Ethiopia Follow Up

04/21/2008

Selam! Peace! Hello!

I have returned from Ethiopia and am back in my hometown of CoeurdAlene, ID. Many THANKS to Beline and her family for their WONDERFUl hospitality! I am very excited, because THIS UPCOMING WEEKEND, Beline will be visting MY HOMETOWN here in CDA doing a presentation on the Mt. Entoto community that we encountered towards the end of our trip. Remember the email "Chaining up the Crazies"??? Beline has been doing a lot of work in the Seattle area to raise awareness about this community. For any of you in the CDA area, NOWis an opportunity for you to hear more about this community, to meet Beline before she heads back to Ethiopia, and to find out ways to help the folks at Mt. Entoto. Hunger and homelessness is not only present in Ethiopia, it's very much a reality here in our very own town. This weekend's event is not only about Ethiopia, it's about opening our eyes to the statistics here in CoeurdAlene.

I am hosting an Oxfam America Hunger Banquet this upcoming Saturday. Beline will be guest speaking!! Dinner is complimentary!! And YOU are INVITED!!! See details below (or attached flier) :)....

Hope to see you there! And to share with you a deeper glimpse into who I am through my passion for Ethiopia, my dear friend Beline and awareness of what's going on in our communities.

Hana T.

Oxfam America™ Hunger Banquet

• Over 854 million people worldwide face chronic hunger, even though our planet produces enough food to feed every woman, man and child.
• Take a seat at our table. There is room for all. Join us for dinner, a raffle, music and an experience of local and global hunger.
• Guest Speaker: Beline Wolde, who will be speaking on behalf of the Mt. Entoto community near her hometown of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

When: Saturday, April 26, 2008

Time: 6:30pm - 8:00pm

Where: St. Pius X Faith Formation Center625 E. Haycraft, CDA, ID 83815

RSVP: To reserve your seat, call 208-755-0816

Sponsored by St. Pius X and Oxfam America™Dinner

Chain Up The Crazies

12/16/2007

She is chained to the tree like a pet monkey.

This "crazy" woman, afflicted with mental illness, was abandoned by her parents on the top of Mt. Entoto next to St. Mary's church, just outside of Addis Ababa. This church is known nationwide for the healing power of its holy water, and thus attracts a huge number of people with disabilities and illness. To the right of the church, in a cluster of small trees, I saw the crazy woman.

Her large, piercing eyes darting from side to side with anxious curiosity...they look HUGe against her shaved head and small, thin body. Her face twitches as she mutters to herself, adding to the animal-like quality of her appearance. She sits with her knees pulled up to her chin, hidden beneath a dull green T-shirt. At first sight it is not clear if she even has legs. At closer glance, you'll notice that her feet are bound by the chain running along the ground from the nearest tree. Ten meters away, eight men are all chained at the ankles, laying casually in the sun. The community here by St. Mary's church doesn't know what else to do with the crazies except chain them up.

The woman can't be much older than me. She has been living with mental illness for 8 years and was abandoned here 8 months ago. Her parents, like many villagers throughout Ethiopia, had heard about the healing power of the holy water at St. Mary's church. When the water did not heal their daughter, they abandoned her on the mountain and returned to their village. The St. Mary's community has taken "care" of her thus far, leaving her chained up outside by day and bringing her inside by night.

This St. Mary's "community" I speak of is a community of outcasts...diseased, crippled, orphaned, HIV positive, "crazy"....most drawn to the area with hopes of being healed and for many reasons, still afflicted and never returning home to their villages. They become "Unknowns", unacknowledged by the local government because they have no form of photo identification (b/c they're from the village) and do not own land in the area (b/c they only have enough money to rent a room by the church). Because they are not recognized by the local government, they are unable to receive their free medication for HIV, etc. For those who are recognized by the govt and DO receivie their medication, often there is no consistent supply of food to take their medication with... and without food, the medication creates harmful side effects, so the individuals quit taking their medication, and their illness regresses. DAMN.

Out of all the NGO's (non-governmental organizations) that are presently in Addis Ababa working towards improving the standard of living for those most in need in Ethiopia, there are NONE that are helping out this community that is in DIRE NEED. Rather, there are TWO...INDIVIDUAL..PEOPLE...who recognize the dire circumstances of this outcast community, and are taking action, one little tiny baby step at a time...

Massai: he is in his twenties and came to St. Mary's infected with HIV in hopes of being healed by the holy water. He made a promise to God that if he were healed, he would do whatever he could to help this community. Massai now has NO TRACE of HIV in his body and is fulfilling his promise to God in the very small ways that he is able. For example, there is no adequate sanitation system in place, so Massai has begun each day by cleaning up the human feces that is left all over the place in order to improve sanitation.

Mimi: she is in her late twenties, a middle class working woman living in Addis Ababa. She discovered this community awhile back and has since been donating a portion of her salary to pay people's rent or buy items of necessity such as blankets, sheets, and filling prescriptions while she is in Addis. It was thru Mimi that I ended up encountering the St. Mary's community.

Several friends in our social circle have created their own social justice committee, seeking out ways they can be of service to the most needy in their community. One of them knew Mimi, so as a group, we accompanied her to the mountain for a tour of the St. Mary's community. We toured thru homes rented by HIV postitive patients. It was a maze of rooms, like a single-story motel built spontaneously on an uneven hillside. The rooms were made with mud/straw siding with tarps and flattened fuel cans as doors. Uneven dirt pathways wound down the hillside connecting the many strands of rooms. Within this maze that houses 80 people, there was only ONE bathroom...and it was a large pit dug out with a woven flooring of wood laid over the pit. In the center of the flooring was a single hole used by everyone, whether they were infected with HIV or not. Talk about needing some sanitation infrastructure!! We looked in on patients, greeting them with care and handshakes. I was so thankful for my AIDS CareTeam training and experience in Seattle because HIV/AIDS is an intimidating illness, even with training! As the tour came to an end, hundreds of people had begun following us: pleading, crying, begging, smiling. Little children, adults with rashes/bumps, their situations dire. At one point, a crazy guy with a piece of metal advanced towards us, so we retreated into the church property. Some people have cruel intentions to infect others with HIV, so we had to watch our backs. Mimi and our friend Tina took the time to record names and begin "registering" people so they could receive medications from the govt. Within an hour, they had 288 names, 77 of those were children.

As a group, we decided to dedicate our time and energy to this community. It will be an ongoing effort that we are praying friends and family will help out with. Several of us returned to the community to document their situation. I took photos as bed-ridden patients with HIV and paralyses graciously allowed me to enter their homes. Beline documented for each photo the name, status, illness, and so on. By the end of the day we had over 480 "registered" people. OUr friend Tina has already created an Excel spreadsheet used to register patients and keep track of their medication and illness status over time. We are calculating the amount of money it will take to feed, shelter, and clothe each person per month. We are also creating a website with the photos to share with family, friends and potential donors. At some point you will be able to sponsor a person and see their picture and status online, as well as follow along with the ways that your money is being used. Our goal is to get all of the money from the donor to the patient, without money being lost by a middleman/woman.

Be sure that I will keep you posted on this project! If not to help out, then at least to SEE this community. To recognize that their situation is reality and that these are not merely "unknowns" but each has a name and face and story.

hmm,
HT

I Saw a Hyena.....

12/11/07

I saw a hyena.....hole. ;)

Last weekend marked the third anniversary of the death of a closefamily friend, Eric Dvoracek. He was one of the most amazing men I'vemet and died at age 28 while flying his plane. In honor of hisyoung, adventurous spirit, Beline took me, Mo and Yibe on a 7 hourhike up a mountain that her dad used to take their whole family upevery Sunday when they were growing up in Ethiopia. We hiked throughhyena forests, though all we saw was their holes since they only comeout as the sun goes down. The view of Addis and the surroundingmountains was breathtaking. And what a joy to be ABOVE all the city'spollution for once!!! At the top of the mountain we stopped into therestaurant/bar where Beline's dad used to take the family. In honorof Eric, who liked to drink Jaegermeister, we bought a bottle of the Ethiopian liquor, OUZA, that tastes closest to Jaeger (exactly likeblack licorice). I had the bartender distribute shot glasses toeveryone in the bar (which consisted of the four of us and a few oldvillage men). Then Mo gave a toast in AMharic as I poured shots ofOUZA for everyone. He told them that the "Farengi" (Gringo) hadbought them all shots in honor of her friend Eric who had died on thisday. At that, everyone in the bar stood up, raised their shot glassesand we threw back a bottle of OUZA. (Which, by the way, has a pictureof a stag on the bottle, just like Jaeger). I was very moved thateveryone stood up for him.

After the bar, we continued along the mountain to the ruins of a veryold rock-hewn church called Washa Michael Rock Hewn CHurch. Twobrothers had built the church into one enormous slab of bedrock over1000 years ago. At the church's gate we met a little girl namedRahel, probably six years old. When Beline asked her what she wantedto be when she grows up, she said a pilot. I was SHOCKED. Here wewere hiking up a mountain, celebrating Eric's life and of all theprofessions in the world, this little girl wanted to be exactly whatEric was!!! The whole day was a beautiful celebration.

Peace and blessings,
HT

Hyena Territory

12/6/2007

Mamush is a shy little boy, probably 8 years old, who hangs around outside Make's video shop everyday with his shoe polishing kit. There is a speaker outside the shop door that blasts music all day, so Beline and I are often found dancing in the store. Whenever Mamush passes by, he flashes his huge BRIGHT smile and shyly does his own little dance moves by the street, though never comes over to talk with us. Today we found out that he doesn't speak Amharic, but is from a village north of Addis. He is living here in the city with four other young boys from the village. The 5 of them split rent, each paying $30 birr/month and spend their days cleaning and polishing people's shoes on the street. They charge 20 cents per cleaning. They are an urban version of the shepherd boys I met last month. These boys are on their own in the city, taking care of each other by working and not going to school, and their families all live in the villages many miles away. I don't know if he'll see his family again.

At grandma's house, there are two girls that live with us and take care of all the cooking and cleaning. Genet is 19 and Mulu is in her 30s. They occasionally have a day off to visit their families, but otherwise we are their family day in and day out. The family interacts very formally with the girls, so life at the house can be very dull for them. Beline and I have spiced up their lives. We love coming home late, after the family has been served dinner because we sneak into Mulu's kitchen, sit on the floor, and eat dinner with her and Genet. THey love making fun of Beline and me and we give it back to them. Sometimes we'll surprise them with snacks from the city.Yesterday Beline and I stayed home and shared in the daily chores. We walked about 2 miles to pick up pastries and onions for Mulu at the nearest little store. There is no running water at the house, so we bathed and washed clothes in the outside sink with water collected in buckets. It's a busy life, hardly a moment to rest with all the food preparations and water hauling to do throughout the day. There are also no street names or house numbers in most of Addis. Grandma's house is in one of the only housing developments that actually has addresses. The street signs are funded by Pepsi Corporation, so our "street address" is PEPSI zone 8 road 3.

Condaleeza Rice was in town yesterday. The United States is funding Ethiopian troops to do peace-keeping in Somalia, as Somalia faces the possibility of becoming an extremist Islamic State. According to President Bush, the "Peace-Keeping" is to prevent Somalia from becoming a "heaven for Al-Quaida." Beline's uncle Behare is a major in the military and is headed to Somalia soon as a peacekeeper. He invited us to visit his residence at the Ethiopian military base outside of ADdis earlier this week. We met the head-honcho of the base, Lietenant Colonel Baya, and had a good laugh in his office as he joked around with us. I was surprised by the friendliness of all the military personnel that we met, especially Behare who gave up his only day off in two months of peacekeeping training to show us around. Behare took us to the stables at the base where Ethiopia's race and show horses are housed. They compete worldwide and the museum at the base is full of their trophies. Just the sight and size of the horses was impressive! On the way to the stables, we witnessed a THREE YEAR OLD boy named Abush round up four goats that had gotten out of the stables. Using a clot of dirt and a random stick he found, Abush succeeded effortlessly to get the goats where they needed to go...and he was THREE YEARS OLD! I was impressed. Abush's older brother was riding one of the horses and kindly let me have a go. I rode an Arabian horse by the name of Netche (white). She was quite fiesty!! I was surprised to find out during our visit that there are Somalians in the Ethiopian military. They serve as translators.

Grandma's house is in hyena territory....right at the base of a mountain. One week left to see or even HEAR a hyena!!!
take care,
Hana T.

DARN MONKEYS!!!

11/21/2007
After seeing another monkey in the road and two more flat tires later, we made it safely back to Addis Ababa with a total of 8 flat tires (and a distaste for monkeys in the road). I couldn't believe it.

None of us realized how many MOUNTAINS there are in Ethiopia. Once we ascended our first mountain pass, in awe of the grandeur of the view, it was nonstop steep, rocky, mountain roads after that...up and down and up and down adn up and down mountains. At the end of each day i would look at my skin and be excited by how tan I was. And every night before bed I would watch my tan run down the drain as the layer of dust that we accumulated every day driving the dusty roads washed off. I was surprised by how COLD it can be in Africa!! We stayed one night in Maychew, which we called "Ethiopian Seattle" because it was chilly. The next night we ended up in "Ethiopian Alaska" (Dese) which left me shivering in bed. All I can say is THANK YOU Sean for sweatpants!!! They've served me well. Due to our unexpected number of flat tires, we missed out entirely on the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela. Instead, we were able to see the orphanage where our buddies Bire and Mohammad grew up.

Bire was born in a village in the northern part of Ethiopia. He doesn't remember meeting his dad and by the age of 5, his mom was unable to provide for him. Bire doesn't remember how it happened exactly, but somehow he was taken from his home and ended up at the orphanage that we visited. I was expecting one or two buildings, but this was an entire compound that once housed as many as 500 orphans at one time. It was a beautiful location, nestled off the road in a cluster of trees and gardens, surrounded by farmland and a river running through the valley. Though the orphanage closed down 8 years ago, it is operating now as an Agricultural research Center, so Bire was able to give us a tour. Beline's dream is to open her own orphanage one day, so Bire recounted the details that made his orphanage experience a positive and even fun one. He has many fond memories of this place, where there was lots of green space for the kids to run around, and lots of friends right nearby. It reminded me of a summer camp, and through his stories, had a very good feel to it. While he were walking, an old woman approached us and her face lit up as she recognized Bire. She had been the cook and cleaning lady at the orphanage when Bire was little; they hadn't seen each other in eight years. This place was home and family for Bire, and though he has mostly fond memories, he says he would give anything to have a mother.

Other highlights of our trip:
Axum: we explored underground tombs of Ethiopian Kings and Queens. By the St. Mary of Zion church, we saw the building which is said to house the Ark of the Covenant(the 10 commandments written on stone that God gave to Moses). No one except a few orthodox priests are allowed in the sacred place, visitors can only see the outside of the building. (we got a picture of the place, dad!) While the real Ark of the Covenant is said to be in that church, there are copies of the Ark of the Covenant in every Ethiopian Orthodox church in Ethiopia. On special holidays, the replicas are paraded around.

Gondar:we explored castles and the swimming pool of King Fasilidas, an Ethiopian King. Ethiopia is the only African nation that has never been colonized. The British and Italians occupied it for awhile, but never colonized it. Thus, there is much Ethiopian pride here.

Flat Tire #8: gave us opportunity to visit the oldest Muslim community in the world, aside from Mecca. We visited the mosque and played tickle monster with the little children, whose clothes were literally rags falling off their bodies, flies crawling all over their faces, even in the corners of their eyes, bloated bellies...poverty was very evident. One little boy in particular had clothes hanging on by a thread, so Beline and I gave him a tanktop, which became a dress on him! He was so happy, his sister marched him off to their house to show mom.

In the town of Wikro, we did see one rock-hewn church called Cherkos, part of which was a cave. It was built in the 4th century and is the oldest Orthodox church in Ethiopia.

WILD MONKEYS!! We stopped up in the mountains at a place called the Afar gap, where troops of wild monkeys run free. I've never seen that many monkeys in the wild...it was WILD!! There were hundreds of them and we had to hike up the mountain through fields of oregano to see them (I raced a couple of the local boys, though was soon out of breath from running). The boys hunted the monkeys and were wearing hats made of long monkey fur. They kept asking me if I wanted to buy oregano, so I asked them if they eat the monkeys and cook it with oregano. They said no, that they were Christians and that Christians don't eat monkeys. It might be in the Orthodox Bible, but I didn't remember anything about not eating monkeys in the Catholic Bible. The boys were fun to chat with, their English was very good.

Back in Addis...kevin flew out last night :(. Our trio is down to two and we miss him dearly! Wishing you a Happy THanksgiving tomorrow...what I wouldn't give for some PUMPKIN PIE!!! i'll probably be eating goat.
:) Hana T.

A Day in Addis

11/27/07
The longer I'm here, the more details I'm able to observe as the chaos of a new place become routinely familiar. I feel at home. I forget that I'm not Ethiopian, even while everyone around me is speaking Amharic. Beline and I have met an incredible and hilarious group of friends that we spend time with everyday: Bire, Yibe, Mesfiti, Mo, Make. Make owns a video store, which is the central meeting place for all of us each day. From there we head out for coffee or dinner. (FYI: Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee, and the quality of it here is so good that I'm actually drinking coffee!! It is served in small cups, probably 4 oz, but very strong) The generosity of our friends and of Beline's numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins that feed us and house us, far surpasses any generosity I have ever experienced.

The communal aspect of the Ethiopian culture is evident at mealtime, when all gather around one huge plate of food and eating with our hands, we feed each other. Walking down the street, friendly affection is commonly shown as two men hold hands, or two women, or a man and woman who are friends. Mo has held my hand several times and each time it catches me off guard and I feel awkward. To me, handholding is more intimate than friendship, so it is taking me a while to put myself in the mindset of this culture, where handholding is a friendship gesture.

Foozball and ping pong tables are on random corners, usually with a cluster of kids around them. I've played several times, it's a blast!! OH yeah, the toilet paper here (if there is any) is red, yellow and blue!! And as for bathroom accomodations, if you don't find yourself a toilet, there's sure to be a hole in the ground :).

The streets are a place of chaos...Shepherds (both children and adults) guide their HERDS of sheep, goats, oxen, and donkeys down the middle of the streets. Meanwhile, hundreds of blue and white mini-buses, taxis, and assorted trucks and personal vehicles (of which there are nearly 1 million white SLUGBUGS), pay no attention to traffic lanes, but drive all over the road weaving through beggars, mobs of pedestrians crossing everywhere, and occasional stray dogs. CHAOS!! Driving down the street, it is common for oncoming traffic to be passing you on both sides. Very few traffic laws are enforced. OH yeah, and it is a running joke that seatbelts are illegal here. (actually, most seatbelts don't work). There is one or two functioning stop lights in Addis. And instead of the light turning yellow before red, here the light goes from RED to YELLOW to GREEN :). The curbs and cement barriers along the streets are painted in Zebra stripes. Beggars are everywhere. Bire's theory is that givers create beggars, so I have not been giving out much money. ITs true that there are some people who are incapable of work due to blindness or severely crippled limbs, but once you give someone money, other people who weren't necessarily begging to begin with will ask you for money. As a "Fahrengi" (Amharic for GRINGO :) ) I am a target for beggars, because in general white skin is associated with money. If I had a dollar to give every beggar I've encountered, I'd have given out over a million dollars already.

This past SUnday morning, Beline and I and our friends joined 30,000 Ethiopians (and a handful of Fahrengi's) for the 10k GREAT MILLENIUM RUN. The run reminded me of Bloomsday in Spokane, with music blasting from stores and bands playing as we ran down the streets of Addis. There were several water stops, where water in sealed plastic bags (waterbags) were handed out and at one point there was a huge sprinkler blasting over the street! ONe store was playing a popular song that everyone knows, so a huge dance circle was created, blocking most of the road, so I had to join the dance circle in order to get to the other side of the circle to keep running. Everyone was given a yellow Millenium T-Shirt at the beginning, so the race was a sea of black hair and yellow shirts. Beline thought it looked like a bunch of bumblebees. We finished the race and everyone received a finisher's medallion. Beline and I had played in an hour and a half soccer match the day before the race with Make, so we were SO SORE!! It still hurts to walk. I'm just glad my lungs didn't explode!

I attended my first EThiopian Orthodox church service; it was only 3 hours long!! Every day in the Ethiopian calendar honors a certain saint. I went to church on St. Michael's day, so we went to St. Michael's church. We covered ourselves in the traditional white cloth, being sure to cover our hair. As we arrived at the church grounds, I was amazed to see THOUSANDS of people, all in white, streaming through the church gates. The church itself was small, so it was soon packed and the overflow of people settled around the church on teh several acres of sporadic grass. Beggars made their way through the crowds as the church service was blaring over the loudspeakers in both Amharic and Ge'ez (the ancient language from which Amharic was derived). Songs were sung, we stood up, we sat down, we bowed low, and then FINALLY , the moment we were waiting for...the replica of the Ark of the Covenant emerged from the church under a cluster of colorful umbrellas as the deacons paraded it several times around the church. Quite the ritual!! I was thankful for the experience, though three hours was enough. MAny people stay at the church all day and in the evening there is a candlelit service....imagine thousands of people in white, all with candles. Beautiful sight to see.

Beline and I have been kicked out of our house. It used to be the headquarters for France's Doctor's without Borders. That closed down a while back, but Beline's aunt and uncle have been renovating the place while we've been there and a couple of dentists from EThiopia have just rented it for their dental clinic. SOooooo....we have moved in with Beline's GRANDMA. We call her Amaye. She is 95 years old, blind, has a dark wild fro, and is often seen dancing, singing and free-style rapping in Amharic!!! She is a doll. The only thing she says to me in English is "I don't care" and is delighted when I speak Amharic to her!! She is so precious.

These last three weeks, I am planning to work with an NGO (non-governmental organization). I'm in the process of finding one. Already, Mo and Make have invited me to stay in Ethiopia. They say I can work with an NGO, they'll find me a small house, I already have a family of friends here, I'm picking up the language quickly, so why not????? Beline's dream of building an orphanage is falling into place. OUr friend Yibe and his brother Messai are both engineers wiht a construction company and have offered to design and build the orphanage for Beline. Our friends Bire and Mo both grew up in an orphanage and have already offered much useful advice in how to effectively run an orphanage, and because Beline is visiting Ethiopia during the Millennium, she has access to buy land here for cheaper than usual. I am excited for her orphanage! And whether or not I decide to live in Ethiopia, I will certainly come visit and hopefully bring some of you with me to experience it all!!
Peace,
hana T.

Blog not WORKING

11/10/2007
Tenestelleen (Peace be upon your day)... Updating the blogsite is proving to be quite tricky here!! The blog won't show up on most of the computers, and the one that it does show up on, I'm not allowed to use the drive to get photos off of my camera. Speaking of cameras....my camera broke on the airplane ride to Ethiopia. The screen where I view pictures cracked, so I never know what my pictures look like until I look at them on the computer!! This is going to be interesting :). (Mom and Auntie Care, you were asking about Christmas gifts...money towards a new camera like Kristen's would be helpful). Right now I'm on a ROADTRIP!!!!!!!!! Kevin and Beline and I have joined two of Beline's friends, Bray and Yebay, and a driver of an 11 seat mini-bus, and have hit the highway north of Addis on the historical route...right now we're in Bahir Dar which is site of the Blue Nile falls....spectacular and huge waterfalls! Over the next 10 days we'll be visiting the castles in Gonder, the churches built of bedrock in Axum and Lalibela (the churches in Lalibela are the EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD!!) I don't know if I've seen any wonders of the world. :) Only mishaps of the trip thus far was a flat tire on the road this morning. Oh yeah, and an EARTHQUAKE in Berkeley, CA the night before I flew out. That was scary! I'm off to the Nile Falls... Ciao,Hana T. "The miracle is not to fly through the air or to walk on water, but to walk on the earth." -Thich Nhat Hahn