Ethiopia! Part 2--The People
The people in Ethiopia were so generous. Even though they have nothing, many of the souvenirs Blake brought home were given to him to thank him. Blake did such a good job taking pictures of the people in Ethiopia, that now I officially give my permission for Max and Jack to choose Ethiopia for their country report.
Some homes outside the city
The men typically wore shoes, the women did not. The women carried their babies in slings on their backs.
Many men wore this traditional head dress.
A traditional tea ceremony. Or maybe it was coffee. They roasted the beans for over 6 hours. Everyone else said it was really good! :) The ceremony is a very big deal and there were paintings of it everywhere.
Of course Blake was chosen to get up and dance. He always gets chosen. He was chosen both times we've been to Hawaii and also on the Galapagos Islands. I don't know what it is about him, probably that terrified look on his face--Please don't pick me! Please don't pick me!--that singles him out. He said by the time they had the going away party, he got smart. He sat on the back row and always kept a drink in his hand. Even if it was empty, he kept sipping on it.
Most people in Ethiopia are very religious. Apparently Ethiopia is the second oldest Christian nation in the world. At first I thought this picture was of Blake with a flock of birds, but it's really a religious congregation.
Very religious Ethiopians come and put their bodies down this hole, with their arms in the slots to the sides and hang for hours to reenact Christ's crucifixion.
In his off time, Blake mostly hung out with members of the Ethiopian Rotaract, a Rotarian service group for people under 30. Members of the Rotaract were the interpreters for the mission. Ethiopians who have graduated from high school can speak English. So, mostly everyone who lives in the city can speak English, or at least broken English. People from the more rural areas speak Amharic.
Blake especially got close with these two, Martha and Bereket. They spent an entire afternoon discussing religion and Blake has already received emails from them. I think it's pretty cool to have pen pals in Ethiopia.
And last, but not least, Ethiopians LOVE Obama. There was pictures of him everywhere!
Blake even gave Obama a thumbs up for Vaughn!
6 comments:
So much to say about this post. Thats cool Blake has pen pals in Ethiopia. Do most people speak English there? Is that a stupid question? Weird about the religious stuff. We are going to save that picture of Blake with Obama. You will never know when it will come in handy! Its been fun looking through all your posts. I'll have to call Blake for more details!
i laughed about blake always getting chosen to dance. and to think i've never gotten to be there once. someday i will see blake dance.
Simply beautiful.
-Vaughn
The dancing part really is hilarious. I can totally picture it!
Actually Blythe, that is a very good question. Most people who graduated from high school speak English, so most people who live in the city speak English, or at least broken English.
Thanks for bringing it up. I'm going to add that to the post!
i love the top several pictures of "real" ethiopia--love them. i want to enlarge and frame them. i love how genuine and real-life they are. perhaps, just perhaps, visiting other countries is a really good idea. for you.
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