Sightseeing in Addis...

On one of our very last days in Ethiopia, I think just two days before we left, the group decided that it would be fun to do a bit more sightseeing in and around Addis. We wanted to go up a nearby mountain, I think Mount Moret (could be wrong) because we had been told of the spectacular views.

We set off in the two vans and it soon became apparent that our van was not going to make it through the city, let alone up a mountainside. As our family was leaving before the rest of the group, we switched vans, got into the healthy van with a few others from the group and everyone else got into the ailing van and limped back to the guesthouse. They would have another chance to see the sights.
Joshua of course hopped up in the front beside the driver and I took this picture of the street over his shoulder. This is typical of anywhere you go, people throng all over the road and vehicles kind of weave in and out! Usually there are a few goats and donkeys to add into the mix.

We started the climb up a winding, beautiful road in order to get our touristy shots and passed so many people struggling up the road that I thought it must be a festival or something. It wasn't a festival but the driver told me that people make their way up to the churches at the top of the mountain as a kind of pilgrimage. Some people ran up to the van and waved money to try and get on, and I have to say I felt a bit colonial as the driver waved them away with a sweep of his hand as we sailed past.


As we neared the top, I thought that the countryside looked familiar. Then it struck me that it actually looked exactly like the views of my home county, Cheshire in England. I took this photo because it reminded me of my home...how ironic is that? I was in the middle of Ethiopia looking at a landscape very similar to England and feeling homesick!
Very beautiful and pastoral, green, (I mentioned about the rains in another post) rolling hills, cattle grazing....

We got out of the van at the top and similarities to England faded as we were immediately approached by a group of young boys, wanting to talk, wanting money.
These boys were fascinated with Joshua (very typical, not many young white boys around!) and so began to tell him all about their lives. I have to say, their English was pretty good and I became captivated by their stories. (The African people I have met are the BEST story tellers, I find myself mesmorised by their tales of life and family.)
The boys told us that they lived nearby and they were shepherds. School was a magical dream...they would love to go but it was too expensive to pay the fees, get the uniforms, and get down the mountainside in order to join in. I asked how much it would be for them to get someone to take them down the mountain every day in order to go to school.
"Many monies " was their sad little reply. "How many monies?" I persisted. They looked at each other and shrugged.
"Maybe two dollars " (equivalent) I thought that was a bit much too until they added, "a month for all of us."
Two dollars a month for all these boys to get down the mountain to go to school??
"It is impossible" they added.
Impossible? I always start to swallow hard and try to tell myself that this is normal, but everything in me screams that it shouldn't be. How much is a coffee for me? How much did I spend, even in Addis, on my precious little presents to take home?
I asked these boys what their dreams were....I knew what the answer would be.
"To go to school" they replied immediately.
Ah, life isn't fair.







They then told us that it was their job to collect the bark from Eucalyptus trees and weave it into whips to scare the hyenas away from their livestock. A boy ran to get his whip and gave us an awesome display of...I guess it would be called whipcracking.
The whip literally cracked like a gunshot and it was LOUD! Easy to understand why the hyenas would take off if they heard that in the dead of night. I took some video and pictures of it and he was so proud.


I got a bit nervous as he danced around cracking the whip pretty close to us, but luckily nobody was hurt. Very cool though.






You will notice that the ground is full of piles of...crap... and we all checked our shoes pretty carefully before we got back into the van, As we left, the boys directly asked us for money and so we gave them a little. It's always so hard to know what to do, but sometimes I just don't care about what is correct and what is not.
Of course, as SOON as we gave them a tiny bit of money there was a group of ragged, children all in a row....
Looking at us with huge, beautiful eyes, bulging tummies, thin faces and white fungus all over their little heads. Pleading.

I recently read Steven Lewis's brilliant book, "Race Against Time" and he writes of meeting a similar little ragged group of children in Africa.
"Time stopped. I looked at these lovely kids...faces shining through the greys of malnutrition, every one of them seeking an adult touch or hug, and I thought about the often unbearable lottery of life. Has there ever been greater injustice in this world"
I can so relate to this.. My mind goes back to all the hundreds of children that I have met both in Uganda and Ethiopia and I ask myself the same question.

Mountains and pilgrims, shepherd boys and Eucalyptus whips....another interesting and fascinating day in Ethiopia.