11/13/2017

Salaam no?! Today I woke up early to go with Behailu to HCS (The Catholic Charity that Behailu, Netsi and Abba Worku work for.) I surprised a handful of people that I’d met last time I visited! They didn’t expect me to ever return! 

After this Netsi and I went for breakfast and then I presented the two projects to Abba Worku. The first project is a story time party with the orphans in the Catholic Church here in Dire Dawa. After reading a few children’s books I am donating 60 books to them. I am also donating a projector so that they can have movie nights with the girls. 

The second project is with an organization called Days for Girls. I completed their program so I can train and teach girls about women’s hygiene and menstruation leaving them with a packet that has reusable menstrual pads. Also teaching them how to sew the pads themselves so that when I leave they will have the knowledge to pass this on and continue the program.

Netsi Took me to the market so I could get some local clothes made to wear while I am here as well. 

At lunch I went with Netsi to meet her husband Nebil and daughter Elehana.  Back To HCS and before I came home to Behailu’s house for dinner I stopped by the Catholic Orphanage to introduce myself to the new abbas in the compound and meet some of the girls.

Now I am drinking a beer as I write this and getting read to check out for the evening.

11/12/2017

I got to the airport this morning very early to catch my flight to Dire Dawa. I have a hip replacement and it kept setting off the alarms in the airport security. It held me up a bit but I managed to catch my flight in time. Flying it only took an hour to get to my destination where Behailu was waiting to pick me up.

We took a taxi to his place and his wife Mahlet made me some breakfast of Dabufo (traditional bread) and Inqulal Fir-Fir (Eggs with onion and tomato eaten with French bread.)

I met all the neighbors with kisses and hugs. One of the older ladies came back out of her room with photos to of her younger days  when she visited Germany . “She is not German they told her she is from America!” LOL

 The elder women came inside to visit. The eldest of them smothered me in kisses and hugs and even a cry of ululation! (a cultural expression of happiness.)

Then it was decided we would have a traditional coffee ceremony with popcorn and incense burning (Frankincense.) A fragrant herb I’ve never seen before was given to me to stir in my coffee.  It is called Tena’adam which when I googled it is said to have magical powers. I don’t know what these magical powers are however, and I have yet to experience anything magical just yet. 

Lunch and dinner was beer and  Doro Wot (a Chicken stew made of an onion base, chicken, and hard boiled eggs eaten with injara.) Today was mostly calling to let everyone know I arrived safe, resting and visiting with Bahailu’s family. 

It’s very hot in Dire Dawa and there is no air conditioning. Have to watch out for bimbi (mosquitos!) later in the evening Mahlet made us some traditional tea with more Tena’adam.

I’m taking a melatonin to help me sleep tonight!

11/11/2017

Finally sleep came! I spent most of the morning reading until Girma arrived home from work. He took me to Bole to find WIFI and buy my ticket to Dire. So buying a domestic flight fom Addis to Dire is way cheaper if you buy it in Addis VS online in the USA. Round trip came to $3,300 Birr ($1 USD = $27 Birr.) Found WIFI and updated Facebook from my phone. However, it was at a café so I didn’t have a way to upload these Journals just yet.  Got home and had some dinner then we played Farkle and drank a newish kind of beer that they didn’t have last time. Leaving for Dire Dawa early in the morning!

On My way to Dire Dawa, Ethiopia! The East of the East!

11-10-2017

Didn’t sleep. I am used to sleeping with white noise. In the quiet of the night I hear the packs of dogs barking with an occasional donkey’s cry, Simay’s son sporadically crying and my own racing thoughts. Maybe it’s the time change creeping up on me. Maybe it’s because I am not in my own bed.

I was up early and Girma took me to his brother Tinsae’s work. I had buna (coffee) and a burger for breakfast. The plan was to meet up with Assegid and visit his school however Tinsae got a text message that he would have to change plans today.

So instead we visited the national museum. Last time I was here I went with their brother Worku but now I have a much better Camera. So we visited with Dinkenesh (Lucy) and some even older ancestors like Salam.  

Shiro with Injara for lunch. The rest of the day I spent drawing Simay’s son, resting, watching ebs (Ethiopian Broadcasting System) which is a TV channel comparable to PBS, and waiting to see if anything goes on this evening. Tomorrow I will go purchase my ticket to fly to Dire Sunday. Hopefully I can sleep tonight because I feel the tired creeping at my eyes.

I made dinner for everyone tonight. I kept trying to think of easy American food I could make for everyone, but in the end I made Mexican food and explained that since in Texas we are so close to Mexico it’s one of our favorite foods to eat.

Beef is expensive and harder to find so I made sheep soft tacos. I made the four tortillas, guacamole, pico, and rice and beans. I used the beans popular here and they didn’t turn out the way I wanted to but everything else came out well. I even had some packets of Taco Casa hot sauce with me for them to try. It was a success!

I taught my family here how to play Farkle (a dice game kind of like yhatze or poker), read a bit and finally about to crash.

11/09/2017

The flight was long. Two day of airports and flights to get here. I knew it wouldn’t be an easy thing however I didn’t realize the reality of it all until I was about 10 hours into it. I was Exhausted but happy.  A really nice 75 year old man named Simu spent the last stretch of the flight with me. He was super friendly and with a 10+ hour flight we got to know each other.

I am here in Addis now. It’s chilly. My flight being two hours late Girma waited to pick me up from the airport and bring me back to his family’s house. Girma is only one of the 10 sisters and brothers Abba Worku (who took care of me the last time I was here) has.

I reunited with their sister Simay we quickly caught up before I retired last night.  Simay has two children now! Her youngest is only weeks old. I have gifts of course for her and the family. Books, candy, Some dry items from home. A few things to taste and enjoy and a thank you and I missed you all of sorts.

I am not sure what today holds. I am hoping to get a prepay card for my little ancient Nokia cell phone. I need to make some calls to let my other friends know I have safely arrived. I also have to get in touch with Asseged so I can go visit his schools before the weekend. I’d also like to find internet so I can upload this Journal and let all YOU my friends and family at home know I am here and I am safe…

…Full day! I went with Girma’s sister Simay and her friend Salam out to the doctor. Simay recently gave birth and so we took her newborn to the doctor for a checkup.  

Afterwards we came back for a home cooked lunch of shiro and tibs with injara (Shiro is puréed chickpeas withspices and some oil. Tibs is usually fried goat with tomatoes,  jalapeños, and onion. Injara is a gray spongy sourdough flat bread that is high in iron amoung other things and is also used to pick up food in your right hand. It also replaces the need for silverware.)

  Two other sisters were at the house today and I met mom and dad. I got to also see two more of the brothers that also live in Addis. Abba Worku lives in Dire Dawa where I will travel to on Sunday.

Gifts, gifts and lots of gifts for this family because without them I would never had made it this far.  Mahlet (one of the sisters) let me paint a pink and purple butterfly on her face after showing her photos of the work I’ve done.

Girma came home from work and took me for some buna (coffee in Amharic) and then to mom and dad’s house for a homecooked dinner of shiro, sheep tibs, and injara.

Also, hosted my first crocheting with plastic grocery bags! These sisters knew how to crochet already so it was simple to teach them how to process the plastic grocery bags into PLARN (Plastic Grocery Bag Yarn.)

Now time to sleep. Denah deru (good night.)

....::::Earthly Children::::....

It's been 7 years since I took these photos...

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.

Sippin’ on Sunshine

“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”

Artist Misty Boldish and McCort Entertainment's Brent Dow

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.

Cultural Dresses

1/25/10 Monday


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.