Braiding Hair and a New Friend...
Recently I discovered that there was an ESL student at our older kids school from Ethiopia, named Bethlehem.
We made contact with her and I asked her if she would be willing to come over and show me how to braid Ayana's hair. Of course, we also just wanted to get to know her.
She agreed and a couple of weeks ago she came round to our house (we were delighted to discover that she only lives three blocks from us) and played with Ayana and Moses and also braided Ayana's hair for us.
I try to watch and learn. I even video taped Bethlehem braiding so that I could play it back in slow motion. I took tons of pictures...but somehow I just can't get the feel for braiding Ayana's hair. I have no problem with Caucasian hair, I can do braids and french braids etc, but whenever I try to do cute little corn rows, what a disaster. Needless to say, Bethlehem was an expert. She deftly parted and expertly twisted and braided with such speed. I asked her to slow down to show me but I confused her and she had to start a row all over again. I eventually was just content to take photos and watch Ayana's hair being transformed into a cool design.
Ayana was in her element, all that attention! She also had so much fun as Bethlehem sang little songs in Amharic to her and let her play with her beautiful necklace and hair clips. (That reminds me, I have to replace her necklace because it got broken :( )
Bethlehem comes from Addis Ababa and so we chatted about that and she also offered to come and do a coffee ceremony for us . I think I'm going to ask if she can cook...mmmmm....that would be fun for all of us girls to do some cooking together.
We will definitely take her along to our favourite Ethiopian restaurant when we next go, she said she would love that.
















So, all in all a great experience.
Bethlehem has agreed to come over every couple of weeks and braid Ayana's hair for me. She will make a bit of money, Ayana will have awesome looking hair all the time and we have a new friend...win win!
What was Moses doing during the 2 hours that Ayana's hair was being done? Well, he was desperate to have his hair done too. So, when she had finished, Bethlehem kindly put a few little clips in his hair....he was so proud. It was very funny.
Here is Bethlehem with Ayana and Moses, just before she left. (Note Moses' cool hair accessories)