Middle of Nowhere; P.O.Box #11

I’m impressed. After 13 hours on the road, the sun was beginning to set on a Saturday evening as we were passing through Dibate, the final small town before arriving at our down-country home among the Gmz people. Tired from the road, I didn’t bother to look for familiar faces as I passed on autopilot through the town’s main square. Suddenly, my slow coast through town was interrupted by someone running after the car, yelling, “Postal ale. Postal ale.” Snapping my head back, I saw a familiar face excited to see that I had returned from a week away in the capital city - it was the man who works at the Dibate Post Office.

You see, about one month earlier, I had stopped by the Post Office to inquire about renting a P.O. box. I had my doubts when after many such trips through Dibate, this was the first day that I actually saw the door unlocked and open. Nevertheless, I walked up to the window and poked my head in. Nobody…go figure. Outside the office, I certainly wasn’t alone, as anything I do in town draws the attention of a large group of spectators, so I turned around and asked for help. “Oh, he’s over there, I’ll get him,” was the response I got as my new friend took off running across the square. Sure enough, he returned a few minutes later with the post office worker, who then escorted me into the dark office building and quickly began filling out a postal box rental form. I paid a whole ANNUAL fee of 63 birr (that’s less than $5) and was handed a receipt. “What is my box number?” I asked. “Oh yea, I forgot” he replied and retrieved the receipt pad from the table where he had thrown it. Starting at the very beginning, he quickly counted all the previous carbon copy receipts, “1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…9…10…you’re number 11.” I don’t know how long the Post Office in Dibate has been open and operational, but I am quite confident that I am only the 11^th person to EVER request a P.O. Box there. I was given the #11 key, shiny and new, and given basic instructions on how to receive mail. “Just have people send mail to:

Travis and Andrea Williamson
Dibate P.O. Box 11
ETHIOPIA

That’s it? Those few words on an envelope will bring it not just way out in the boonies, but out in these particular boonies? The first chance I had, I shot an email home to my parents requesting a trial letter to be sent to our shiny new P.O. box. As requested, on September 7, a small mailing envelope filled with Crystal Light drink mixes was sent on its way. And now, here I was on Saturday, October 2^nd, driving through Dibate when I heard the welcome news “postal ale” (trans. “there is a letter!”). Apparently, the post office worker was just as excited as I was since he ran after my car to flag me down, then unlocked the post office after hours and delivered my envelope to the vehicle. Pretty exciting as that night we enjoyed some of the drink mixes and the long letter catching us up on everything that happened with my parents this summer.

(So, a disclaimer must be stated, this is not a plea for mail, rather just another glimpse of the world through our eyes. For those who are wondering, our Addis Ababa mailing address is still good as people from our organization check it regularly and we collect that mail whenever we return to Addis.)