Jan 5- 6 We're Off!!

Nanci and I left Winnipeg at noon on January 5^th and flew to Toronto where we met up with Larry Thiessen and Jim and Sharon vanDijk. Larry is a producer from Edmonton who came along to oversee the filming of our trip. He is an old friend of mine who produced my two concert videos and the recent music video for my song This is Love (using footage from the film Jesus of Nazareth). When Canadian Food Grains Bank (hereafter CFGB) asked if I'd be willing to film this trip for a documentary, I pretty much insisted Larry be the producer - I trust him.

Larry and I at the Support for Sustainable Development base-camp / Afar Region

And when Larry was asked to produce the film, he pretty much insisted that Jim vanDijk be the camera man - Larry trusts Jim. Larry thought it unlikely Jim would be free to come as he is in much demand from Hollywood as one of the better camera men available (recent films include X-Men III and The Fabulous Four).

Jim and Sharon in Weldia

But, as God willed, both Jim and his wife Sharon had a brief window of time which corresponded exactly with our trip and we were thrilled to have them bring their wonderful selves and gifts on the trip.

Our flight to Addis Abbaba (Ethiopia's capital) included lay-overs in Frankfurt, Germany and Khartoum,Sudan. There's not much to report here except at one point looking out the window and seeing below me what looked like enormous white waves “frozen in motion”. It took a few minutes to realize we were over the Sahara! The feeling of awe was rather overwhelming - to see something that loomed so large in the legends of my childhood memory - and there is was - in all it's barren glory! Very cool.

We finally arrived in Addis at 10pm, dizzy and slightly nauseous from 24 hours in transit. Immediately we were greeted by Sam VanderEnde. Sam lives in Addis Abbaba with his wife Cathy and two children Maisha (life) and Gelila ( Gallilee). Sam is the International Field Representative for CFGB. His job is to assist and oversee the local partners with the various relief and development projects supported by CFGB (I'll describe how CFGB works in another post). Cathy was once the country representative for Oxfam but has recently started a business manufacturing silk and various by-products of silk industry. Ethiopia is a land of 60 million subsistence farmers and desperately needs to develop other income streams. Cathy and Sam believe silk is a viable, sustainable industry that could significantly help diversify the economy.

Sam would be accompanying us for the next week's travels but his first task was to guide us to the visa office threading us through the belaboured and chaotic process of obtaining a simple visa before emerging at baggage only to discover that my guitar, and three of Jim's bags (all his clothes and two bags of camera gear) had not arrived with us. Apparently some dear soul in Frankfurt had decided we wouldn't need them until the next day – unfortunately, we would be leaving Addis before they arrived and would have to continue our trip without them. Between Larry, Sam and I we figured we could keep Jim in clean clothes. Sam knew a local film producer who might lend us some camera gear and Sam's wife had a guitar she would lend me for the week. We emerged from baggage claims over an hour later to find Heather Plett waiting patiently outside the security area. Heather had already been in Addis a few days making arrangements and securing permission from the Ethiopian Government for us to film in their country.

Heather is Resource Director for the Canadian Fo0d Grains Bank

It was dark as we bumped along the streets of Addis to our hotel. I was too tired to really take notice of much. The hotel was modest but clean with lovely gardens. The rooms had a distinct odour of “old” mixed with mothballs. Two single beds (which would be the norm for the rest of the trip) and a bathroom that lifelessly dribbled water if you opened a tap. Design and decor felt like we had gone back in time to the forties – but it was clean and comfortable enough for weary travelers. We all met in the lounge for a late supper (sandwiches were all they were serving at that hour) before collapsing into the only good sleep we would have for the many days.