Its hard to believe that almost a month has past since I arrived in Ethiopia. It seems like only yesterday that I was cleaning out the sunscreen that burst inside my checked luggage… And now I’m not phased by donkeys passing me on the sidewalk downtown, I know when I’m getting ripped off in a taxi (most of the time), and I’m even more addicted to coffee than when I left. But I still haven’t tried the raw beef… there’s always next month.
I spent Monday of this week exploring Mercato with my Ethiopian friend Abraham. Even when the rest of Addis operates at a more strolling pace, Mercato pulses with movement and it is hard to keep up. It seems like everyone is on their way and moving fast. People are buying, selling and carrying goods from one place to another. A truck will be packed high with refrigerators and deliverymen will carry the appliance on their back through the crowds. Young men carry huge bags of grain on the back of their necks and I saw one vendor with 14 shoeboxes stacked on his shoulder.
The sprawling market is supposed to be the biggest in Africa, but its unclear to me where it begins and where it ends. It is loosely organized by “department”: a row of office supply booths, electronics, fabric, plastics, shoes, books, metals, and on and on and on. My favorite section is the spice alley. Up and down and on either side of this small side “street,” vendors display bags of colorful dusts, rocks, dried plants, sticks, and every other spice or natural supplement you could imagine. Distributors hammered giant blocks of natural incense and the smells rushed me like a dog with his head out the window.
Though the shops are small and often the color of the mud in the street, the shelves are filled with colors. Stores offer ornate umbrellas used in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, bright plastic containers, and shoes made from Croc-like plastic that come in every color and variety (loafers, tennis shoes, etc.). We found our way deep into the Mercato, and if it wasn’t for Abraham, I’d still be stuck in the middle, surrounded by umbrella stands.
This was also a week of holidays. On Wednesday, I was invited to dinner at Dr. Rick’s. Dr. Rick is an American physician who’s been working in Ethiopia for years and years. I met him at the Mother Theresa’s clinic here in Addis, and I was amazed by his work. I jumped at the chance for dinner, but I didn’t know I was in for such a treat. Wednesday was the Jewish holiday of Sukkot and I joined Dr. Rick’s family of over a dozen adopted children by donning hats (including giant felt menorahs) and eating in the hut that they had constructed outside their home. Almost all of the kids have suffered medically, and Rick has made sure that they receive the care they need.
Also in attendance was a documentary film crew who were interviewing Dr. Rick as one of the change-makers for the new Ethiopian millennium. They had been filming Rick for a few weeks and traveled up to Gonder with him while he paid one of his regular visits to a clinic in the rural areas around the city. Just before returning to Addis, Rick crossed path with a small girl with a hunched back. Many of Rick’s kids have suffered from scoliosis or TB of the spine and the girl, Zemnawork, caught his eye. She had been in Gonder with her uncle for about one week. Her uncle, the only person in the family with means to escort her, had taken her to Gonder to try to find help for her condition, but after a week of waiting at the hospital, they were turned away. As Rick was headed back to Addis, Zemna was headed back to her village. Rick traveled with Zemna and her uncle back to their village and explained Zemna’s situation to her family. Rick could help her, but she would have to spend some time in Addis while receiving care. On Wednesday night, Zemna had only been in Addis for a few days, and had seen her first TV, orange, and much more during those few days. But she was glowing. When I walked in, she was working on homework and you could feel her courage and sense her intelligence. And I saw one of the most amazing smiles I’ve seen in my entire life.
But the holidays weren’t over. On Thursday, Ethiopian Orthodox Christians celebrated Meskel, marking the finding of the true cross. Orthodox tradition holds that Jesus’ true cross was found in Ethiopia when an Ethiopian queen lit a fire and followed the smoke to find where the cross was buried.
I followed the troupes of singers and dancers toward Meskel Square at the center of Addis. The square sits at the center of town and is a crescent of stairs facing a large paved plaza. Young Orthodox Christians from each church around the city had prepared songs, dances and floats for the celebration and the sights and sounds were amazing. At Meskel Square, the crowds had already arrived and the police presence was pervasive. I filed into the “bleachers,” which were really terraced mud pits, and waited. Below, in the plaza, Orthodox leaders dressed in white and holding brightly colored umbrellas surrounded a giant pyre. Opposite the steps was the VIP box with the Ethiopian President, Prime Minister and the head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
I expected a quick ceremony, but each church performed before the pyre was lit. The Church passed out candle-torches to each of the attendees and we were all eager to light up. Around the square, where now over 100,000 had assembled, groups would start to light their torches and the speakers would ask them put them out. This went on and on until the organizers gave up and the crowds were filled with points of light.
The Patriarch gave a moving speech about love, hope in the new millennium, Ethiopia’s history of religious tolerance, and about the dangers of fratricidal war. And then they Patriarch stepped into the Patriach-mobile to light the giant bonfire. Night had fallen, and as the bonfire lit up, fireworks went up all around. The crowds were singing, the torches were waving, and the skies filled with smoke, dimming the sight of the fireworks, but not the sound. The crowds surged forward to get closer to the fire, but I slopped through the mud and began the long walk back home.
1 Comment
October 3, 2007 at 2:32 am
You really should try the raw beef. It is pretty superb.