Kickin' it up in Kenya: Posting 16: Ethiopia

At the end of September, Don and I went to Ethiopia for 2 1/2 weeks to work on a development project in the southern part of the country. While in Addis Ababa, the capital, we attended the Meskel (Finding of the Cross) celebration, an Ethiopian Orthodox Church holiday, with over 250,000 people assembled in one of the central squares of Addis. The celebration includes the burning of a large bonfire. Smaller bonfires were also burned throughout the city. The hotel workers asked Don to participate in lighting the one in front of our hotel. (See below.)

We worked in the Addis office for several days, and then traveled to southern Ethiopia (Arba Minch and Konso areas). The NGO wanted to film a video about one of its projects, and asked us to interview a number of individuals and groups and recommend who should be included in the video. We traveled to some very remote villages and talked to the villagers about how the cultural changes brought about by the program significantly improved their health and livelihoods. It was a wonderful experience.

When we were done with our interviews, we traveled to the Omo Valley in southern Ethiopia where we saw some very interesting tribes, including the Hammer and Mursi tribes.The pictures below speak for themselves.

We have now returned to Kenya and are back in the office. Next week, Don will be traveling to Turkana, in the northwest of Kenya, to carry out field research on a project to help improve the lives of girls. It is perhaps the poorest area of Kenya.