Goodbye Gonder!

I cannot believe that my time in Ethiopia is over, and I am heading home already. Six months went by quicker than I ever imagined. Sometimes I looked around and had to pause to remind myself where I was and what I was doing. I thought, "This is my life?" Despite my previous travels and semester abroad in Argentina, my life in Ethiopia resembled nothing I had ever experienced before. And nothing could have fully prepared me for this journey.

At first it was a challenge to adapt to such a distinct culture.  But I managed and have come to not only appreciate but love Ethiopian culture. I am mesmerized by the traditional music and mystified by the eskista. How can they move like that? How is that physically possible? How can the children do it so naturally? I adore the sight of Ethiopians in the morning flooding out of church. A sea of men and women clad in simple white, often with colorful borders and accents. I love the smoky smell of frankincense mingling with the fresh scent of grass during coffee ceremony. I enjoy listening to the the rich myths and history of the country and getting to know the Habeshas. It's always fun to surprise the Habeshas by using my limited Amharic and name-dropping the handful of Ethiopian musicians, athletes, and politicians I know.

The chance to live and teach in Gonder was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I will always remember. It's hard for me to reflect quite yet, but I know that my time abroad has already shaped many of my views on education, equality, NGO's, community empowerment, and development. It has affected me significantly and will surely continue to do so when I return home. "Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers, that the mind can never break off from the journey." I couldn't have articulated it any better than Pat Conroy. Travel, particularly immersion, is a catalyst. It tests our assumptions and leads us to think beyond our former boundaries, to think in bigger, bolder, broader ways.

Things I Will Miss:

1. Friendly Gonderians

2. Lily and Sophie

3. The sunshine

4. The scenery

5. Fresh, homemade injera and berbere 

6. Never having to use a blowdryer 

7. Playing with the children and making them laugh despite the language barrier

8. Seeing a look of understanding slowly creep across a student's face

Things That I'm Looking Forward to:

1. Catching up with friends and family

2. Sushi and salads

3. Manicures and pedicures

4. Having electricity, wifi, and hot, running water around the clock

5. Wearing shorts

6. The upcoming JDC Next Gen Ethiopia Event in New York

7. Spending a few weekends at the beach this summer

8. Starting school

Education is the Great Equalizer

This is my last week teaching. Over the past two semesters Ari and I have worked intensively with our students on English listening, speaking, pronunciation, and grammar. Even though we spoke very slowly and enunciated, it took our students a long time just to get used to our American accents and understand us. The novelty of having two ferenji teachers has not warn off yet. Every class we are greeted enthusiastically, and when I walk through the streets I will certainly hear students yelling, "Miss Alex!" at the top of their lungs and running over to say hello. Slowly, I have seen progress in some of my better students. I can only hope that our presence in Gonder has impacted all of our students in some tiny way — exposing them to English-speakers, serving as role models, motivating them to further their educations, or simply showing them that people outside of Ethiopia care.

Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance wheel of the social machinery.

-Horace Mann

Children are the world's most valuable resource and its best hope for the future

-John F. Kennedy

All About Ethiopia

This month Ethiopia has been in the news quite a bit.  Here are a few interesting articles that I read in April:

Africa's Free Press Problem

Fighting Famines with Markets: In Ethiopia,
 an Exchange Empowers Rural Farmers

African Energy: Eastern El Dorado? 

Shipping in East Africa: Ocean Ahoy!

Ethiopia's Women: Maid in Ethiopia

Inside Ethiopia's Adoption Boom

Entwine

Last week I attended the JSC Mid-Year Seminar in Jerusalem. All 25 fellows traveled near and far to spend 4 full days together sharing our diverse experiences and universal difficulties, listening and learning, problem-solving and probing, and reflecting and reacting. This year's fellows are located in Argentina, Latvia, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, Israel, India, China, Rwanda, and Ethiopia. At first our environments and roles seemed very different. Personally, I was just happy to be in Israel with a functional shower always ready to produce hot, running water. The food was an added bonus! I enjoyed my fair share of chocolate rugelach, halvah, fresh fruits and vegetables, yogurt, falafel, and hummus. 

By the end of the seminar I was able to connect with fellows in seemingly dissimilar placements. The discussions that I found most helpful and relevant to my placement were on empowering local communities, managing relationships and expectations, and maintaining individual sustainability. Informally, we shared stories and lots of laughs about language barriers, miscommunications, and culture shock. 

We also worked on peer consulting in small groups. We each brought an issue to the session. I decided to speak about my difficulties teaching — the large classes, lack of sufficient resources, apathetic and insubordinate students as well as my lack of authority and disciplinary power. I was surprised to receive refreshing suggestions such as reorganizing the seating arrangements of classrooms and empowering the stronger students to lead by example.

I came away from the seminar with a supportive and motivated network of like-minded peers and new ideas to encourage my students in Gonder. Even though we are scattered around the world, I know that many of us will remain in touch, bounce ideas off each other, solicit advice, and just vent about our daily frustrations. Before attending the seminar, I did not think that I had much in common with the other fellows. My background was different, my goals were different, my placement was different. Off in Ethiopia I was isolated from the group. Slowly over the course of the 4 days I realized that a larger, shared JSC experience does exist, and now we are inextricably interconnected.

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Two weeks ago we visited Aksum, home of the legendary Ark of the Covenant. Once a great trading metropolis, it has turned into a dusty city with ancient relics scattered among rubble. Aksum is in the northern province of Tigray, bordering Eritrea. The city was the heart of the Aksumite Kingdom, which at its height controlled territories are far as southern Egypt, east to the Gulf of Aden, south to the Omo River, and west to the Cushite Kingdom of Meroë. Ruins date between the 1st and 13th centuries (UNESCO). Our tour guide Girma told us that only 10% of the ruins have been excavated.

Long after its decline, Aksum has remained a significant religious, political, and cultural center. The Aksumite dynasty adopted Christianity in the 4th century. In fact, Ethiopia is the second country after Armenia to adopt Christianity as its state religion. Today Ethiopian Orthodox Christians come to Aksum to celebrate important holidays and to pray at St. Mary of Zion. They believe the sacred Ark of the Covenant is housed there. Since the Aksumite rulers, Ethiopian emperors have continued to hold their coronation ceremonies in Aksum. The museum at St. Mary of Zion has an impressive collection of crowns and gowns worn by various emperors.

The Countryside of Aksum

The City of Aksum

 

Northern Stelae Field

In Ethiopia the stelae were used as tombstones and monuments to local rulers. Each was sculpted from a single piece of granite from the nearby quarries. The granite was brought to the field where the stelae were then carved and erected. The Northern Stelae Field in Aksum is the largest and most important stelae field in Ethiopia. There are 120 stelae ranging from 1 meter to 33 meters in height.

The Great Stele
It is 33m and believed to be the largest single block of stone humans have
ever attempted to erect. It fell while being erected and has remained in this
position for 1600 years.

The Rome Stele
It is 24.6 meters. It collapsed between 10th and 16th centuries.
In 1937Mussolini ordered the remains to be shipped to Italy where
it was reassembled and raised in the Piazza di Porta Capena.
The stele was finally returned to Ethiopia in 2005.

King Ezana's Stele
The 24 meter stele has remained standing since it was created.
Although now it supported by a crane.

Masoleum

Tomb of the False Door
It is also known as the Tomb of King Ramhai and was built between the
4th and 5th centuries.

Original iron clamp

Stone sarcophagus in the tomb

Archaeological Museum

Tombs of King Kaleb and King Gebre Meskel

King Ezana's Inscription

King Ezana's inscription was found by three farmers plowing their fields in 1981. The tablet describes the military exploits of King Ezana in Sabean, Ge'ez, and Greek. It dates back to the 4th century.

Queen of Sheba's Palace

In Ethiopia the Queen of Sheba is not merely a mythical character but a historic figure. The emperors of Ethiopia trace their descent to Makeda, the Queen of Sheba, and King Solomon. The Kebra Nagast, the ancient Ethiopian account of the origins of the Solomonic line, claims that on a visit to Jerusalem Makeda was seduced by King Solomon.  She bore a son, Menelik, when she returned to Ethiopia.  As an adult Menelik journeyed to Jerusalem to meet his father. Upon deciding to return back to his homeland, Menelik stole the Ark of the Covenant and brought it to Ethiopia, where it has remained. Our tour guide claimed that Menelik did not steal the Ark; rather, the Ark defected to its rightful owner.

Brick oven in the kitchen of the palace 

Gudit Stelae Field
The field is across the street from the palace. It is the supposed resting
place of the Queen of Sheba.

Queen of Sheba's Bath

St. Mary of Zion Churches

Dome and Bell Tower

Entrance to the New Church, which was built by Emperor Haile Selassie
in the 1960s

Interior of the New Church

Altar of the New Church

Water left in the church to be blessed

Beautifully illustrated Bible

The Bible is about 500 years old and is written in Ge'ez

In the foreground is a small chapel built to house the Ark of the Covenant.
The chapel is guarded by a specially chosen priest, and no one else can enter.
In the background is the old church, which was built by Fasiladas in the 17th century.