When you see men with machine guns… just smile and wave!

The mornings here in Soddo are simply amazing – one of my favorite things about living here.  Crisp, a cool 55-57 degrees Fahrenheit, and relatively quiet.  I’m a runner and for me a quality run has cool temps, rolling hills, and some non-dangerous terrain.  It’s easy to get that here which is one of the things I love about running in the Horn of Africa!

Recently we’ve had some political issues in our area.  The people group in our town and surrounding area want to become independent and recognized by the Federal government.  Sometimes the road to change here in Ethiopia can be fraught with some conflict and even violence.  There was a planned and/or expected event yesterday and because of this there were many Federal army troops in our city.  In fact we were not allowed to leave our hospital compound from Thursday afternoon until this morning.

As I left the hospital compound I didn’t see the same groups of people that I usually do.  There weren’t as many people exercising or going to market or doing their thing.  But there were some visitors… lots of dudes in pick-up trucks with machine guns.  They were part of the force to keep peace and order in town.  During my run I actually saw this same group of guys in Toyota pick-ups six times.  Not that I was counting or nervous about it.

This is a stock photo – as I’m not allowed to take their pictures.

This was the actual truck this morning- but I wasn’t supposed to be taking pictures. They are a bit “gun shy”.

Before we left for Ethiopia we went through a month of pre-field training that was essentially “how to be a missionary and not screw it up too badly” – but I don’t recall the lecture entitled “how to handle lots of men with machine guns.” I quickly decided that my approach should be smile, wave, and be very very friendly.  So that’s what I did.  The big guy manning the .50 caliber machine gun on the truck, looking a little menacing in his dark sunglasses and head scarf, saw me and… smiled back.  It was quite reassuring.  Maybe he liked me?  Maybe I amused him?  Maybe if he’s smiling he won’t shoot at me if things get crazy some random day??  So I kept smiling… and he kept smiling back all six times I saw him.

As I came across other random people on my run I thought I should probably give them just as big of a smile and a wave as the machine gun dude.  There was a group of children that were going to school.  I’m not sure why they had school on Saturday but they did look super cute with their notebooks and pencils!

 

 

There was a boy who was playing with a little homemade soccer ball and after I waved he decided to kick it back-and-forth with me so I stopped and tried out my non-existent soccer skills.

There were men getting ready to start their jobs as taxi drivers.  The roads were all closed yesterday so they seemed ready and anxious to get back to work today.

 

I even said hello to some dogs, although most looked a bit frightened and skiddish about my presence.  Dogs here are not pets but are security for homes or just street dogs.  And they aren’t treated particularly kindly.

The lesson I learned this morning is that life is generally better if you’re actually nice to everyone that you meet.  And not just the people who you’re afraid might hurt you or that you’re trying to influence.  I don’t know about you but I usually get pretty busy doing… whatever it is that I happen to be doing.  I’m focused.  Determined.  In my own world.  Not particularly present in the moment or cognizant of those around me.  I’m just trying to do “my thing.” But if I actually reach out, greet people, and make a concerted effort to be nice and kind, then the world around me tends to be a better place.

I definitely saw this played-out this morning, thanks to my new friends with machine guns.  My hope is that others can learn this lesson, sans the machine guns.