Well, this was a fairly short stint, just more than four weeks, and so I shouldn’t be surprised that it is nearly finished. This may or may not be my final Ethiopia entry, but it is a good time to pass along some miscellaneous things that didn’t qualify for their own topic.
Plus, I need to share some corrections and amplifications.
CORRECTION: This isn’t a correction of a blog entry, but of an email I sent earlier to family members. It might be interesting to others as well. The item was about different legends and traditions different cultures have for common experiences – such as a child losing a tooth. The story I told the family came from Tenaw, my boss. He said that the child takes the tooth out under the bright moon, hurls it at the moon and shouts at the moon to give the kid a bright new tooth. If the child doesn’t do that, Tenaw said, a rat will find the tooth and give the child an ugly rat’s tooth.
Well, you know how parents can get confused. Tenaw went home and told his kids that he had told me this story. I didn’t hear the exact conversation, but I’ve heard others myself that I’m sure resemble it, and it went something like this: “Oh DAD,” his son says in his most exasperated voice. “You got it all wrong. How could you do that? What are the ferenjis going to THINK about us?” (That is Tenaw and his son in the photo.)
So here is the corrected version, courtesy of Zelalem Tenaw: Actually, it is GOOD to get a rat’s tooth. It is big and healthy and strong, and can chew through anything. So, yes, you do go out and throw it under the bright light of the moon, but that is so the rat can find it and reward you by giving you a strong new rat’s tooth.
Hmmmm, I don’t know if that would go over well for American children, but the rat has more stature here. In fact as I mentioned in the family email, a rat figures in the Ugandan version of this ritual, as well. In Uganda, though, it’s a bit more like our tradition. The child takes the tooth and places it near a hole where the rat is likely to show up. The rat comes, takes it, and leaves a little money behind.
AMPLIFICATION: One of my first Ethiopia blog entries was about how much livestock you see in the roads. There was nothing inaccurate about it, but perhaps the tone was a bit off. It was soon after I arrived, jet lag, culture adjustment and altitude were all in play and, as Theresa pointed out, the voice of that entry had a bit of a “pensive” note. Fair enough.
So the amplification is this. Yes, the livestock are everywhere; yes, some of the animals are scrawny looking, and certainly nobody who is buying or selling them has very much money. On the other hand, plenty of these animals look in pretty good condition. And setting aside for the moment the legitimate issues of vegetarianism, you have to admit that when people buy a goat or a sheep that has just been delivered to the roadside market by a farmer out in the country, they certainly know where their meat is coming from, and they know it is fresh. It is a far distance from buying a plastic-wrapped package of meat at Safeway, for what it’s worth.
My conclusion in the pensive blog had to do with the common expression, “This Is Africa,” and had to do with thoughts of disparity. Well, this amplified version is Africa, as well – because so many more things here are direct, personal, and from the source. That may not always be good, but it is definitely a refreshing thing to be reminded of.
On to the odds and ends.
Speaking of rivers: One of the big tourist destinations in Uganda is at the north end of Lake Victoria, in the city of Jinja, where you can visit The Source of the Nile. We went there several times, and even though the “source” has been a bit obscured by a big hydropower dam downstream, it still is kind of neat to imagine that this is where it all starts.
What a coincidence! Here in Ethiopia, hundreds of miles to the north, you can ALSO find “The Source of the Nile.” This one is in the northwest part of the country, also coming out of a huge lake – Lake Tana.
So come on, guys, which is which? I mean, if we’re going to get goose bumps over standing by the source of the Nile, we would like to know that it is the right one!
Of course, it is really one of those silly notions, fueled, in great part, by explorers from England and elsewhere who wanted to be the one to discover the source of this, or the highest point of that. Naturally, the “source” of the Nile is up in the skies, whence drops all the raindrops that eventually find their way into its ultimate course through Egypt. Along the way, several major rivers and watershed contribute, and there’s the seeming conflict. Uganda can claim ownership of the “source” of what is known as the White Nile, which winds its way west and north toward Egypt. Ethiopia can claim ownership of the Blue Nile, which our guidebook states produces the largest volume of the final Nile River.
Incidentally, both countries have dammed their personal version of the Nile at least once and perhaps several places, and that has helped fuel a fairly contentious international dispute. You see, Egypt – and perhaps Sudan as well, but I’m not sure of that – has some treaties written in the colonial era that guarantee it certain water rights related to its River Nile, which of course was “discovered” first so took primary place in colonial minds. Egypt is not always amused when some upstream country starts restricting flow in one way or another, or otherwise tampering with “their” river.
Not surprisingly, in the post-colonial era those upstream countries are not all that interested in colonial treaties. Thus is born the Nile Basin Initiative, which brings together all of the “Nile Riparian Countries,” as they are known, to iron out their little differences. It is not always successful, but at least they are talking.
More “Seen here and there”:
In the departure lounge at Addis airport: “Prayer room for males,” and “Prayer room for females.” It would make a wonderful research project, I thought, to do a survey and see which room produced better results.
There does seem to be a lot more street-cleaning going on in Addis than in Kampala. Yes, I know, that is not saying much, but you do see lots of people sweeping up the garbage off the streets – mostly women, dressed in long outfits to cover themselves, with masks on and huge floppy straw hats and reflective vests. And generally speaking the results are good. Now if they could just figure out a way for vacuuming out the pollution from the air.
On the streets – women with large circular platter-shaped parcels on their heads, maybe two feet in diameter and 10 inches tall, all wrapped in some towel-like fabric. The women are delivering fresh batches of injera, the delicious soft bread/pancake stuff that serves as both the place you ladle your various traditional Ethiopian sauce concoctions onto, and also the “utensil” you use to pick up and eat that delicious stuff. (Right hand only, please, and don’t be dismayed if some of it ends up in your beard as you are getting the hang of it.)
Who knew there were so many saints? I guess there really are a lot of them. Anyway, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church – which has its own official designation in World Church Hierarchy, along with roots back to the 4th century – celebrates an awful lot of saints’ days. And you can tell early in the morning, whether from the chanting coming from one or another of the scores and scores of churches in the city, or from the crowds of people, many of them women, clustering around the church. On certain days, they are carrying bunches of some sort of green grass all tied together. Always, they are wearing lovely white cotton shawls, so thin you can almost see through them, with narrow borders of brightly colored material – orange, blue, yellow.
Plus, I need to share some corrections and amplifications.
CORRECTION: This isn’t a correction of a blog entry, but of an email I sent earlier to family members. It might be interesting to others as well. The item was about different legends and traditions different cultures have for common experiences – such as a child losing a tooth. The story I told the family came from Tenaw, my boss. He said that the child takes the tooth out under the bright moon, hurls it at the moon and shouts at the moon to give the kid a bright new tooth. If the child doesn’t do that, Tenaw said, a rat will find the tooth and give the child an ugly rat’s tooth.
Well, you know how parents can get confused. Tenaw went home and told his kids that he had told me this story. I didn’t hear the exact conversation, but I’ve heard others myself that I’m sure resemble it, and it went something like this: “Oh DAD,” his son says in his most exasperated voice. “You got it all wrong. How could you do that? What are the ferenjis going to THINK about us?” (That is Tenaw and his son in the photo.)
So here is the corrected version, courtesy of Zelalem Tenaw: Actually, it is GOOD to get a rat’s tooth. It is big and healthy and strong, and can chew through anything. So, yes, you do go out and throw it under the bright light of the moon, but that is so the rat can find it and reward you by giving you a strong new rat’s tooth.
Hmmmm, I don’t know if that would go over well for American children, but the rat has more stature here. In fact as I mentioned in the family email, a rat figures in the Ugandan version of this ritual, as well. In Uganda, though, it’s a bit more like our tradition. The child takes the tooth and places it near a hole where the rat is likely to show up. The rat comes, takes it, and leaves a little money behind.
AMPLIFICATION: One of my first Ethiopia blog entries was about how much livestock you see in the roads. There was nothing inaccurate about it, but perhaps the tone was a bit off. It was soon after I arrived, jet lag, culture adjustment and altitude were all in play and, as Theresa pointed out, the voice of that entry had a bit of a “pensive” note. Fair enough.
So the amplification is this. Yes, the livestock are everywhere; yes, some of the animals are scrawny looking, and certainly nobody who is buying or selling them has very much money. On the other hand, plenty of these animals look in pretty good condition. And setting aside for the moment the legitimate issues of vegetarianism, you have to admit that when people buy a goat or a sheep that has just been delivered to the roadside market by a farmer out in the country, they certainly know where their meat is coming from, and they know it is fresh. It is a far distance from buying a plastic-wrapped package of meat at Safeway, for what it’s worth.
My conclusion in the pensive blog had to do with the common expression, “This Is Africa,” and had to do with thoughts of disparity. Well, this amplified version is Africa, as well – because so many more things here are direct, personal, and from the source. That may not always be good, but it is definitely a refreshing thing to be reminded of.
On to the odds and ends.
Speaking of rivers: One of the big tourist destinations in Uganda is at the north end of Lake Victoria, in the city of Jinja, where you can visit The Source of the Nile. We went there several times, and even though the “source” has been a bit obscured by a big hydropower dam downstream, it still is kind of neat to imagine that this is where it all starts.
What a coincidence! Here in Ethiopia, hundreds of miles to the north, you can ALSO find “The Source of the Nile.” This one is in the northwest part of the country, also coming out of a huge lake – Lake Tana.
So come on, guys, which is which? I mean, if we’re going to get goose bumps over standing by the source of the Nile, we would like to know that it is the right one!
Of course, it is really one of those silly notions, fueled, in great part, by explorers from England and elsewhere who wanted to be the one to discover the source of this, or the highest point of that. Naturally, the “source” of the Nile is up in the skies, whence drops all the raindrops that eventually find their way into its ultimate course through Egypt. Along the way, several major rivers and watershed contribute, and there’s the seeming conflict. Uganda can claim ownership of the “source” of what is known as the White Nile, which winds its way west and north toward Egypt. Ethiopia can claim ownership of the Blue Nile, which our guidebook states produces the largest volume of the final Nile River.
Incidentally, both countries have dammed their personal version of the Nile at least once and perhaps several places, and that has helped fuel a fairly contentious international dispute. You see, Egypt – and perhaps Sudan as well, but I’m not sure of that – has some treaties written in the colonial era that guarantee it certain water rights related to its River Nile, which of course was “discovered” first so took primary place in colonial minds. Egypt is not always amused when some upstream country starts restricting flow in one way or another, or otherwise tampering with “their” river.
Not surprisingly, in the post-colonial era those upstream countries are not all that interested in colonial treaties. Thus is born the Nile Basin Initiative, which brings together all of the “Nile Riparian Countries,” as they are known, to iron out their little differences. It is not always successful, but at least they are talking.
More “Seen here and there”:
In the departure lounge at Addis airport: “Prayer room for males,” and “Prayer room for females.” It would make a wonderful research project, I thought, to do a survey and see which room produced better results.
There does seem to be a lot more street-cleaning going on in Addis than in Kampala. Yes, I know, that is not saying much, but you do see lots of people sweeping up the garbage off the streets – mostly women, dressed in long outfits to cover themselves, with masks on and huge floppy straw hats and reflective vests. And generally speaking the results are good. Now if they could just figure out a way for vacuuming out the pollution from the air.
On the streets – women with large circular platter-shaped parcels on their heads, maybe two feet in diameter and 10 inches tall, all wrapped in some towel-like fabric. The women are delivering fresh batches of injera, the delicious soft bread/pancake stuff that serves as both the place you ladle your various traditional Ethiopian sauce concoctions onto, and also the “utensil” you use to pick up and eat that delicious stuff. (Right hand only, please, and don’t be dismayed if some of it ends up in your beard as you are getting the hang of it.)
Who knew there were so many saints? I guess there really are a lot of them. Anyway, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church – which has its own official designation in World Church Hierarchy, along with roots back to the 4th century – celebrates an awful lot of saints’ days. And you can tell early in the morning, whether from the chanting coming from one or another of the scores and scores of churches in the city, or from the crowds of people, many of them women, clustering around the church. On certain days, they are carrying bunches of some sort of green grass all tied together. Always, they are wearing lovely white cotton shawls, so thin you can almost see through them, with narrow borders of brightly colored material – orange, blue, yellow.
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