ETHIOPIA: Food for body and soul
By IrinADDIS ABABA, 18 August 2011 (PLUSNEWS) – Three years ago, Munit* was hungry, lonely and HIV-positive; her husband refused to be tested and she felt burdened by her secret status, unable to share her daily struggles with friends and family.
Continued here:
ETHIOPIA: Food for body and soul
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I imagined that the rest of Ethiopia is not quite as tranquil and Serene as Tim and Kim’s, and it was time that we left our bubble and went to discover what Ethiopia was really like. From Gorgora we headed to Gondar in search of some civilisation, so we could draw some money and buy food. It took some effort to find an ATM. The one in the town wasn’t working, and they couldn’t quite understand why we couldn’t just exchange our euros or dollars for local currency…we have none! Need ATM! So we were told to go to the hospital, there is an ATM.
You don’t need to look far for an eager helper in Ethiopia, whether you wanted one or not, before you know it someone is showing you the way, hanging onto the outside of your car. “no problem,…” famous last words. Our friendly helper took us to the hospital, once again we wouldn’t have found it without him, it was a bit out of town…so, no problem is actually a problem because our friend now needs a lift back home. Never mind, the ATM doesn’t work, so friend shows us to one at the uni. It works! So our happy helper becomes our mini guide and shows us where we can get food, and spare parts. The spare parts was not so easy, the only make of car in Ethiopia is Toyota, so imagine our surprise when no one has any landy filters…never mind it’s not essential. So we part ways with our guide with a tip…20 bir….not enough he says! Nothing for nothing in Africa.
We settled on a hotel with a courtyard which allowed us to camp there for the night, and went to eat at a recommended restaurant, four sisters. This place really surprised us, Its in an unlikely location, but was so lovely done, really good food and atmosphere and really reasonably priced. The foir sisters entertained Anneke and we enjoyed good Ethiopian food. When we got back to the hotel our guide friend was waiting, he found a friend who apparently had our parts. We met them the next day, after an hours wait…I suspect they were still trying to find the parts, friends friends brother says, we don’t need a new filter you just clean the old one…he can do this for us, and he’ll replace the oil filter and do an oil change, only 3000 bir he Says. With a calm smile, André thanks him and we decline. We are on our way.
From Gondar we headed to the Simien mountains. These are the highest in Ethiopia, and are spectacular, with spectacularly bad roads. We made it as far as Debark when it started raining so we stayed in a local hotel for the night instead of trekking into the mountains. the next morning we headed to Axum. It took us a good 7 hours driving to do 250km’s. The most beautiful mountain pass I’ve seen, unpaved with roadworks,but all worth it. From Axum the road was all tarred, where André was dreaming of offroading when we started he was quite happy to see Tarmac again. We stopped in Addigrat first to find accommodation but with a big festival on the way it was all full so we opted for lunch at a restaurant found in the lonely planet. It was again a really good atmosphere, all under thatch roof with tin Walls. It was really nice. Anneke even had a friend to play with while we ate. Just about everywhere we stop there are ladies or children wanting to play with her, and she is quite happy to oblige, I think she is quite bored with us by now;) so with no bed in Addigrat we went on to Hawzen.
A guide in Axum told us there was a lodge in Hawzen which was worth visiting. When we got there we were met by a beautiful lodge, with helipad…..owned and run by an Italian. He wouldn’t allow us to camp…he said they don’t have facilities, but I think he was more concerned about us cramping his style, so we asked for a room…but none available. We went back into the village and found a place there where we could camp and use the facilities of one of the rooms, in an enclosed courtyard.
Hawzen is close to the rock hewn churches of Tigray. Some of these are centuries old and are located on high cliff tops with great views. Because we weren’t up for rock climbing with baby, we decided we would stick to those close to the road, and we had quite a way to Lallibela so didn’t have much time for trekking. Our first church we drove past a town with an “official guide” head quarters, and drove straight past one waving and shouting after us. We stopped at the spot where the path to the church started got our things together and headed off, but soon realised our chosen church was one of those on a cliff top, so spun around to head back. We had our guide friend waiting for us at our car, apparently he ran 4 km to come and find us. We explained we were short of time and didn’t want a guide for the day, we just want to drive past, but we will give him a lift back to his guide post. When we got back to the guide post, guide wanted 250 bir for running after us….when this didn’t meet with enthusiasm from our part, the 250 was then a toll charge for the pleasure of driving on the road. He had a receipt book the works. No thanks we’ll just drive…after a heated discussion, he kindly allowed us the privilege of driving in our own car on our own down the public road.
For lunch we hit another gold mine. A really simple restaurant but with such a nice friendly owner and staff. The food was good and entertainment for Anneke in the form of the owners son and another little girl. They had a blast. We once again didn’t reach Lallibela, as it started getting dark we realised it was too far off. We reached the town of Alamata and found a really cosy hotel, nice clean rooms, with friendly staff. We decided to stay 2 days and get some washing done.
Today was Ethiopian Easter, and it’s big celebrations. We ventured out onto the streets, accompanied by the hotels accountant. He explained all the festivities. Before long we seemed to be the main focus of the town instead of the procession. Everyone fascinated by the White people and the little blond girl. We had one little boy take on the responsibility of fighting off over eager kiddies, bless him. All in all it was nice to see, the kids were not too bad. Out of about 50 around us only 2 asked for money, and then there were 2 mental cases. One kept kissing our hands and the other dressed like a priest, smoking a cigarette wielding a cast iron cross anointed us with his cross. These two were taken care of by the majority of the people there. With all the excitement over we headed back to the hotel…
Tomorrow we should definitely reach Lallibela. I’m going to post this without pics again, just because there will be way too much to remember to write if I waited for the camera. I’ve taken some pics with the cell phone and the video cam, just got to figure out how to upload them now…
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PROJECT: Eye Clinics for Children, Epidemic Prevention & Small Scale Farming; DONATIONS for: The Fistula Hospital; DONATIONS for: The Children’s Heart Fund of Ethiopia