Christmas in Ethiopia
Dear all blogees I would like to wish you all a HAPPY GENA – Ethiopian Christmas. This took place yesterday and although today (Friday 8th Jan 2010) is not technically a holiday the Ministry is pretty quiet and luckily for me I have not seen any of my colleagues. Yippeeee. As you may have ascertained from recent blogs work is not going too well. I just think they are not used to a smart, intelligent, efficient, woman (yes that would be me Mark!) working with them. All women at the Ministry are secretaries, cleaners or tea-ladies and I am not kidding. Also, my team are resistant to change or doing anything 'new' suggested by me. So life at work is pretty difficult at the moment. However, I am just going to get on with things and find a way to succeed.
But also I want to say a HUGE THANKYOU to everyone who went to the trouble of sending me a Christmas card or gift. You cannot imagine the joy it gives me to receive anything in the post and it is one of the things that has kept me going over the past wee difficult time at work. I feel very lucky to have such family and friends and it has kept me going and able to find ways to face the daily challenges of life here. So thank you. Also I received several packages yesterday – on Ethiopian Christmas – so it was like having two Christmases – which was great.
So what is Christmas like here in Ethiopia? Well not as warm as I had hoped – but still lovely. There aren't many Christmas trees or decorations but Nancy, David and Maureen had decorated their houses which was nice. I think I already told you about Christmas day and how we had a lovely meal together. But one thing I am surprised about is how my appreciation of mobile phones has increased. I have already mentioned the annoyance of all my colleagues answering mobiles at ANY time at work, even in a meeting. But on Christmas day I would see different people popping out to the garden as their mobile rang with warm(ish) wishes from home. I haven't missed a single call from home as my family call my mobile. That means there is no need to arrange times to call – which may not work as often the network is down – and you never know when – and people can call at their convenience. Also as everyone here answers their mobile at any time I can do the same. All you need to say is 'May I take this call? (Really it is a rhetorical question) It is very important'. Every call for Ethiopian's is very important. But I wont complain again as I know I can be contacted from home at any time. Brilliant!!! Long Live the Mobile!
Yesterday Eyalnesh invited Kellie and me to her house to share Christmas with her. I had two other invitations from other Ethiopian's but chose to share the day with my serentenga. The first thing that struck me was how we tend to keep Christmas for family, but here it is common for Ethiopian's to ask ferengi's for Christmas. It was the first time we had gone to Eyalnesh's house and were a bit worried as apparently a couple of years ago Eyalnesh invited other ferengis to her house and when her landlady saw this she upped her rent as she had 'white friends' and therefore believed she was receiving financial help!! But Eyalnesh has moved houses, thankfully. She lives on the edge of Addis in an area called Kotobe and at the top of a hill – with amazing views over Addis. We entered the compound which seemed similar to our own with a nice garden with grape vines and flowers. The difference was that whereas Kellie and I have a whole house to ourselves Eyalnesh lives in one room – common for many Ethiopians. The room contains one large bed, which I think she must share with her daughter and son, two cupboards, a small table, a t.v and little else. I saw no evidence of a bathroom and we didn't ask. At the moment she has no running water, but pipes are being laid so hopefully they will have piped running water soon. There was no sense from Eyalnesh or her daughter Jordan – who is a teacher and is so beautiful looking, really striking – that life was hard or difficult. The room was clean and obviously well cared for and they were good company, chatting the whole time. We were served Doro Wat – which is traditional at Christmas. It is a chicken dish served with a spicy, bright red sauce and a boiled egg. It is quite acceptable to take an egg but you try not to take too much chicken and leave it for your host and family. I really like it and thankfully Eyalnesh is a whiz at washing as I have spoiled so many white blouses with red splotches of doro wat sauce! Also here when a man asks a woman to marry her he will only do so if she can make a good doro wat and perform the coffee ceremony well. Apparently most women are asked to make doro wat for her prospective husband to ensure she is a good wife (maybe I should bring some into work – or just serve them haggis instead!)
It was funny walking to work on Wednesday as suddenly on the side of the road appeared thousands of chicken sellers displaying their wares in bamboo cages. Also there were even more goats being herded down the street. Treatment of animals here is appalling and when someone buys a goat and takes it home they hold the back two legs and 'wheelbarrow' it home. It is rather funny looking, but the goats know what their destiny is and resist at every opportunity. I often have to jump out of the way of a runaway goat. So at Eyalnesh's house we were also served a goat meat dish with carrots which was very nice. Ethiopia is a good place for vegetarians as Orthodox Christians fast on Wednesdays and Fridays – no meat or dairy products, and on the run up to Christmas they fast for 45 days. So it is easy to get vegetarian dishes in restaurants. However, once Christmas has come the opposite is true – it is all about the meat and you would be hard pushed to find anything vegetarian. Apparently, although the day after Christmas is not an official holiday people have spent so long fasting and then stuff themselves with meat on Christmas day they are too sick to come to work. But then again we do the same – just pass that small piece of turkey, or just a small bit of stuffing or Christmas pudding. We just have the sense to realise we need the next day off.
So Kellie and I spent a lovely couple of hours with Eyalnesh and her family and sharing food. One disconcerting thing is that when you are invited to a person's house the wife will not eat with you. It is important that the guest eats first – or with the husband, if he is there – and the wife waits till the guests have eaten their fill and then eats. I still find that hard to take, but Eyalnesh's husband is dead so Kellie and I ate on our own, though there were others who did eat also, just not exactly with us. Some neighbouring children came to the door and Eyalnesh fed them too. She said they had no parents and so she sort of takes care of them from time to time. This is a woman with the bare necessities for herself and her family looking out for others. She truly is a remarkable woman and an inspiration. An experience like that puts a lot of my life and worries into perspective.
Well my friends, thank you for sharing my Christmases with me. I have felt you all close with me through your generous gifts, cards, emails and well wishes and am a little jealous of your snow. Next time on joanneinethiopia: the coffee ceremony. I can't believe I haven't written about it yet, it is so important here. Have a great start to the year and hope getting back to work is not too bad.
Much Love
Joanne x
