Easter Sunday

April 4, 2010

Wow. The time is just so full. Today was Fasika, or Easter.

A beautiful thing we are experiencing about Ethiopia is how openhearted people are. Today really is a day of rest, especially after almost half the population stays up to go to Easter service from 11 pm to 3 am. You need a day of rest. Also, the Muslim population and the Christian population are very peaceful towards one another and everyone takes a holiday and gathers with family to eat traditional food and have coffee. The streets are empty the first half of the day and the roads almost silent. Then, people go out walking in their neighborhood, just to be friendly and to hang out.

We went to Toukoul in the morning and many, many of the children were dressed up in all white for the holiday. The children really played with Eli today, and he tried very hard to keep up. They are bigger kids and the difference in their lives is very clear to them, not so much to Eli. He just loves having new friends and he does pretty darn good sharing his sky-ball, but what a trip.



Today, we were treated to two special celebrations, both for Easter and both fabulous. Ethiopians are very proud of all their cultures and really enjoy celebrating by cooking, eating and having the coffee ceremony. I know I read this, but really, they are! Abyssinia, the restaurant is so cool, especially after seeing in the two houses we were lucky to go into, the TV tuned to Ethiopian television and Ethiopian tribal music and dance.

For lunch, at the Guest House, as they do for most holidays, they made traditional food, with the goat from last night, and kindly told us which foods were fully cooked and which ones were half cooked and we sat down with some of the staff and had lunch. The two cooks, Wendil and his assistant, the young owner of Toukoul, Gabriel and his friend, and afterward, everyone, the whole staff and us, shared coffee together. A beautiful celebration and we ate way too much.

We feel very lucky to be meeting several Ethiopians that have returned after growing up in other places. Some were adult adoptee’s and culturally are from their new country, and some were raised more in Ethiopian culture, but have never lived here as adults. There is an ability to connect about life that is really interesting, and an amazing thing to meet these people, people who our children may some day become. One of the people who works for Toukoul and YGB said that the number of returning expatriates in her generation is about 20 thousand. She just returned from our collective hometown, San Francisco, and her nephew possibly goes to the same school in Oakland that some of our oldest friends children go to. What a small world.

We went and saw Lulu-B again in the afternoon. She is so beautiful. The nurse on her floor was so kind today, even though she was away from her 3 children on Easter, a major holiday. The nannies were just leaving for church, all dressed up, in beautiful dresses and such a wonderful thing to see the devotion of the people. I am not particularly religious, but it is an incredible reflection of their culture to see and meet so many devout an kind people.

Lulu. She is interested in everything. The tree, us, me, Eli, the books I brought, the playing children. She loves the book Joshua gave Eli, about sounds. She loves the book about baby animals that my mom gave her. She even liked the book about all the different skin colors. I wish I had brought a rattle, as she loves to put them in her mouth. She came to see us today, all clean and in her heart outfit that I dropped off, with her nails clipped. Yesterday, she had been changed into a onesie,….yes on top of her undershirt. They kindly provided pink wool booties, sewed on with thread, as she would get cold. If you are bringing items to donate, bring some clothes with feet and long sleeves. Maybe in the summer they dress a bit less warmly, but if the sky is cloudy, the clothes go on. Just like in Guatemala!

Eli really wants to connect with Lulu, but doesnt quite know how, yet. I made sure to give him big hugs today and tell him what a great big brother he is, while lulu was in the room. He is rocking this trip; sharing his toys, playing with the kids, trying to listen, failing some, but generally, making eye contact and being a rock star. It is expected that he shake hands with everyone, every time he comes in a room. They LOVE kids and want to connect. It looks to me as if it makes even him just a bit shy. It is very directed attention and he is generally doing great. He is trying the food, playing hard and being super loving to HIS sister. I am so very glad we brought him, my fabulous little ambassador. He is also getting more comfortable with staying home for next trip.

What we did this evening was go to another traditional dinner, the second celebration. Fabulous, and incredibly interesting. In the airport hotel that we stayed at in Atlanta, we met a wonderful woman, Marta. She found out we were going to Addis and said you MUST go see my sister in Addis. She invited Mitchel and Eli. He said, okay. We took some presents from her to the kids and added a few token items. They lived in a small, I think middle class neighborhood, 10 minutes from here in a very, very Ethiopian neighborhood which is about 15 to 20 years old. We were served dinner and hopefully ate the right things. Unfortunately, we were still so full from lunch, we couldn’t do the food justice. We avoided the lovely fresh salad and maybe accidentally drank some juice made with water, but I hope he didn’t know the word for tap water! I will let you know. We had no idea what it would be like to have to Ethiopian feasts in the same day. We couldn't do the food justice.

The house was modest, but inviting, and arranged for the coffee ceremony, with grass on the ground and our hosts so fabulous. They enjoyed meeting us and were surprised that we were, in their words, so nice, so willing to hang out and try to find some humor in simple things, just like Ethiopians! We shared the family pictures in my little book I made, which has been a huge hit, and explained that we were adopting Lulu-B. The uncle, the patriarch, later made sure to say, there are so many, many children, even in his family. Hewit’s coffee was fantastic; even I had a sip, which may be why I am writing so much. We also took pictures for everyone and we will email the photos to Marta, the person that invited us. Marta has been working abroad for 3 years and they miss her and she them. They were so happy to see the picture we had stored on the phone, they each kissed the camera, as if they could kiss her. There were about 15 people, from children to brothers and we met them just a few at a time, so it was a bit confusing.

We learned that it is good to say their name and shake hands when meeting, and then again when you say goodbye. If you have forgotten their names, you can ask again at the end and say, goodbye. Luckily, their names were all biblical, so if you could figure out which bible persona, (they sometimes are very different), it was easier to remember. The mother was beautiful, modest and wore a head scarf. A teenage girl started the coffee ceremony. Marta’s sister finished the coffee ceremony. They kept sneaking more beer into our glasses. They almost all spoke English, at least a little. No one ate with us, but they asked Ibrihiam, our driver into join us. The oldest brother, Abrahiam, who is at home is in college, for accounting, was lovely. Hewit and her husband live, in Saudi Arabia with her son. Her daughter, who is 7, stayed home to be with her grandmother. Hewit, later, even told us that she felt it was too restrictive to have her daughter in Saudi, and that she cant stand not being able to drive and having to wear the full burka is so restrictive. Interesting to have a conversation about women's rights in Ethiopia, with and Ethiopian woman. Very cool.


There is a cool series on women in Ethiopia. I dont know how long it will be up, but check it out:

http://www.unfoundation.org/our-impact/stories-of-impact/empowering-women-girls/un-foundation-in-every-corner-of-ethiopia.html