We awoke to a heavy downpour so have postponed our morning checking for insects to this afternoon. Meantime, the holy mass takes place a noon, so we will not be able to access the Church forest until the mass is over. Our projected field time is 2 pm — most of the people walk many miles to church and must walk home many miles on the same dirt road that our vehicles will cover.
Yesterday, after another big rainstorm, one of our 3 four-wheel drives got stuck on a very steep and slick slope, so scary that most of us got out and walked up the hill along with the villagers. Even worse, the drivers took our vehicles into the bottom of another steep valley in the afternoon, and again it was a fairly hairy ride back up to the main dirt road. Roads are mainly for walking around here, and the sight of a motorized vehicle invites all the children to wave and shout. It is slightly embarrassing to have such marked economic differences between the locals and the visitors. Even the Oxfam and Care and UN workers that we see and meet in the field all stay in the nicer hotels and usually have the only other cars that we see. The world is continually creating a large chasm between the haves and the have-nots. At the least, we need to help the Ethiopians hang on to their natural capital (their biodiversity and natural resources) for their future economy and quality of life.
