Catching Up

1/27/10

After visiting the Dire Dawa disability center, I went to lunch with Tamrat. We had pizza and discussed some of the problems the disabled people for Dire Dawa have especially with resources.

That night I visited Meskerem at her house. Communication was very easy. We talked about the Deaf people in America as well as in Ethiopia. We told each other jokes and talked about our friends and family.

Meskerem has one hearing brother who married a French girl and now lives in France. Her mother soon followed him and Meskerem was left in Dire Dawa to take care of a young boy they adopted after his parents died. Meskerem taught the boy sign language and he is fluent. He’s probably about 6 or 7 years old.

1/28/10

Visited the Disability center again the next day and this time I met with Belete and Bedil that work there as well as people that go there for information and services. The organization is called disability international. I was given a beautiful gift! They gave me an Ethiopian Sign Language book! Waaahoooo did that make my day!

Today is also my last day in Dire Dawa. I said as many goodbyes to my friends here as I could. It is really hard to leave this place and these people. They have given me experiences I will never forget. Dire Dawa is like a second home to me. I could live here in the future with no trouble.

1/29/10

Worku and I left to Harar today. I am here until the 31^st. Once we arrived in Harar I was shown the coffee I bought to bring back to America with me. It was cheaper and we found better quality of coffee buying it raw. Back at the compound the ladies roasted the coffee for me. Once it was finished Worku and I hand packed and sealed the coffee.

1/30/10

I watch a lot of TV when I’m in Harar. I got my period and had trouble focusing on writing or anything else as you can see the last few entries are pretty short. I mean I could talk about all the movies I’ve been watching here and the nice hot shower I took, but I don’t want to put you to sleep. So thank me for not boring you to death ha.

Today after lunch it was finally my time to cook! When I was in Addis at the beginning of my trip I bought an Ethiopian cookbook. I wanted to make Doro Wet. Finally I had the chance today. In the kitchen in the Harar compound two of the girls accompanied me in the kitchen. Success! It officially takes 4 hours to cook this very special dish. The end result is amazing. The only problem was I made it too spicy for Worku’s tastes. For me it was perfect though. I looove spicy food. Really anything with out some spice is just no fun for me.

1/31/10

5AM we left Harar. Worku drove and on the way to Nazreth we stopped at the Awash National Park. ANP is located in the northern part of the Great Rift Valley at the point where the rift widens out into the Afar Depression. It’s about 195km east of Addis Ababa.

The ANP was established in 1966 and was the first National Park to be legally established in Ethiopia. There are many animals here, 81 mammal species including bats, and 453 species of birds. There are the hot springs, and the Awash River, which is 1,200km long (the second longest river within the country.)

The Awash River Falls are beautiful. I didn’t see any Hippopotamus, but I saw lots of baboons. We had to chase them away from the car, as they were already curious enough to jump up and down on the roof and causing trouble.

We arrived at the Nazreth compound in time for Lunch. (Bemnet, Abba Gabriel says, ‘Hello!’) After lunch and a nap I woke up to Salaam, Brihanu, and Girma (Worku’s two younger brothers) arriving.

We changed into our bathing suits and headed out to Sodore. Sodore is famous for their hot springs. I really enjoyed this place! The water is very HOT, very nice. After swimming, bathing, and relaxing we headed back to the compound for dinner.

Brihanu, and his friend Joseph picked up me and Salaam after dinner. We went to a bar/hotel (restaurant.) There was Girma and Yhonas (one of the teachers I know from Bisrate Gabriel school in Dire Dawa) I was so happy to see him! I didn’t have the chance to say goodbye to him before I left Dire Dawa.

We had some draft and talked for an hour. Our curfew at the compound was 10pm. Brihanu, and Girma wanted to take us to a dance club in Nazreth. Salaam and I decided to take our chances and go. If any one questioned us for coming back late we all agreed to blame it on Brihanu, and Girma (Worku’s younger brothers.) 

We had a great time. A really nice dance club, great music, and we were all dancing our hearts out. We arrived back at the compound a little after midnight. Finally after knocking and knocking the guard came and opened the door for us. We excused ourselves and headed straight for our rooms.

2/1/10

5AM we were awoken by Worku and threw our bags in the car leaving Nazreth. We picked up Brihanu, and Girma and dropped them off at the bus station. They were heading back to Addis.

By 8AM we passed Rift Valley and reached Langano Lake. Langano Lake is a beautiful PINK lake! We had our breakfast beside the lake and took a few pictures together before heading to Shashamane (250 km south of Addis Ababa.)

::Shashamane::

In 1948, Haile Selassie donated a piece of land at Shashamane to the Rastafari community. Haile Selassie is worshipped as God incarnate by the Rastafari (mostly Jamacians) people.

His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I was born on 23 July 1892 as Tafari Makonnen, and died on 27 August 1975. He was the heir to a dynasty that traced its origins to the 13th century, and from there by tradition back to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

The name Rastafari is taken from taken from Haile Selassie's pre-imperial name Ras — meaning Head - a title equivalent to Duke — Tafari Makonnen.

Haile Selassie I was the titular head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and denied being divine, yet the movement would continue. The Rastafari movement emerged in Jamaica during the 1930s under the influence of Marcus Garvey's "Pan Africanism" movement, and as the Messiah who will lead the peoples of Africa and the African diaspora to freedom.

Honestly, it’s a silly concept. Rastas in America seem only in it for the fashion and untique style. I mean come on people. Especially the white Rastas… Pshhh ha. Lets get real people you just like the fashion and smoking ganja. ‘It’s cool…’ That’s my opinion.

 I was rather disapointed with Shashamane to tell you the truth. I expected to see a large Rasta community and maybe buy some local goods from them, take some pictures, and well… yeah not the case. It’s just a town like everyother town in Ethiopia. The Rastas have a small compound and you really don’t seem many of them around.

We met with Worku’s younger sister and visited Salaam’s aunt before heading towards our next destination Wolayta.