The tiny coffins made me think about the infant mortality rate, which is 83 per thousand here, versus 6 per thousand in the U. S..
Tag: Ethiopia
Child, Gojam, Ethiopia, November 2008
Running Children, Bichena, Gojam, Ethiopia, November 2008
Meskel Fire #2, Meskel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2008
Watching the Meskel fire, before heading off to local celebrations held by communities throughout the city.
House #2, Piazza, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, November 2008
House, Piazza, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, November 2008
Watchdog, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, November 2008
A dog just awakes from its nap in the middle of a cobblestone alley, in Addis Ababa. I took a couple photos of this serene-looking dog before I decided that I really wanted some eye contact, which I achieve by calling out to it “salaam, wusha. . . “* Well, it turns out that this lazy, serene-looking dog is quite an aggressive watchdog, and I had to retreat from there, as the dog’s amused owner tried to keep it under control, while I just backed away, saying “yikerta, yikerta!”**
* “hello, dog”
** “excuse me, excuse me!”
Winnowing, Bichena, Gojam, Ethiopia, November 2008
A farmer winnows his chickpeas, on the road from Bichena to Bichena Gyorgis church.
In case you are unfamiliar with the process, after the stalks have been thoroughly beaten or trod upon by oxen (threshing), to break the seeds out of the pods and break them away from the remaining pods and stalks (the chaff), the farmer uses a pitchfork (or their hands) to throw the whole pile up into the air; the seeds, being dense, fall right back down, whereas the chaff floats away in the slightest breeze, and will adequately separate even in no breeze. This of course, is the origin of the expression ‘separating the wheat from the chaff.’
Meskel Fire, Meskel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2008
The culmination of the evening’s celebrations is the lighting of the huge pile of Meskel Flowers by the Patriarch and VIP guests. This year, the fire was a bit slow to take off, smoking and sparking before bursting into flame.
Meskel Light #2, Meskel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2008
