Investing in Relationship

One thing we learned early on in life here in Ethiopia is that everything in life is built on the foundation of relationships. A forgotten greeting in the office can cause a major disturbance in that day's work. Written contracts provide no security over a good relationship with our landlords. Even shopping for fruits and vegetables, the relationship between vendor and patron is very important. So also, in the translation office, the first several months of translation were very difficult. Why? Because I quickly learned that without the relationship nurtured outside the office, it was nearly impossible to build an attitude of mutual trust. And without trust, especially given the ecumenical diversity in our project, the work cannot move forward!

 For this reason, I am always on the lookout for ways to invest in the personal lives of the Gumuz translators. Early on, we found every excuse to share a meal at a local restaurant. We made a point of inviting them over to our house whenever we were together in Addis Ababa. During breaks in the normal work day, I'd often find a way to pass the time together, sometimes playing simple games like "Let's see who can throw the fewest number of rocks before hitting that tree!" and "Nah, you got lucky, I bet you can't do it again!"

The most recent investment into our relationship as a translation team was the biggest by far: a "guys only" trip to the famous rock-hewn Orthodox churches of Lalibela. Andrea and I had seen them before, BC (before children ), but when our summer intern, Eric, expressed interest in visiting them, I birthed the idea of a translator's retreat, not too much unlike the team-building retreats that I enjoyed back in my youth ministry days.

The churches - they truly are something to behold. Full size churches, 900 years old, chipped out of rock, some cut straight down into the earth. Many of them are monolithic structures, literally meaning "one rock", these places of worship were chiseled out of a single section of bedrock. Much to the disappointment of all you amateur geologists out there, I don't remember the name of the type of rock, but I do remember the guide saying that it is a volcanic rock which gets stronger the deeper one digs into it. And I suppose that makes sense as these pillars have been holding the incredible weight of a rock roof for many centuries.

For Thomas, the Gmz translator from the Orthodox church, this trip was somewhat of a pilgrimage as Lalibela is very much a holy site in Orthodox Christianity. 

For the rest of us, we couldn't help but be awestruck at the magnitude of such a project. One church, St. George's, is the crown jewel of the collection. According to the records, it took more than 30,000 professional stone-cutting craftsmen a full 23 years to complete!

St. George's from above

St. George's from below

And that is just one church among the 11 rock-hewn churches made on that hillside. Why were they made? King Lalibela was both a king and a devout priest. He made a trip to Jerusalem to visit the holy sites, which turned out to be an incredibly moving experience for him. Many Ethiopian Christians of that day attempted such a pilgrimage, but unfortunately, unrest between Christians and Muslims put these pilgrims in great danger along the way, some of whom never returned. King Lalibela wanted to make a holy site on Ethiopian soil, thus naming some of the buildings after holy sites in Israel – Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Golgotha, etc.

Having taken the cheapest and roughest public transportation to get to Lalibela, we were way under my initial budget thoughts, and not looking forward to another 10+ hour day of bus travel in leaving Lalibela, 

Cramped quarters inside public transportation

I poked my head into the Ethiopian airlines office just off the main drag in Lalibela town. I had always heard that Ethiopian citizens and legal residents in Ethiopia receive discounted prices on domestic plane tickets, but I didn't know just how discounted. It turned out, we could exchange that long exhausting day in a series of buses for a 25 minute plane trip for a whopping $30 a person. 

Plus, taking the plane would allow us to see another famous site in Ethiopia – the king's palace compound in Gondar (not quite the Lord of the Rings, but still pretty cool).

All in all, our 5-day excursion proved to be an unforgettable experience for all of us. Eric really enjoyed seeing the country and some of its historical sites, and of course getting to know the Gmz translators a bit better. Micah loved being with the "big boys" and having a whole lot of daddy time.

With the hum of an engine, Micah can sleep almost anywhere.

Of course, he was happy to see Mom and his sisters when we returned, but that didn't stop him from expressing his true feeling, "Mom, I wish I wasn't home yet. I wish we were still on our trip." I and the Gmz translators were happy to be home, but thankful for the experience of travelling together. You see, we've learned that our mutual trust and cooperation inside the translation office is directly correlated with the strength of our friendship in our everyday lives. 

It is my prayer that the shared memories and new inside jokes we've captured will cover over a multitude of heated translation discussions in the coming months. If not, there are always more trees at which we can throw rocks.

Enjoy the lovely Ethiopian birds right here!