Back from Langano

The trip was delightful for a number of reasons, but chiefly for getting out of the classroom and seeing more countryside over the 2 days of traveling, and 3 full days at Langano.

9 students and 4 adults is a good number for driving down country for four hours. We stayed at the SIM compound by the lake, which has a school for about 200 kids, ranging from 7-20 years old. Since no one has birth certificates, if you can wrap you arm over your head and touch your opposite ear, your old enough to enroll. We painted their 4 classrooms and then played with the school kids in the afternoons. We taught them how to play Bingo, Checkers, and the art of Legos.

I brought out the clown balloons and as soon I squeaked out a little wiener dog, the kids would all grab it and pop it instantly. Everytime. It would be safe to say they had not seen a balloon before, much less a rubber dog with a poor figure.

Since everyone there speaks Oromo, even the 10th Graders who knew Amharic were at a loss trying to say the word for Duck and Goose. So instead, we taught the kids how to play "horse, horse, donkey." It was a smash hit. After about 10 minutes into the game, a 8 year old girl patted my head and called me a donkey. Naturally, I tore off after her. She soon realized that I was going to catch her, so she quickly turned off the circle's track and ran barefoot into the woods. I had no choice but to follow suit. When I caught her, I instantly realized why she sidestepped at the last minute. I ran directly into a evil thorny briar patch of needles. At this point, the kids really like this 'horse, horse, donkey' game even more.