Seven years... Before Smartphones. Obama was in his first year as POTUS.
I abandoned this blog.
I became Mrs. Misty Amber Moore.
I adopted my husband's three kiddos and we had one together. Mom and my step father moved in with us and lots of things have changed... yet I am the same. The same person. A full time artist and I still love to travel! So finally after a much anticipated wait I am coming home. Home to Ethiopia where all things sprouted. The cradle of the Earth's Children. I invite you and hope you will follow me once again on my journey. A glimpse into my experiences as I once again adventure out of my Plano Texas USA bubble.
“I miss my sunny days in far-aways
Sippin’ on sunshine
No time to whine
No crime spending time
Sippin’ on sunshine”
Oh those yesterdays
When I didn't care about pay
Still productive, yes
The man stands in my way
So I push, push, shove
Stuck in his glove
Cryin' out
Show me the way to the light
Kicking dirt at doubt
Exit, exit
Show me the way out
The lion and the sheep
Still need to sleep
Doin' what you can
Willing hand-
Stand- on- your feet
Run don't creep
Face the steep hill and climb
“I miss my sunny days in far-aways
Sippin’ on sunshine
No time to whine
No crime spending time
Sippin’ on sunshine”
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 31st. 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.
Misrak and I went shopping for a cultural dress this weekend (Friday.) I found one that I liked and fit. We didn’t buy it then since they would charge me more for it just because I am a ferengi (foreigner.) The next day Misrak and Meaza bargained and bought the dress for me. I also got one similar to mine for my sister Arielle. The fabric is hand-woven cotton with hand-stitched designs.
Friday evening I went with Mesfin to the Peacock Café. We met with his friend Anbesa for drinks and to hang out. Anbesa also won the DV lottery and is moving to Texas with his aunt and uncles that have been there for over 15 years already. I showed his how to write an American resume and some things to expect when he gets there.
Anbesa is upset because his family is encouraging him to marry an American when he gets there. He has a beautiful fiancé that I met on Saturday afternoon when Mesfin and I were invited to Ambesa’s house for coffee. He says he will find a way to bring his fiancé over as soon as he has his paperwork finished.
The conversation turned to love and the three types of love that physiology has broken down in to. It is best described using Greek term broken down to these three classifications:
“Agape” is the Greek word for divine, unconditional, self–sacrificing, active, volitional, thoughtful love. Greek philosophers at the time of Plato used it in a way that suggested a universal, as opposed to a personal, love; this could mean love of truth, or love of humanity.
“Philia” meaning friendship in Modern Greek, a dispassionate virtuous love, a concept developed by Aristotle. This love is what one has towards their family and friends.
Lastly, “Erotic Love”; conjugal love is involved in erotic love as well, and is understood as a sexual love.
We decided you need all three of these in a relationship. Since that was the conclusion of our discussion we finished that with these things involved in Anbesa’s relationship, he and his fiancé will be able to be patient until arrangements can be made to bring his fiancé to Texas with him.
Yesterday (Sunday) for lunch the Abbas and I were invited to Assumpta’s house. We brought our lovely 93-year-old Abba Petros. It’s the first time I’ve seen him leave the Catholic Church Compound.
Assumpta has a very large family. After I greeted her whole family we were lead into the living room (they call it the salon.) We sat down and one of the sister’s brought water to wash our hands. The other sisters rotated with different dishes of food filling our plates.
‘Kojo’ is a food typical of the south (where Injara/ Teff is hard to get.) of Ethiopia made from the ‘False Banana.’ The False banana tree is just what the name describes. It looks like a banana tree only it never produces fruit. Kojo is typically eaten with ‘Kitfo’ (a meat dish.)
The outer layer of the tree is chopped away and the inner part is mashed. The locals mash the inners with their bare feet. (Most people in the countryside don’t wear shoes and their feet can be pretty gross.) They burry the mash in the false banana leaves underground for a few years while it ferments.
Once the mash has fermented it is unburied and by this time has grub larva within the muddle (the locals say if there are no larva in the mash it has not fermented enough.) again the mash is pounded by bare feet and again it is burred for some time.
Finally they unearth the mixture, pound it one last time, and cook it into a flat gray chewy slightly sour mass of what is called ‘Kojo.’
The Bishop was here today for lunch. He is very funny. During lunch he was telling jokes. One of these was:
Two priests go to dinner they begin drinking. They drink and drink until one of the priests points across the room and says to the other “you must stop me when those two priests over there become three.”
The other priest replies, “but father, there is only one priest sitting over there.”
There was an Ethiopian priest instructing an older Ethiopian man why he shouldn’t drink at his age. The man was arguing and in his defense asked if the bible discouraged it. The Ethiopian man thought he could distract the older man by going in order with books so that the older man might give up on the search.
The Ethiopian priest says to the older man, “Go ahead and start with the Amharic alphabet first and then read so on, and so on.” The older man agrees and picks up the book with the Amharic alphabet.
It begins like this, “HA, HU, LE, LU, ME, MU SE, SU, KE, KU, TE, TU…” at that moment the priest is interrupted by the older man and the man says, “can you repeat that?”
The priest says, “TE, TU…” Again the older man asks the priest to repeat. “TE, TU” says the priest. “See!” the older man says rejoicing. “Even the Amharic alphabet says ‘to drink!’ ” (Tetu = to drink in Amharic)
One of the children new to the catholic school asked Brother Simon, “Why do you wear that dress?”
Brother Simon replied, “It’s not a dress it’s a ‘habit.’
The boy then said, “Well, it looks like what they wear in my Karate class. Is that rope to hit me with when I’m bad?”
I went to an Ethiopian modern wedding reception on Sunday night with Misrak. It was more or less the same as an American reception. Yesterday was The Ethiopian Epiphany “Timket” Misrak, Meaza, T’sehey, and I went to the Orthodox Church in our area and marched with thousands of Ethiopians to another Orthodox Church.
It took us about two hours. We were in a sea of people wearing mostly white cultural clothes. I was the only white person there, but it didn’t seem to be intrusive. People here are really good and respectful here in Dire Dawa.
Police made a barrier to keep people from the popes and bishops leading the crowd. They were highly decorated. One group had multi colored umbrellas with reflective mirrors decorating them. Another group were tribal dancing with wooden staffs. It was really a great spectacle to witness.
Afterwards we stopped at The Jungle to have some juice and cool off. I had spaghetti at Misrak’s house, went back to my room and had a nice nap. Mesfin called and invited me out for dinner and we met up near the school he works at.
We talked about family, goals, and life in general. He is the youngest (27) of five children. A sister (married to a British guy and living in Dubai) a brother that died of Leukemia, and two other brothers (one married, and one still living at home with his mom.) His dad died of a failed liver.
I woke up yesterday and realized that the bimbi’s (mosquitoes) had eaten me raw. I look like I have chicken pox on my arms, chest, and waist. Ouch, ouch, ouch. I spent most of the day reading and finishing up a few art projects I started. Had my Amharic lesson and learned a few more words. Had dinner with Mesfin again and now here I am writing this blog.
The next week or so should be easy going as I have finished most of my duties for HCS. The last project is to hold a Report writing workshop for the staff. I also have to finish up the HCS brochure. Worku put together the picture he wants for the cover I just have to touch it up with Photoshop. Really I think if he were given the opportunity he would make a great architectural artist. I’ve seen some of the models he’s done in his spare time and they’re really impressive for someone with no formal training.
So, Christmas was good. It was an all night thing. Church started at 11:00PM and didn’t end until about 3:30AM. There was singing, tribal drumming, praying and the likes. In conclusion we walked around the block singing and drumming, and holding candles until 3:00AM. It was very beautiful, an angelic experience. I like the fact that I couldn’t understand the language it made the experience all that much better some how.
I have been very busy finishing up my projects. The English classes are now over and I just finished writing up a 14-page report for HCS. I was invited to Meaza’s (Misrak’s roommate) birthday party and really enjoyed myself. We had cake, candies, fruit, and wine. We danced and talked and just had a really great time.
Thursday, I hung out with Mesfin (A Mathematics teacher at the high school here in Dire Dawa.) We had juice at Salaam Hotel, watched Ethiopian Idol, and talked about our lives. He is fun, the same age as me, speaks perfect English, and teaches me some Amharic. We have a lot in common.
I got a call from Abba Negash to say I was needed for dinner early. It was unexpected as it was only 6pm and we usually have dinner at 7:30. They came to pick me up from the hotel. I apologized for leaving in such a rush and left for dinner with the Abbas.
When I got in the car I realized why we were so early to leave. The Bishop was visiting and taking some guests out to a fancy restaurant/hotel for dinner. The guests were Americans. They work for a Catholic church in Minnesota and fund many of the projects for HCS (the charity I am volunteering for.)
It was a wonderful dinner. Afterwards Abba Negash and I walked home for our nightly walk. Abba Worku has been in Harar. He comes back a forth from Harar to Dire Dawa. I stay in Dire because I like it here the best. I know people here now, have friends, my work, and my things are all in Dire.
Yesterday Misrak, T’sehey, Abba Negash, and I went on a bit of an adventure. We drove for over an hour to see Legoda and caves that has paintings over 7000 years old.
We stopped in a small desert village to buy some coffee for the compound and the people there only spoke Oromo… The only one who could understand and communicate was Abba Negash (he is Oromo.)
All the women from the village came to our jeep. I felt like an alien that had just landed. They all looked at me with wide eyes. They spoke to each other and to us but none of us could understand them. Abba Negash was not there to interpret since he got out to buy the coffee. So we just stared back at them. One of the oldest women poked my arm, and then she pointed to my eyes. She really seemed astonished by my appearance. I felt like an animal at the zoo.
I walk every night with the Abbas. This morning Abba Petros said, “I must die today.” I asked him ‘why’ and he said, “Because I am too old! (93) I am tired of this earth. I want to be with Waga (Oromo pagan god.)” I told him that his ‘room is not ready yet.’ Abba Petros said, “I will wait until I can visit Obama in America, then I will die in America.” He has a big belly laugh and says, “Be” (Eat (F) in Amharic.) It’s just the way he says things that make me want to laugh he gets really serious and then laughs.
Today I had T’sehey teach me Amharic while I taught him some English. He speaks 4 languages including Geez, but doesn’t have much English. He is 25, but is in high school. I asked him why? He told me how he grew up in Gondor. His Father died when he was young and his mother is very poor and sick.
He didn’t have the opportunity to go to school growing up and had to work as a farmer to support his family. The Abbas some how met him and took him to work in the compound here in Dire Dawa. He has been here working for them for three years. The Abbas gave him the opportunity and he now attends night school. He loves it and learns very quickly. He says he loves to read and especially has an interest in History and English.
People here crave education. I have decided that I want to come back here to Ethiopia in the future. I think it might be possible in two years. Meanwhile I will work, save money, help my momma out, and organize some goals.
