Yeh, people say the life here 30-40 years ago was a lot more social, and a lot more people worked from home plying their skills in front of their house. Apparently this way of life is more or less dead, and has been that way for at least 20 years or so.

Even Jamaica is quite inconvenient when it comes to certain things. I remember when I told Priest Brown on Bobo Hill how much I miss drinking coconuts every day, and he reminded me Jamaica has everything and is super easy. We then proceeded to hike down Bobo Hill, catch a bus to town, walked for a half hour, only to drink a piping hot coconut laying in the sun........Jamaica fail.

I have heard good things about I-thiopia, of course only from people who have been there though. There is still a negative misconception that both black and white have that it's full of people starving people. Just like all the people say bad things about "dangerous Haiti," but violent crime in Jamaica and the USVI is way more prevalent, although not many folks seem intimidated to visit both places.

I really do feel Zion is calling, and I've always been drawn to Ethiopian Orthodox much more than the Rastafari. If the door would open to the USA, I couldn't refuse it because those passports would change our lives. However, that window of hope has mostly faded, and now we just seek to be a happy family and eat good food, make friends, and get back to a social way of living.

The negative mental health effects of our time here in Suriname are starting to outweigh the potential gains of placing ourselves in the western hemisphere. We could still immigrate to the USA from I-thiopia though, as the US Embassy if fully functioning there, unlike here. Plus if things don't work out, only $400 for direct flights to Bangkok from Addis.

Bless up brother!

!ENGAGE 60