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.