Day 19
Monday, Sept. 28
Queen of Sheba Hotel, Addis Ababa

We had a good day of travel today arriving in Addis Ababa around 8:00 pm from Lilongwe, via Lusaka, Zambia. After breakfast at the Kuka Lodge, Morris our faithful driver these two weeks picked us up with the van and Chris with his pickup truck for our luggage.

The Lilongwe airport was all decked out for the arrival of Malawi’s president – guard of honour in full uniform, a marching band, red carpet and all kinds of people brought in by the “truckload” to show support. He arrived by private jet just as we were being taken to our plane. We could see all the pomp and ceremony from our plane seats before takeoff. The extravagance of the occasion, in light of Malawi being 6th poorest country in the world, didn’t sit well with most of us.

The flight to Addis was uneventful. After arrival it took us a while to get our hotel vouchers and the bus to the hotel. But we’re here, had supper while they were still cleaning our rooms. We made contact to Jim and Marion Harris’s friends here (they are friends from PEI who spent a year in Addis as missionaries) who will take us around the city tomorrow.