Ethiopia

Addis Ababa

We received an assignment to go do training in Addis Ababa Ethiopia.  Only my imagination had envisioned such a place as this and not with great accuracy. As we had seen in other countries, the road was shared by free roaming cows, sheep, goats, dogs and a few horses.  Here there were also many donkeys weighted down with heavy burdens and in Harar there were even camels!

Training:  We had a great meeting with the Priesthood brethren in Addis Ababa, including the District Presidency and several Branch Presidents and stake and ward clerks.  We did Audit & Financial Training and answered questions.

President Esubalew Biru Haptu, Rolexx Onzima, Debbie & Chris

These brethren had not had official training but had worked hard to learn proper procedures.  Here is a paragraph from Chris's report following our training:  "We were truly impressed on how much these brethren knew and how much they were doing correctly by simply reading the manuals.  President Preator (in mission presidency) relayed to us that the number of members in the country has been decreasing.  He attributes this to teaching correct principles; especially with regard to fast offering. (many members came into the church and then left when they could not received continual monies from the church)   President Preator feels that the current membership is much stronger and there is a better foundation now on which to grow the church."

This is the Church sign written in Ethiopian language of Amharic

Church: On Sunday we attended church in the Meganagna Ward.  They accomplish a great task every week as they speak in their Semitic Amharic language along with an English translator. The members were very kind and welcoming. 

During sacrament meeting a little boy about age 3 sitting in the row in front of us turned and gave me the biggest smile!  He raised his hand and I high fived him.  He then came around the bench to our row, climbed up on my lap and snuggled in like my own little grandson.  I realized at that moment how very much I miss my grandchildren and this must have been a sweet gift for me to treasure that day and I did so with gratitude. This little one stayed quietly on my lap throughout the meeting speaking to me only a couple times in his native tongue of Amharic. What did he say?  I will choose to imagine something very sweet. :)

Friends: After church a very lovely missionary couple invited us to their house for dinner!  What a delightful couple they are!  She fixed a wonderful soup with vegies from their own garden, homemade bread and brownies! Being in their home away from home reminded me of the greatest treasure Idaho has - it's people. I felt like I was with family - so at home with them.

Clyde & Delores Moses

Elder & Sister Moses are from Parma Idaho and how I love & admire them for the service they are rendering there & the sacrifices they make! They work with humanitarian aid and the Ethiopian government is not making it easy - passing laws to require charitable organizations to rent locally (rather than operate out of the church) and hire two local people full time rather than just using volunteers! 

Water: Something we Americans take for granted is water.  Elder & Sister Moses only get water 3 days a week! Tues, Weds and Thursday they have water and the remaining four days they must ration what they have collected in the tank on the top of the house.  The water is not drinkable & not good for bathing but fine for a shower. 

How would you like to go daily to this water center to get containers for home use.
Ah, how blessed we are to have plumbing and out of the plumbing comes drinkable water!

Adoption: Another government money making project is adoption.  At church there was a couple from Kaysville UT with their little Ethiopian child (Belise - pronounced Bell-ee-say) that they were adopting.  We later learned that even though there are over 5 million orphans in Ethiopia, most of them still have a parent or some family around.  Even after you go through all the legal processes of adoption, the family may still come after you for gifts and money for the rest of your life.  They may also insist that you come and visit so that they can see the child.  The child may then get abducted for ransom and may not be returned to the adopted parents.  It's a big money making operation - not because they love the children but because of the almighty buck. After having lived in Africa for awhile now, I have a different view point than I once did.  We cannot come into Africa with the mind of an American.  Taking these children away from their culture and their people just to give them an American way of life is not necessarily a good thing.  Orphanages are a part of life here and the village raises the children.

Wheat Threshing:

This is how they thresh wheat!!!  They spread out the bundles and let the cows tromp around on it until the grain is separated from the plant. They then throw the wheat up in the air letting the chaff blow away and the grain fall to the ground.   Hmmm - and what do they do about doo doo & urine in the wheat?  Well, look below for part of that answer!  

Fuel for cooking: 

Ladies shape cow dung mixed with a bit of wheat chaff
by hand into these disks.  They stack and sell them
to use as fuel.  Food is cooked over a cow dung fire.

************SIDE TRIP TO LALIBELA************

We got permission to take a side trip to see a couple World Heritage sights.  Lalibela was our first stop.
This was a little community of the most friendly, polite and welcoming people.  As we walked the streets people would say "Welcome" and want us to join them in their home for coffee.  Coffee is a HUGE social pastime. (Also a way to make money off of a tourist).  Even in the airport a lady was roasting coffee on open coals:

Roasting coffee beans on open flame in airport!

Honey being sold in the airport

This is a seating area in our hotel.  

Our hotel was very clean and lovely.  And from our hotel ... ah the sounds of Lalibela.  Goats bleating, donkey's braying, roosters cockadoodling, hens clucking and dogs barking. 

Children loved to follow us around to practice English.  I walked past an old broken down pickup with a load full of children.  The cheery children all wanted to shake my hand.  I stopped to do just that, shaking each hand and receiving a huge smile in return.  One very beautiful little girl, probably about 2 years old, reached up to me. She had big beautiful eyes, a curly mop of hair & that kind of baby face you just want to kiss.  She wore a long green dress tattered at the bottom, giving it a lacy look.  She wanted in the truck with the other kids so I helped her up.   I so wanted a photo of these kids and especially the sweet little 2 year old but I didn't have the camera with me.

Here is a picture of Solomon & Gitachiu who followed us around.  Solomon took the little wooden cross off of his neck and put it on me.  Okay, I felt very special!

Notice my new necklace from Solomon!

Ha ha, and then later I felt gullible. Solomon explained how he was from the country but was living with his aunt in Lalibela so that he could go to school.  He told me that in school, 10 students have to share one text book.  He led me to a family store where there was a used physics book he wanted and I bought it for him.  He seemed so grateful and thanked me genuinely for my kindness.  

On and on children would follow us around cheerfully making friendly conversation.  Never once did anyone ask for money but over and over we heard the same story of how they were living with their aunt so they could go to school and 10 students had to share one text book.  I then began to wonder how many times that physics book I bought had been purchased from the family store.  Ha ha, oh well.  

This is a very out of place restaurant that we ate at.  It was
created and is run by a lady from Scotland!  

Typical Ethiopian food.  It's a big crepe type bread called Injera.
Tastes very sour.  You eat it with these different kinds of beans,
potatoes, beets and spinach.

Lalibela is known for its ancient stone churches.  These churches are not built with stones but rather cut into the rock.  It is quite a complex system of churches with passageways and tunnels and we wouldn't have known how to get around it all without our guide.

Donkeys carrying such a heavy load

Men making gravel with a hammer and some using a
chisel to make cobblestone.

Building a bridge.  Click to enlarge and see their stairs!

The road was closed so our guide told us we could walk from here
to one of the churches we wanted to see...about a 40 min walk.  First
we had to climb this huge dirt mound.  Boy did I wear the wrong shoes!

climbing down the rough steep stairway 

Standing at the top of the church

Looking down from the top

Chris and Endayene Kasaye, our guide, stopping at the store for a snack.
Yes, this is a store!

BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE of LALIBELA

Ha ha, as we drove along I notice about a half dozen children up in the tree!
You must click on this to see how cute it is.

Women carrying heavy bundles

Coptic Priest in the church sure looks tired.

It's amazing what the women carry!

Selling some beans at the side of the road.  Chris took this
picture.  He gave them some coins to take their photo.

Women carrying water to their homes

The women & little girls all wear dresses, long modest dresses and green is the popular color due to its symbol of fertility.  Even though we saw much beauty in the colorful patterns of women's dresses, everyone had the same dust colored hue filtering out and softening the vibrancy of color.  

I must be back in time...this is a boy plowing a field!!
When I commented on the boy and plow our guide said something
so interesting!  He expressed gratitude that in Ethiopia they
still grow everything organically because they can't afford
the harmful chemicals like the United States is using.  Isn't that
interesting that he would be aware of that!

Yes, he's carrying an assault rifle.  I think he was a policeman.

Homes

I'd like to know how they shape their hay stacks like that!

These women were sifting grains

We walked so many miles.  The face of the land was freshly powdered in dust that often poofed with each footstep.  Our nostrils took it in and our bodies began to blend into our surroundings. My sweet little Echo sandals were very brave.  They had no idea what I would put them through and they pretended to be a chameleon as they changed colors and camouflaged with the ground. 

These boys ran over to say goodbye to us as we were leaving Lalibela.

**************SIDE TRIP TO HARAR***************


Harar is an ancient city which is part Orthodox and part Muslim all living peaceably together.  Our hired guide,Daniel Ashanafi, hired a driver and they picked us up from Dira Dawa to take us to our hotel in Harar. As we drove we noticed long long lines of trucks and taxis etc that seemed to go for miles.  Daniel told us they were all waiting for fuel and our driver had to wait 5 hours to fill up!  It is common here for fuel to run out and everyone just has to wait!  As we drove along feeling thankful that our driver was able to fill his tank, we came to a barricade blocking the road.  We commented on it with concern but Daniel just said in his cute  & cheerful accent "This whole life is one big road.  There is always another way to go."

Our Hotel
Oh my.  This was what you call an experience.  If anyone decides to visit Harar Ethiopia, I highly recommend you not stay here.  (Unless you only have $17.00)

We closed our eyes and tried to get comfortable upon the bony bed, feeling every spring but grateful for clean sheets.  A fly buzzes our noses.  Chris flips on the light and with impressive speed that would impress even Mr. Miyagi, that fly is a thing of the past.  No he didn't use chop sticks.  Out goes the light again and ...Bzzzzz - oh no a mosquito!  Light goes on...we're on the search.  The sneaky little bugger got away and we give up.

Ha ha ha, they provided a pair of flip flops for our use!  At least
there's a right one and a left one!

Our very own water "heater" - Ha ha and notice
the wiring strung along the wall to a plug by the sink!

The red pitcher is for collecting water.  You see, full blast
only barely drips so you just let the pitcher slowly fill up.

And this is our shower head running full blast.  At least they
provided a bucket to capture the water drips.  We "showered" with cold water
using the red pitcher dipped in the bucket.  I'm sure it was just an ordinary day to them.

BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE IN HARAR


I love pictures of people. It's not as comfortable taking pictures of people as it is a building or a tree but here are a few choice photos made beautiful by the people themselves.

Ah!  Isn't she something!  I rather love this picture.
I think it could be on the cover of TIME!
She was at the coffee plantation.

This little girl was also at the coffee
plantation and she carried her
brother around for the LONGEST time!

A little girl at the
coffee plantation.

I'm not too sure he's happy at me for
taking his picture.

Chris in front of an ancient Mosque on the coffee plantation

Oooo...a little boy riding "bare" back ha ha

He just purchased this goat at the livestock market.

Isn't this man something!  It looks like an ax in
his hand but it is a BONE!  I wish you could
see the other end of it.  It's a big bone and this
guy was crazy!  We think he was high on chat.

Well look at this handsome guy.   Wait!  That's my husband!

This lady was adding color to a basket
 she was weaving.

Here she is in the window of her shop.

 The whole town is alive with colorful clothing!  No one takes any thought about color coordinating or combining patterns - anything goes and it's like a kaleidoscope that changes and swirls as you turn your head!  A very picturesque feast for the eyes!

This lady was right outside our hotel window!
Very beautiful :)

ANIMALS

Not every day you drive past a camel walking down the road!

Poor donkeys.  Their burdens are so great.

This looks like a painting does it not!  

We went to a livestock market where people bring their camels
goats, sheep, donkeys etc to sell.

I think he was whistling "How much is that
doggy in the window"

They almost look like Sherri Lewis hand puppets.
Actually, they are trying to look pretty so
someone will buy them.

The livestock market is in a village of Somalians.

Here is a link to see and hear the camel caravan we encountered.  We were admiring rock formations in the Valley of Marvels near Harar Ethiopia when along came this camel caravan carrying supplies.  Honestly I felt like I was in a movie set!  It was amazing! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fiz8t3HMWho

Scenes in Harar

Fuzzy photo but just had to include it!  Colorful scarves!

There are seamstresses - always men - outside of fabric shops.
They will finish the edges for you.

This is a chat market.  Chat is a leaf everyone chews.  It's a stimulant
and appetite suppressor and is legal in Ethiopia.

These people are not just chatting - they are Chatting it up
buying and selling chat!

As we were walking through this market an old lady beckoned to me.  Next thing I knew she had my hand in both of hers and she was saying something I couldn't understand.  I looked at our guide and he told me she was giving me a blessing!

A few minutes later a little boy around age 9 grabbed my hand and kissed it then reached his hand to my lips for the returned favor.  ha ha!

I got kisses and Chris got the hair on his arms pulled!  Ha ha.  Never noticed this before but people on this continent are rather hairless on their limbs so they were intrigued by the manly hair on Chris's arms.

These guys all wanted me to take their picture and then
they gathered around all excited to see themselves on the camera.
I wish I could have understood what they were all saying.

Look at the colorful mattresses!

Setting up shop in a small cave in the rock

Living quarters in the rock

Blacksmith

Somalian house for a nomad 

Hyenas used to be a problem in Harar.  They would come into the village each night
to eat.  A man decided to start feeding them from butcher shop scraps.
This tradition has continued for 25 years now and they know the hyenas by name.

We flew home to South Africa on Ethiopian Airlines.  Their letters are ET ha ha...so ET flew us home!