Trip South - Our Translator

At the Care Center in Hossana, we met up with our Translator.

Elsae, named for Elijah in the Bible, is an Evangelist in the Hossana area.  He also works part-time as a translator for the agency.

Apparently Elsae must be well-known in the region because it seemed that no matter where we were we came across someone who knew him.

He was very kind and unbelievably patient as I made him translate the name of every flower and bush we came across.  Pretty amazing since I probably couldn't tell you the names of half of the flowers/plants in my front yard. (Violet, Lily, Hosta, Rye Grass and Dandelion.  That's about it for me and I only have to list them in one language.)

Elsae did excellent prep work, too.  He covered the background documents on our children with both of us.  He went through all of the pics I had in my photo album and tried to understand the relation of each of the people in the pictures so when we met my son's family the whole process flowed smoothly.

At the hotel, he arranged it so that the womenfolk got the rooms with the real toilets (vs floor toilets)!  Big bonus points on that one!!

He also offered to take the bus back to Hossana so that we could drive a more direct (and less potholed) route back to Addis through the Rift Valley.

In general, he is a truly kind man that cares about the people in his community.