Africa 2016

It seems fitting that I’m spending my last day in Ethiopia here on Lake Tana exploring churches and monasteries, relaxing at a five star hotel, and preparing to visit two museums in Addis Ababa on my way home. Coming here from Gondar by car, I crossed into a different Ethiopia.  Even though it is in … Continue reading »

A day amid castles Those of you who have joined Fred’s expeditions to places like Ticonderoga and Fort Niagara and Castillo de San Marcos can only imagine the joy—nay, ecstacy—I experienced when I toured Gondar today.  A city of half a million people, it was the third capital of Ethiopia (1632-late 18th century), and illuminates … Continue reading »

We covered 3000 years of history today, all within 60 miles of Aksum, demonstrating the importance of the city in Ethiopian religion, politics, and civilization. The first site was the city of Yeha, which means first city.  The ride, mostly on a Chinese-built highway, ended with a dirt 5K road that took us into a … Continue reading »

My morning began with an early rise to send the blog out.  About two minutes later, I got a frantic email from my travel agent, who had panicked when she read the title: “I went through hell yesterday.”  She assumed that something had gone wrong with the trip, and I had to assure her that … Continue reading »

I’ll get to the headline in a minute, but in describing today, a day that resembled yesterday in the exploration of Ethiopia’s Christian past, I’ll share some other observations about what’s happening here. This morning, I had a campfire breakfast.  It wasn’t planned, but the power went out (a problem throughout Africa), dampening my intention … Continue reading »

The second biggest country most Americans know nothing about may well be Ethiopia. (In case you’re wondering, I think Indonesia is first). It has almost 100 million citizens, with an average income of $500, or so I was told.  The country resisted colonization (the only country in Africa to do so, defeating an Italian army … Continue reading »

Back in Windhoek from Scout camp—er, Etosha National Park. In mid-May 1983, I became Scoutmaster of Troop 19.  Accordingly, mid-May 2016, it’s not surprising that I commemorated this auspicious event by camping—albeit in a “rest camp” in a national park in Namibia. We didn’t get much rest, though, because Etosha National Park is one of … Continue reading »

Our two site visits today capped our business experiences in Namibia, and summed up a number of themes we’d heard elsewhere. The first was to the local Caterpillar dealer, and though I had visited a number of Cat facilities in Asia, I had never visited a dealer before. The dealer was part of a chain that … Continue reading »

To answer the question of what’s at the corner of Ludevitzstrasse and Fidel Castro Street, it’s the Goethe Institute which houses the Goethe Café (on one corner) and the headquarters of the Lutheran Church here.  Both the Castro reference and the Teutonic emphases help explain contemporary Namibia. The German influence, as I’ve suggested earlier, is … Continue reading »

One of the purposes of the FDIB trips is to facilitate cooperation between faculty, not just those on the trips, but with members of universities in host countries.  Today, in compliance with that goal, we had visits at two of the top universities in Namibia (I think there are three). The first was the Windhoek … Continue reading »