I know it’s been a while since the last update, but the reason is pretty simple: We’re not getting much information to share with you. It’s not Allyson’s fault, and it’s not mine. We’re both trying. But communication has proven to be much more difficult than we anticipated — or than AT&T Wireless promised it would be. The problem described in the last post persists: We’re stuck with Allyson using a pay-as-you-go cell phone that allows only about two minutes of conversation at a clip. 

We’re learning to say a lot very quickly, and we’re learning that saying bye before the time runs out feels better than getting cut off before you can say it.

Both of us, as you might imagine, are frustrated by this. But I expect that she is way more frustrated than I am. I have the luxuries of home, and the ability to talk to friends and family whenever I want, but she doesn’t. So we’re trying to remedy this problem: We’ll keep beating on various phone companies until we make something happen that makes it easier for Ally to talk to me and her family and her friends when she feels like it.

The good news is that she’s found a couple of internet access spots in Shashemene, so the e-mail is coming with some frequency, and she’s grateful to everyone who’s posted comments. She sends her love to all y’all. 

In an e-mail on Tuesday, she offered this description of her typical day:

Where Allyson works every day

Where Allyson works every day

 

 

“Every morning I take the van with the staff out to the feeding center. It’s a beautiful drive through some very green and dramatic views where you can see forever. The rift valley is not far away.  On the trip I see loads of cows and goats, often herded by little tiny boys, hundreds of donkeys and horses hitched to makeshift carts. Often the donkeys are hooked up three in a row.”

This daily drive takes her to a feeding center in a town that I won’t name here, in an effort to adhere to MSF policy. But when I got the name of the town from her, I Googled it, and the first thing that came up was a photograph of the center where she’s working.

She tells me that the lines aren’t quite as long these days as they were when this shot was taken. A fall harvest holds out hope that the malnutrition problems there will lessen somewhat. This is from MSF’s latest “Month in Focus” article:

These families, who are already very poor, have been without food for many months. They have got into debt to feed themselves and some have even sold their livestock. The next harvest, expected between late September and November depending on the area, should finally provide relief. 

Let’s hope they’re right. I read this, and I can’t help but think how, here in Atlanta, we’ve suffered from drought for a good while. What does this mean to our way of life? Not much more than the fact that we can’t water the roses in the front yard when we want to … or that the dock at the lake you visit on the weekends isn’t floating anymore but sitting on dry land. 

It never means that we have to change our lives dramatically. It never means for us that our children’s lives are placed in danger. 

I don’t say this to praise Allyson’s efforts. She’d kick my ass if that was my motive. As she’s pointed out before, she didn’t go there to win my praise or anyone else’s. She went because she felt like it was the right thing for her to do. Simple as that. But we all should remember how fortunate we are. We might have a hard time finding gas to fill the tank right now. But we’re having no trouble finding food and clean water. 

It’s amazing how the same weather can blow across two different lands and leave one land’s people in grave danger and the other land’s people merely annoyed.