After adjusting to a nine-hour time zone difference and some jet lag, our entourage came to life with the beaming sunlight pouring through the hotel’s restaurant windows.

Winnipeggers have a funny way of connecting with others.  Who would think that the owner of the hotel we’re staying at spent 14 years in our city studying business administration at Red River College and the University of Winnipeg. He and his family returned to their homeland three years ago to run this modern hotel. 

It is a beautiful little hotel in the city and an unknown jewel in tourist circles.  The owner, Mckonnen, is still working on marketing it with the travel hotel website links. Business is good he says and reminisced fondly over breakfast about the time he spent in our city. He says it was a highlight in his life.  Once again Winnipeg proves that six degrees of separation are actually one or two.

Addis is an interesting city. People who call it home live here in two worlds—dire poverty and progress at the same time. It’s not uncommon to see Toyota vehicles on one side of a street and on the same block see donkeys carrying cargo and herds of sheep resting on the roadsides of the main thoroughfares. 

A primarily agrarian nation, 84 per cent of the population of 82 million lives in rural areas. The influence of agriculture is everywhere in the downtown areas of Addis—one could even see a Russian Belarus tractor with farm workers jostling for position on the crowded streets.

I wouldn't want to be a driver in this city.  Driving is an art. One must be on constant watch for pedestrians who come out from everywhere all at once and pay little attention to the vehicles on the road.  There are many traffic circles and many lanes of traffic.  There are some traffic lights in this city of four million, but few of them work.  Tonight on the way home from our dinner, we saw one working for the first time in our two days of travels zipping around the city.

Addis is a city of stark contrasts. The poor and homeless are everywhere. There is no specific ghetto area as the poor live on the sides of the streets, boulevards, and back lanes and in neighbourhoods where those of higher economic status also dwell.  There are gate guards everywhere.  Those with means live amongst those who have nothing, rich and poor coexist in this city of contrasts.  Metal shanties and luxurious homes are located on the same blocks.

Addis is the major international city for the continent of Africa.  The United Nations has a presence here, as do many embassies from around the world.  On our trip to the hotel from the airport we passed by the British, Kenyan, Russian, German, French, U.S., and Egyptian consulates. Today we drove by the Canadian and South African embassies.  All were very different and distinct in their presence and location within the city. 

This morning, we were held up in getting to a briefing meeting with our church members and aid partners by military police directing traffic in the area we were to meet.  It’s a big week here in Addis as the African Union is meeting with international leaders from around the world.  Tonight we happened to be in the area again where the meetings are being held and saw presidential limousines and a heavy police presence on the streets after the meetings adjourned for the day. Canada’s Minister of International Cooperation, Julian Fantino, is representing Prime Minister Stephen Harper at these meetings.  There is heightened security everywhere in this city because of the dignitaries.

There are many more sights and sounds to share, but I must sign off to prepare for meetings tomorrow.  We will be travelling 395 kilometers to a rural area to visit one of our projects.  At night, I will be taught how to cheer for soccer Ethiopian style as the national team is playing Nigeria in the African Cup soccer tournament.  We will watch it from Kucha with our project colleagues. I'm told all activity comes to a halt when soccer—the nation’s favourite team sport is on television.

I am living every moment with joy in this relatively young city in an ancient country.  For the gift I have been given in a second life after cancer and in experiencing a world so far away, I will greet each day with Strength, Courage and Determination.