Addis: Medhane Alem Church

This is the modern church we walked around.
(There weren't any guides available.)

It is in Bole, one of the newer neighborhoods.
It also has three towers.

It is really beautiful.

And has angels guarding the doors.

And icons above the entrance.

Afternoon in Addis

The highlight of the trip was spending the afternoon with
a friend from grad school. Here we are in her office building.
She works for the African Union.

We went by her husband's office at the UN and said
hello (he is also a friend from grad school).
Then we had lunch at her house, and I met her son.

We visited the outside of a new Ethiopian Orthodox
church (there wasn't a tour guide),
and she took me back to the hotel.

Addis Trinity Church

After the meeting, I visited an historic church
down the street from my hotel.

It was built in the 20th century, but it still seemed very old
inside. This priest showed me around and even took a picture.

I only noticed later that it has three bell towers!

It is a famous church because Haile Selassie is buried there.

Outside a younger priest was teaching a Bible study.

Addis Ababa

In early November, I went to a meeting on agriculture and food
security in Addis Ababa. It is a fascinating place.

The meeting was in an historic hall, Africa Hall,
where the African Union was founded in 1963.

It was built in 1961 by the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie.

To one side of the podium is a painting including
portraits of the heads of state who attended the founding.

The stained glass looks almost like a church, until
you figure out that Haile Selassie is the focal point of it all.

Birds at Liwonde

There are always lots of birds at Liwonde...

Waterbuck

There are always waterbuck grazing
on the edges of Liwonde, usually up
to their knees in water.

They did not like to be so close to our boat.

They were happier up on the bank.

These are both female, here is an earlier picture of a male:

Roofing, fishing, and birdwatching

The place that offers the tour, Bushman Baobabs,
was roofing some buildings with thatch.

A couple of interesting silhouettes, one of a water
bird, and another of a fisherman who wasn't really
supposed to be in the park...

Hippos in Liwonde

Hippos live in family groups of a dozen or so, like these.

They like to stay in the river during the day,
and come out of the river at night to graze.

Look just above the weeds, to the right of the middle, and
you can see this guy's head and ears.

These were playful, pushing each other
around as our canoe glided by.

Liwonde: Birds and hippos in the Shire

In July, my friend Chifumi visited and we
went sight-seeing.


Here she is in from of the most impressive
church building I have yet seen in Malawi.

Here they are building at Bushman Baobab's
camp right beside Liwonde Park.

Here is the Shire River where we
took an early-morning canoe ride.

Mua Mission

Mua Mission is a major tourist stop for those
interested in the history and culture of Malawi.

In 1902, the Catholic Church sent the White Fathers
to Mua to found a mission. This statue commemorates
the one hundredth anniversary of the founding.

This church was built in 1971 on the original church site.
The mission also houses a hospital and a Chamare Museum
that is known throughout Malawi for preserving the history
of the tribes as customs are eroded by modernity.

This is a close-up of the mural that you can see
on the front of the church in the previous picture.
It is a picture of the Bible story of Mary and Elizabeth.

MSU Spring Flowers

Hello everyone, I loaned my camera to a friend,
who let it be stolen in an airport, so the posts
will be from my picture archives until I get another.

The landscaping at MSU is beautiful.
I can't decide whether I like spring or fall better.

Yes, these are bananas.
They spend winters in a greenhouse.

My House

I moved house in May, and took some pictures,
but haven't had time to post them.

The house has a pretty yard.

and a couple of friendly dogs

Swallows

Here are the swallows that come to drink
at my house early in the morning some days.

I think that they are wire-tailed swallows without
the wire. Kenyabirds.org has a picture of one
without the long tail wire.

They sit on the water tank at work.

Bioversity explorer says that they mate
for life and nest oftenest in August thru
December. Earlier blog posts show the
pair that nested in the stairwell of my
former apartment.

When it was colder, they used to sit on the east
side of my landlord's roof early in the morning...

and then hunt over the yard when it warmed up
and the insects started flying.

African Pied Wagtail

Malawi is supposed to be bird paradise, so I'm becoming an
occasional birdwatcher. Not that I spend lots of money
trying to find rare birds, I just try to appreciate the
ones in my yard.

The bird bits in the blog are in honor of Mrs. Sally Shaw,
who always had a bird story for us in Sunday School.

Meet Mr. and Mrs. African Pied Wagtail.
They are snappy dressers,in black and white stripes.
They get their name from wagging their tail up and down,
as if they were trying to keep their balance. They are
fairly tame and chase around my house and office catching bugs.
According to Biodiversity Explorer they are monogamous
and raise up to 3 broods per year in nests near
the ground and near water. They are native to much of Africa,
accustomed to living near people, and are most common
in the Miombo woodlands of eastern and southern Africa.

For more info, google:

Biodiversity Explorer
Birdlife International
Kenya Birds

Fresh Produce

Here is the produce stand between my house and town.

It offers fresh fruit...

And fresh vegetables
(much fresher than supermarkets)