Traveling + Adventure = Healing
I take it that Ethiopia is not a high-priority vacation destination like Paris, France, or Florence, Italy, for many, but it sure was for me in 2018. I was fortunate to travel to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with my son Ryan’s pediatric oncologist, Dr. Aziza Shad, and deliver 35 quilts to the Mother Teresa Respite Home in the city center (now renamed TAPPCO) - all under the umbrella of The Aslan Project. I was with Dr. Shad for four days in Addis (touring the city with someone from TAPPCO) and traveling the rest of the trip solo (almost two weeks).
I admit that solo travel is not for the faint of heart, but I loved the adventure of it all - including almost four days in the Middle East (United Arab Emirates).
While traveling around the big city, Addis Ababa, and smaller towns, Lalibela and Axum, I wrote briefly about what I saw, tasted, and explored on my former blog, quiltsfromtheheart.blogspot.com. As in any developing nation, WIFI access was highly spotty, so my posts were mostly shorty posts.
In 2023, five years after returning home, I finally unpacked those fond memories I expounded upon and wrote more in-depth about the adventure. I aim to share them right here on this Manufacturing Sunshine blog while I’m in France at the Writer’s Retreat in Cevennes.
I hope you, my dear readers, will follow me on this profound journey like a little birdie on my shoulder and see the delicious wonder I found and experienced. Maybe, just maybe, a solo (or not!) adventure to these far-flung locations may arrive on your bucket list. I also get it if it’s, “Heck NO!”
The goal is to start the unpacked stories on Monday, April 29, 2024.
bSoleille!
Terri
