“Meester. Meester. How are you. Fine?”
“Hey. Halo! Where you fram?”
“Ferenj! Ferenj!” (Foreigner! Foreigner!)
“Money-money-money-money-money-money-money”
Just a taster of daily tourist life walking around town. Whatever we do, we just cannot escape the fact that we stick out like tourists with sore thumbs. Change of dress, speaking the language, hanging around non-tourist areas- these are all futile efforts to blend with the locals in view of the one simple undeniable, unchangeable fact- our skin colour is not dark! There are so many poor people in the town asking for money that one cannot simply give to everyone, otherwise we’ll be out of pocket. So we have adopted the ethos of giving to those who are trying to earn money, rather than just expecting to be given by sticking their hands out.
An example is the little boys who want to sell you a packet of chewing gum, tissues or mobile phone cards. Also it seems that any Arabs visiting here tend to be quite wealthy, and this is reflected in the amount of money they hand out. Therefore there seems to be an expectation of people that we will inevitably give out large sums of money to everyone. We’ve been followed by little boys about a mile or so down main roads and farm lands, continually asking for money and confronted by groups of woman wearing headscarves, speaking Arabic, telling us that
if we don’t give them money we’re going to go to hell. All countries have people in need, but no country that I’ve visited so far has it so evidently placed everywhere you go. This is contrasted with the daily lives of the average Joe going about their business in the forest, the farm, the main road, the construction site- everyone from the tiny toddler to the withering woman is working. Be it herding cattle, building wooden tables, on the way to an interview or carrying firewood for a daily wage; each person has assumed a job in sustaining their way of life and the economy of the country, and I admire them for it.
After two weeks of operating, the surgeons left for home, having successfully
transformed the lives of forty-three patients. Of course there were some disappointments and complications, but by in large the patients were grateful for the work we’d done for them. Before making their way back to the airport, the team made one last visit to the Cheshire where Dominique, the flamboyant Frenchman, orchestrated a masterful magic show, which was truly stunning by anyone’s standards. The team were sent off with a coffee ceremony and on they went back to their lives. For us it was emotional as we really felt like we made some good friends that we will endeavour to keep in touch with in the future.
One day whilst playing my guitar, marvelling at the splendour of Menagasha Mountain on the backdrop of a clear cobalt blue sky, a handful of local children etched their way closer to me. I knew what they wanted; cookies, a pen, some socks or something. But no, they wanted to play the guitar! With my fingers on the chords, they strummed the guitar and began dancing to the tunes we created. Like little energiser bunnies, they couldn’t get enough guitar playing until eventually I had, and I followed by constructing a little bow and arrow for one of the boys, named Aklilu. He is around ten years old and the son of one of the nurses working with us at the Cheshire. Using my trustee ‘Victorinox’ pen knife, a stick that had a natural curve to it and elastic band I proudly began carving and knotting the pieces together to make the bow. Every so often Aklilu would try and offer his own suggestions as to how I should tie the elastic, what materials
I should use or the type of wood. Of course, knowing best, being older and from the West I continually shook my head telling him to just wait and see as to what perfectly crafted weapon I would eventually create for him. After fifteen minutes or so of frustration, Aklilu ran off to find his own stick and string and within a few minutes, while I was just finishing off my weapon, he had already created his with a bunch of arrows to suit. Comparing the two, his was slightly larger and more threatening than mine, however the real acid test would be witnessing them in action. I decided to go first and show him how a real bow and arrow should work. I stood tall, arched my back and placed the arrow in between my index and middle fingers before gently pulling back on the bow, picking my spot on a tree branch some ten metres away. I released my grip like Robin Hood and off the arrow went some two metres or so plummeting into the ground beneath my feet. What an anti-climax. With prayers of failure whispering under my breath, I watched Aklilu imitate the same motions as I, releasing his grip on the hand-carved arrow. This time, the arrow flew through the air some fifteen metres or so hitting the exact spot he had intended, leaving me humiliated in our tribal warfare. I was a broken man.
Marwan,
How are you? I am Belete. Today is Wednesday. Can you come to our program with your wife to participate? If you came you are Happy!
Your senserly, Belete
The weekly Cheshire talent search begins at 7pm on Wednesday’s in the restaurant wing of the centre. It is overseen by Ayo and hosted by a bright young man called Belete, whom I have gotten to know quite well and become somewhat fond of. He speaks good English and has surprisingly straight black hair for an African, with streaks of white flowing through. He is bound to a wheelchair due to being affected by Polio as a child, although he does not let this affect him in anything he does, be it playing table tennis, football or basketball. The show began like most things here; with music and dance. The traditional Ethiopian dance is something that cannot be described by words alone and exceedingly difficult to pull off by a non-local. It is a mixture of hip, chicken neck and shrug you shoulders in a jerky fashion movements accompanied by unique up-beat music that just gets you in the mood. After this, the room was organised into a central stage and circling chairs as audience. Belete began by introducing everybody and explaining the first game- a kind of ‘Family Fortunes’ quiz with two contestants on stage. The questions covered a wide breadth of knowledge areas and I was impressed as to the audience’s knowledge. If no one knew the answers to the question being asked, they referred to me, the supposed all-knowing British Doctor, who would unfortunately often disappoint! This was followed by a drama acted by some of the children. The story was of a young man as part of a family who was infatuated with a girl. The girl made him late for class and consequently his homework on the prevention of AIDS was substandard. Unfortunately the drama was in Amharic, so that’s about all I grasped!
We were invited to Sunday lunch by friends of Lilla, trustee of the Cheshire and teacher of English at the British Embassy and Ministry of Defence in Ethiopia. Over the weeks we have gotten to know her and have developed a nice bond talking about all sorts from politics to religion to home cooked food and work. She is an active se
nior lady with a fiery passion in what she believes in and actions she takes. David and Bruket live one hour from Addis in a remote, picturesque and fast becoming touristic town of Debrezeit. We arrived at their lovely bespoke bungalow, with the sitting and dining room offering spectacular views of a large lake. The garden was arranged in platforms with a charming path linking them together, ending by the last part of the garden with the lake water flowing onto its shore. The final member of the group was Molly, another friend of Lilla’s at the British Embassy. Together we sat, ate and chatted about many matters and topics. After lunch, we went on a walk to David’s farm and got to see where peanuts came from- I never thought them to be pulled out of the ground like carrots, but out th
ey came in their monkey-nut shell. The small villages were surrounded by hedges which needed to be pruned but the scene was one requiring an artist to sit and paint.
Our time here in Ethiopia has been one of a personal nature where we’ve really gotten to know these caring and generous people in a way unique to any other of my previous experiences. We may not have seen all the touristic sites, but sometimes all that doesn’t matter when you get to know the true heart of a country; its people.
Marwan
“Hey. Halo! Where you fram?”
“Ferenj! Ferenj!” (Foreigner! Foreigner!)
“Money-money-money-money-money-money-money”
Just a taster of daily tourist life walking around town. Whatever we do, we just cannot escape the fact that we stick out like tourists with sore thumbs. Change of dress, speaking the language, hanging around non-tourist areas- these are all futile efforts to blend with the locals in view of the one simple undeniable, unchangeable fact- our skin colour is not dark! There are so many poor people in the town asking for money that one cannot simply give to everyone, otherwise we’ll be out of pocket. So we have adopted the ethos of giving to those who are trying to earn money, rather than just expecting to be given by sticking their hands out.
An example is the little boys who want to sell you a packet of chewing gum, tissues or mobile phone cards. Also it seems that any Arabs visiting here tend to be quite wealthy, and this is reflected in the amount of money they hand out. Therefore there seems to be an expectation of people that we will inevitably give out large sums of money to everyone. We’ve been followed by little boys about a mile or so down main roads and farm lands, continually asking for money and confronted by groups of woman wearing headscarves, speaking Arabic, telling us that
if we don’t give them money we’re going to go to hell. All countries have people in need, but no country that I’ve visited so far has it so evidently placed everywhere you go. This is contrasted with the daily lives of the average Joe going about their business in the forest, the farm, the main road, the construction site- everyone from the tiny toddler to the withering woman is working. Be it herding cattle, building wooden tables, on the way to an interview or carrying firewood for a daily wage; each person has assumed a job in sustaining their way of life and the economy of the country, and I admire them for it.After two weeks of operating, the surgeons left for home, having successfully
transformed the lives of forty-three patients. Of course there were some disappointments and complications, but by in large the patients were grateful for the work we’d done for them. Before making their way back to the airport, the team made one last visit to the Cheshire where Dominique, the flamboyant Frenchman, orchestrated a masterful magic show, which was truly stunning by anyone’s standards. The team were sent off with a coffee ceremony and on they went back to their lives. For us it was emotional as we really felt like we made some good friends that we will endeavour to keep in touch with in the future.
One day whilst playing my guitar, marvelling at the splendour of Menagasha Mountain on the backdrop of a clear cobalt blue sky, a handful of local children etched their way closer to me. I knew what they wanted; cookies, a pen, some socks or something. But no, they wanted to play the guitar! With my fingers on the chords, they strummed the guitar and began dancing to the tunes we created. Like little energiser bunnies, they couldn’t get enough guitar playing until eventually I had, and I followed by constructing a little bow and arrow for one of the boys, named Aklilu. He is around ten years old and the son of one of the nurses working with us at the Cheshire. Using my trustee ‘Victorinox’ pen knife, a stick that had a natural curve to it and elastic band I proudly began carving and knotting the pieces together to make the bow. Every so often Aklilu would try and offer his own suggestions as to how I should tie the elastic, what materials
I should use or the type of wood. Of course, knowing best, being older and from the West I continually shook my head telling him to just wait and see as to what perfectly crafted weapon I would eventually create for him. After fifteen minutes or so of frustration, Aklilu ran off to find his own stick and string and within a few minutes, while I was just finishing off my weapon, he had already created his with a bunch of arrows to suit. Comparing the two, his was slightly larger and more threatening than mine, however the real acid test would be witnessing them in action. I decided to go first and show him how a real bow and arrow should work. I stood tall, arched my back and placed the arrow in between my index and middle fingers before gently pulling back on the bow, picking my spot on a tree branch some ten metres away. I released my grip like Robin Hood and off the arrow went some two metres or so plummeting into the ground beneath my feet. What an anti-climax. With prayers of failure whispering under my breath, I watched Aklilu imitate the same motions as I, releasing his grip on the hand-carved arrow. This time, the arrow flew through the air some fifteen metres or so hitting the exact spot he had intended, leaving me humiliated in our tribal warfare. I was a broken man.Marwan,
How are you? I am Belete. Today is Wednesday. Can you come to our program with your wife to participate? If you came you are Happy!
Your senserly, Belete
The weekly Cheshire talent search begins at 7pm on Wednesday’s in the restaurant wing of the centre. It is overseen by Ayo and hosted by a bright young man called Belete, whom I have gotten to know quite well and become somewhat fond of. He speaks good English and has surprisingly straight black hair for an African, with streaks of white flowing through. He is bound to a wheelchair due to being affected by Polio as a child, although he does not let this affect him in anything he does, be it playing table tennis, football or basketball. The show began like most things here; with music and dance. The traditional Ethiopian dance is something that cannot be described by words alone and exceedingly difficult to pull off by a non-local. It is a mixture of hip, chicken neck and shrug you shoulders in a jerky fashion movements accompanied by unique up-beat music that just gets you in the mood. After this, the room was organised into a central stage and circling chairs as audience. Belete began by introducing everybody and explaining the first game- a kind of ‘Family Fortunes’ quiz with two contestants on stage. The questions covered a wide breadth of knowledge areas and I was impressed as to the audience’s knowledge. If no one knew the answers to the question being asked, they referred to me, the supposed all-knowing British Doctor, who would unfortunately often disappoint! This was followed by a drama acted by some of the children. The story was of a young man as part of a family who was infatuated with a girl. The girl made him late for class and consequently his homework on the prevention of AIDS was substandard. Unfortunately the drama was in Amharic, so that’s about all I grasped!
We were invited to Sunday lunch by friends of Lilla, trustee of the Cheshire and teacher of English at the British Embassy and Ministry of Defence in Ethiopia. Over the weeks we have gotten to know her and have developed a nice bond talking about all sorts from politics to religion to home cooked food and work. She is an active se
nior lady with a fiery passion in what she believes in and actions she takes. David and Bruket live one hour from Addis in a remote, picturesque and fast becoming touristic town of Debrezeit. We arrived at their lovely bespoke bungalow, with the sitting and dining room offering spectacular views of a large lake. The garden was arranged in platforms with a charming path linking them together, ending by the last part of the garden with the lake water flowing onto its shore. The final member of the group was Molly, another friend of Lilla’s at the British Embassy. Together we sat, ate and chatted about many matters and topics. After lunch, we went on a walk to David’s farm and got to see where peanuts came from- I never thought them to be pulled out of the ground like carrots, but out th
ey came in their monkey-nut shell. The small villages were surrounded by hedges which needed to be pruned but the scene was one requiring an artist to sit and paint.Our time here in Ethiopia has been one of a personal nature where we’ve really gotten to know these caring and generous people in a way unique to any other of my previous experiences. We may not have seen all the touristic sites, but sometimes all that doesn’t matter when you get to know the true heart of a country; its people.
Marwan
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