the poorest of students in the local school district of Ambo. This was our way of paying back all the head officials that we are going through to get our organization qualified for duty free imports. Much of this trip (even before I got here) was about getting some movement and people behind us to accomplish this goal which will make future trips here much more productive.
After the Markato experience, we headed over to the Oromo government buildings, where our newly formed team of representatives in Ethiopia for Pangaea, all gathered. I wish I could have got a photo of all of them (Dr Tesfaye, Dr Nah'il, It'a and his friend and Tadela and myself) but phones were not allowed on the government campus. At any rate, we all understand now what is left of this process and so it's been a good day.
The remainder of the day consisted of picking up family that live in the city and making our way to Ambo. Once we made it home to Tadela's place, I got the pleasure of being greeted by Tadela's other kids that treated me with hugs and a mini pampering session.
Photos include us at the Markato and the little shop were we made our large purchases. I couldn't help but video them counting over two hundred thousand Birr it took to buy the notebooks. Then some beautiful scenes of the countryside as we drove to Ambo and a few photos of me being pampered (and of course a cute photo that Sinboonee took that I wasn't aware of until later). Even their baby knows how to pucker up for a photo!
Day 4 (Oct 24, 2022):
Today has been an unexpected day (for me) Apparently Rundassa had been coordinating things without my knowledge and recognition and media coverage for Pangaea Foundation was the event of the day. I definitely was surprised to actually give a speech and receive so much attention. Everyone kept telling me what a big deal this was when this was and I am grateful for it all. Hopefully this will result in good relations with government and area schools and make it possible to be more productive in our goals for our Hundee Ibsaa School and Pangaea Foundation in general.
After the presentation and giving out exercise books to 238 of the most needy students in the Ambo school district, family members and I visited the burial site of my mother-in-law and other family members. The church they are buried at was built by Ebsa Bashar, Rundassa's great grandfather, about 180 yrs ago. He ended up giving it to the Orthodox church in the area, yet today most people don't know the history of the building. They replaced the roof with the tin, but other than that, not many repairs have been done or changes made to the structure. We also explored more of Ambo and visited the site of a plot of ground the family owns and needs to develop.
Photos include the events of the presentation and Pangaea Foundation receiving the Certificate of Appreciation and handing out the exercise books to the kids, a video clip of making our way to the grave site, photo of the Church of Yesus, land owed by the family that we need to develop, Ambo main street (I don't remember there being so many palm trees) and I had to include some kids that enjoyed me taking their photos and showing them--and let's not forget the monkey on the wall at Tadela's home or the love I received from the kids when we returned home.
Day 5 (Oct 25, 2022):
Finally made it to the school! The anticipation is like Christmas morning for me and the children did not disappoint. I really appreciated Buzu and Meti Eshete's help and the teachers in getting our photos and backpacks distributed to the children. We barely completed before it starting raining a bit.
Today I especially was grateful to our dedicated teachers who have the patience to handle so many small children in one classroom. Since so many of our students graduated (yay!) from our school and went on to government schools, the majority of students are new 5-6 years old 1st grade students. Every time I meet them, I'm caught off guard at how small they are for their age. So to manage almost 100 of them in two classrooms (and the older 2nd grade kids of around 30 in their own classroom) is quite the feat!
We also had a teachers' meeting to discuss issues and then had lunch together once the children were sent home.
Photos include some farm land on the way to the way to the school ( i love how the Teff plants sway in the light wind) along with a few photos of the children and our new class photo, teachers meeting, kids leaving to return home with ther new colorful backpacks, lunch in Akko's empty home (this is my 1st time coming here with since her death so it was kind of sad being there without her), Ararssa's (Rundassa's brother) new home and a few other photos of family (and friends) and the property. Oh and I can't leave out my favorite Oda tree.
Day 6 (Oct 26, 2022):
Wow! What a fulfilling fun day. We showed up to the school and all the mothers (and a few fathers) were there waiting for us. I've said this before but this lunch assistant program has been a blessing for the school for the sake that it give us a chance to address concerns and get the families invested in sending their children to school and the mothers getting to know the teachers. I gave a small speech to them, and then the teachers also spoke to the mothers of our expectations for the school year. Then, in addition to giving them lunch funds, we also gave out some soap for their body and clothes to encourage teaching the kids to develop better hygiene habits.
The kids patiently waited in their classrooms with a few of the older students directing them in verbal learning activities. I'm always so impressed with the kids' discipline with very little oversight.
The rest of the school day was the fun part--a slide show and games with the new equipment I brought over this year thanks to our "fun fund".
More than anything I have been so grateful of the cooperation of the teachers and I love to see how well they also get along with each other.
Another big benefit this trip was spending so much time with Tadela Oli's family since I stayed with them instead of at a hotel. The kids spoiled me with hair brushing, feet washing/massage and hanging out with me until sent off to bed. Even their baby (who was a bit reluctant about this white haired different lady) started calling me Akko (grandma).
Photos include kids in the classrooms, the parent/teacher meeting, a mother getting her finger prepped to use here finger print as her signature since she doesn’t know how to write her name, the activities with the children (the parachutes were a hit!) and ending the day with my favorite spring drink of papaya, avocado and mango, and another photo with one of Tadela's kids.
Day 7 (Oct 28, 2022):
Today was a day of saying goodbye to family, packing (and repacking) and heading back to the capital city. Gudar City was our 1st destination to pick up all the spices for the restaurant. Before marrying into this family, I didn't know it was a thing to travel with more spices in your luggage than clothes-but it doesn't take anyone by surprise here in Ethiopia. My 2 fifty pound bags came with school supplies and are going back with spices and herbs not available in the USA.
Once we made it back to the city, we slowly made it across to the east side of the city. You can't believe how chaotic the city streets are here. I admire people who dare drive in the city as there is not any GPS (unless you can afford to buy a wifi hot spot thing) nor accurate maps to follow and the streets zig zag in ways you feel you are just going in circles.
We headed to Eta'a home to meet his family and visit. Eta'a has joined our Pangaea Foundation as our currier liaison and has been the most effective guy to help us get things done. He was excited to present to me the completed project proposal that we started on Monday at the government office. I'm pretty sure this means it's almost go for us to send over supplies duty-free! This is a HUGE accomplishment for our organization! I can't thank him enough for his determination in helping us.
Photos include last photos of some of Tadela's family, a cooking lesson from Buzu, sealing some of the spices to pack in the luggage, a video of kids getting out of a local school and cows just hanging in the middle of the street, a couple city scenes that I don't remember ever seeing that make the city look so advanced, (there are a few pockets of areas like this but then you are back to the more 3rd world look), and Eta'a (and his family too) holding up the competed government document and certificate that is a big deal in Ethiopia.
Day 8 (Oct 29, 2022):
After a hot shower and a good night's sleep (except for being woke up by the Orthodox church chanting/singing at 1am, 3am and 5am), I enjoyed just lounging around at Tsiga's home. We met Tsiga and her 2 children when they visited our home in September. They made the trip to America to drop off their daughter to go to school at the U of U.
After having lunch we used the rest of my time before heading to the airport shopping for a couple traditional dresses and getting a traditional spa treatment. The spa situation was quite the experience. I'm glad I felt somewhat comfortable being completely naked while they applied all kinds of natural concoctions on me (honey, yogurt, coffee, butter etc). The most interesting part was letting my body be cleansed by a smoke treatment.
Right after that, we had to rush back home to grab the suitcases and get to the airport. I was not successful in keeping both 50 lbs bags under the weight limit as people kept bringing me more food products to bring home. I'm not sure the spa smoke thing right before going to the airport was all that smart either as I smelt like a nice version of a campfire that I'm sure the near by passengers just loved.
Once I made it on the plane. I gave a quick call to Rundassa that I safely made it back on the plane and was headed home. It was a big sigh of relief for him. I had people left and right worried about my safety-constantly on this trip having me report back to them as I went from point A to B, although it was hard for me to see the danger. Other than the underlying tension, things felt similar to other trips I've taken. I did have one incident of worry when a group of people started weeping and wailing just outside the gates of Tadela's home where I was staying. It was the day we received all the attention from the award ceremony thing so of course my mind started spiraling into thinking of worst case scenarios in that moment. It turned out that someone was hit by a stick on the back of his neck and he went unconscious. People freaked out and squimishes ensued. Tadela happen to have just arrived home at this time so he took the man to the hospital.
At any rate, it is sad that everyone in the country is living in fear of what might happen from day to day and also in desperate conditions being that inflation has skyrocketed and most all imports to the country have been sanctioned by the USA and others in hopes that the government will stop the fighting. Instead the government turns to countries like Iran and Turkey to get more war weapons while continuing to not allow humanitarian aid to come in and instead imposing more and more restrictions on the people hoping it will block progress with the guerrilla fighting groups. There are curfews to stop movement (no taxis can run after 6pm and motorcycles are banned from use) and many more people are out of work since materials are not available and resources are drained. Being caught carrying any large chucks of money (which is common because no one has credit/debit cards) around is not allowed. So even us buying all the exercise books (at 5x's the cost they used to be) or taking all the cash to pay the mothers for our lunch program-was dangerous for Tadela as he had to carry big chunks of cash with him. I was talking with a taxi driver that is from the ethnic group of Tigre ( his people have taken the brunt of the war tragedies) and he said he can't comprehend the chaos the country is in now and never imagined it would come to this.
Nevertheless, life goes on and as of now, our little school in the countryside continues to function and teach the children, and farmers continue to plant their fields and I have returned safely to America where yes, we have issues but nothing in comparison.
Photos are at the traditional dress shop, spa time, last moment with Tsiga and her son at the airport and inside the Qatar airport before the next 14 hour leg of the trip back to the USA.
October 2019 Humanitarian Trip
Daily Journal Entry by Jan Eshete
October 13th
After 26 hours or so we made it to Ethiopia! At the airport, I panicked a bit when at customs they were going to make us go through every piece of luggage and count all the items (I just didn’t want to have to repack them all as they were in their perspective bags all nice and tight). Luckily, I quickly made a list of the contents of the luggage and when they started to go through a couple of the bags and saw that they were a repeat of uniforms and backpacks, the custom workers just decided to give up worrying about it and told us we could go. I was so relieved as I did not want to have some of our supplies held up at the airport since the very next morning we were scheduled to go out to Ambo.
Outside in the airport parking, a group of University students that are Rundassa’s fan club (one is Jigsa’s—who lives with us’s—brother), came to greet us with flowers and painting of both Rundassa and I! They were so helpful and welcoming to us. They helped us get 2 taxis and then get settled in our hotel. Even though we were staying in the same hotel as we did last year, I was still disappointed that they did not supply towels or toilet paper ( I should have remember this)—but hey, we are here and looking forward to this week!
Oct 14th-day 2
Today wasn’t too productive. We just got some money exchanged, ate out at a “Shiro” restaurant—that has no menu because that’s all it serves, walked round a bit, waiting for our ride to arrive and then made the journey out to Ambo. The traffic was pretty bad so the usual 2 hour trip took 4. As much as it is interesting to people watch in the city, I automatically breathed a sigh of relief when we made it outside the crowded city and on to some open areas. Once we arrived in Ambo, our hotel greeted us with a huge spider with gigantic legs! It got a little scream out of me when it jumped off the wall when I tried to kill it!
10/15/19
Today was the day we have been waiting for all year!! We got to handout the school supplies that so many people back home helped contribute and meet all the children! But the adventure was in getting all 9-50 lbs bags of supplies to the school.
We headed out to Bojjii in our rented van and the although Tadela (Our nephew who is our guide, translator and driver) is an expert driver, we reached a point that the road was impassable—if we had access to four wheelers, that would have worked great. Instead, local farmers shortly arrived to give us aid in the form of their donkey. They strapped on 150 lbs to that poor donkey and 2 other men place 50 pound suitcases on their shoulders to haul them the rest of the distance to our school. We set on foot ourselves and made it to the school maybe 30 min later.
While the farmers set out for one more trip to fetch the remaining luggage, we took that time to visit my mother-in-law (grandma). She is now around
95 years old and is literally skin and bones and doesn’t have much energy to get out of bed but her mind is sharp as ever, remembering to ask about everyone.
Then it was time to give out the backpack and uniforms and take photos of the children! They are just as cute as ever and I’d like to think they look bigger than last year, but again, I just realized how small they all are! We are so grateful for our teachers and their efforts to walk the distance to the school everyday and teach these children!
We ended our day with eating 3 meals within 3 hours with different family members and then returning to our hotel dead tired and our stomachs and hearts full to the brim!
10/16/19
Today was another adventure making our way to the school. Since we ran into problems yesterday, our awesome driver, Tadela, decided to venture a road coming from a different direction. I thoroughly enjoyed it as It helped me get a better grip on the location of Bojjii from both the nearby towns. But most of all it gave me more views of the beautiful countryside. I honestly can’t soak it in enough.
At the school, our day was about getting more photos of the children along with having a teachers’ meeting and then a meeting with our construction contractor Teressa who is going to build our lunchroom pavilion, 2nd classroom and a new outhouse since the existing one is starting to caved in. I’m excited to get these projects finally going, as our teachers have had to turn away more than 20 students due to not enough room.
Our only delay now is for the roads to be fixed enough that we can get all the supplies transported to the school. It’s only been 3 weeks since the rains have stopped so it will be a few more weeks before the government gets around to plowing the roads, repairing what damage the rain did. Even today, coming from the other direction we still couldn’t quite reach the school with our van and had to walk the extra distance.
I also enjoyed visiting more with family and friends that live in Bojjii. There is just such a calm peaceful feeling being out there. The local families live such a peaceful, slow paced life that nothing seems to bother them.
10/17/19
Today started out with us doing a little shopping: text books for the school, treats (bananas) for the students and a mattress for the orphan kids,that we have families sponsoring, in addition for cooking supplies for Akko (grandma) and traditional chairs to bring home for our restaurant.
Once we finally checked off our list, we headed back out to the school where we handed out the bananas while we set up the slide show for the students featuring all the photos we took. All 90+ students crammed in the
13’x 22’ classroom to watch the show. Afterwards, we took some class photos and said our goodbyes to the students.
Once all the children were on their way home, we then made a 3+ km little hike over to the two orphan kids’ home with a mattress and bedding in tow. It was quite the sight to watch the guy hauling the mattress on his shoulder and jumping from rock to rock to cross the river.
Once we made it to their home, we saw their humble living conditions. It was so dark inside that I had to use my flashlight to even see anything. Despite the conditions, to them they have pretty much everything they need, although now that the kids won’t have to sleep on the hard wood frame bed with a type of tarp for a blanket. I’m sure they will realize how much they were missing out now that they have the luxury of a mattress. I’ve come to realize that in their situation-and most others who live in Bojjii,-their home serves not much more than a place to sleep and cover for them if it rains, otherwise life is spent outdoors.
We returned back to Akko’s place to have our last meal at her home, said goodbye (which will probably be the last time since Akko is barely hanging on to life. Then we returned back to Ambo where we spent the evening with Tadela’s family & friends eating and then eating again. We helped his kids learn how to play the video games we brought them from America. They caught on quickly but it was definitely a bit of a challenge since it’s all in English.
It’s a relief to accomplish all that we set out to do but also a let down that we won’t be back out to Bojjii for another year. I really enjoyed my time out there but was happy to return to a hotel that has electricity, showers and a decent bed for the night.
One more post—before the trip is over—
10/18/19
Another day is over—but not really as we are just starting our voyage home with a delayed flight leaving Ethiopia and now we are stuck in Germany trying to rebook😞. The day began with more goodbyes to family and then traveling back to the capital city from Ambo. We were delayed a few times on the only road back, but one of those delays was worth it as we saw an entourage of men on horses coming from a wedding ceremony.
Once in Addis Ababa, we went to visit our Pangaea Foundation Branch Office (Yay! We’ve been waiting to get to this point for so long!). It’s in the home of an associate of Rundassa’s, and I think it will work out great! I’d like to thank our family who helped us make this whirlwind of a trip productive and possible. Besides this fight coming home, we really didn’t run into any snags! The trip has been successful and I am already ready to start making plans for next time.It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Lessons learned by Ebsa Eshete
The need for education is something that I understand on more than a philosophical level; it has been demonstrated through my father’s life. Being the son of an immigrant who was only able to put food on his plate because of education, I get the importance of education on a monetary scale, but seeing the good he has done on a global scale is a testament to its much higher value.
As a child, I loathed school. I knew of its importance, but I thought that its importance was limited only to people like my father born outside of the comforts and luxuries of middle class suburban homes. My father tried to lecture the naiveté out of me—with varying levels of success—with long hours working outside helping him finish building our new house and with various assigned essays to combat these unfavorable traits. “Why people are poor” was to lead me to a realization of the importance of going to school when I was six, and “Why I’m lazy and how to fix it” was to get rid of my “fear of working” when I was nine. Even more extreme, I once was grounded for a year for not turning off the lights in the living room because it demonstrated my lack of attention to detail (don’t worry, I managed to get out six months early for good behavior and a tactfully written essay). Although I didn’t fully
grasp the meanings behind these lessons, I developed good habits and work ethics that would propel me through my high school years.
It wasn’t until the summer of eighth grade that I realized what my father went through and what he was trying to teach me. My family, excluding my dad because he is a “political enemy” of the government, traveled to Ethiopia. With the very first step outside of the airport, we were immediately approached by a beggar, something that my 14 years in suburban Utah had not prepared me for. I was speechless, the harsh reality of the third world slamming down on me like a twenty pound sledgehammer. My uncle ushered me away and into a van, but even that didn’t keep the outside world from seeping in. At every stop sign and stoplight, the van was tossed about like a rowboat in a tumultuous sea of cracked and weathered arms, equally populated with children and elderly, women and men. Poverty was ubiquitous here, running rampant through the street unabated.
The destitution was deeply disturbing to me, the reality jarring. I had been behind the thick first world curtain that America has enshrouded itself in and suddenly the curtain was thrown back, the light blinding
and painful to look at. My eyes eventually adjusted to the light, and what I saw was family whom I had never known welcoming me into their home, offering me their food and giving me the scant luxuries they had, the love palpable. How could these people, having just barely met me, offer me their precious resources and time so
benevolently when they barely had enough for themselves?
I came back from the trip with a profound understanding of the value of education and a renewed dedication to attend a prestigious college. The children begging on the street were begging for food and money, but what I realized is that the cycle of poverty can only be broken through education. To quote Socrates, “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.” An innumerable amount of lives have been rekindled by the school we built in Ethiopia, all because my father valued education. This is the motivation behind why I have dedicated myself to service and to pursuing the greatest education I can receive, not just for myself, but for all of humanity.
2018 Humanitarian Trip
We have recently returned from our first Humanitarian trip for the Pangaea Foundation. We had a great team consisting of Jan Eshete, Oromia Eshete, Lalise Eshete, Amy Sorensen, and Emily Hunter. The trip was approximately two weeks long (including travel time) and besides spending time at the Hundee Ibsaa School, we also did some site-seeing in the capital city and a tourist area called Hawassa.
The highlight of the trip of course was giving out all the uniform packets and backpacks filled with school supplies to all the children. I think the best part for the children was being able to watch the slide show we made for them with lots of photos and videos of them at recess and lunch and a few in their classrooms. It’s just invigorating to watch children who are so thankful to go to school and whatever we can supply for them.
We also really appreciate both our teachers who literally walk along a trail (that is sometimes like a hike) that takes almost 2 hours back and forth to school every day. On our last day there, we walked home in the rain with our teachers and I’ll just say that I am out of shape!
If you would like to be a part of our humanitarian trip in the future years, please contact Jan Eshete for more information.
Life Altering
by Oromia Eshete
It’s funny how fast you can adapt to whatever culture that you’re immersed in. And it’s funny how fast you can begin to love the people that you didn’t even know weeks before the trip. Going to my father’s home country for the second time now, it was surprisingly nothing like the first trip but it still felt comfortable and had a noticeable and somewhat surprising sense of “home” to it.
There are so many things about Ethiopia that make you reevaluate the mentality you have about life and gives you an overwhelming sense of gratitude and a fresh new, humbling outlook on practically everything. From the chaotic traffic to the disparate spices and mouth-watering meals, welcoming marketplaces, and truly unapologetic beauty of the people, Ethiopia is genuinely unforgettable.
Doing service with my family and friends was so fun and effortless that we would always leave the elementary school glum and looking forward to the next day when we got to go back. Hanging out with the kids- playing soccer, making bracelets, playing with toys, or just making them laugh- was so rewarding and I didn’t realize that this is what my life was missing. I didn’t realize how many things I could learn from these kids. I think the most rewarding experience that I had in Ethiopia was following some of the kids home and walking with them after school to see where they lived and to see how long they have to walk to get to school. Nothing is more humbling than walking home with two little newly orphaned siblings, in their new baggy uniforms, being embraced by their grandma and modestly showing us their home.
Traveling to and from the countryside of Oromia in a big, disheveled van on a bumpy “road”, sitting in the seatless back with my sister and friend was also another favorite pastime of mine. Admiring the beautiful landscape, every once and a while waving to the shepherd boys and their cattle, was such a fulfilling, captivating experience.
I learned so many things from the trips I took to Africa and was, in the end, life-altering. I learned that we, as humans, have a lot in common. We tend to focus on the differences we have— between cultures, traditions we practice, and what we look like. But in the end, we all feel the same emotions, we all have troubles, insecurities loves, and fears. I also learned that education is so important and is a fundamental right that everyone should have access to. Although it’s not perfect, I love Oromia with all my heart and am so honored to be named after this place.