Monday for lunch we were invited to Nesibu and Bertikan’s for lunch. Their home and guest house is across the street from the YM office. Bertikan prepared us a traditional Ethiopian lunch with (forgive my spelling…) Wat and Engera. Wat can be a wide variety of stew or vegetable type dish that is placed on the Engera, which is a spongy pancake sort of wrap. First you unwrap the piece of Engera on your plate and the put the Wat on
top. You soak up the wat and use the remaining Engera to pick up the Wat and put it in your mouth. The Ethiopian people do this with ease… I on the other hand, make a mess. Oh and important to note here, they do not use napkins, if you are lucky you get a Kleenex. The Wat and lunch today was great. There was a lentil dish, a bean curd dish, a spinach dish, a potato dish and a cabbage and carrot dish. They were all excellent. My favorite was the lentil and it had a good amount of spice.
Before we had lunch though, Bertikan prepared a coffee ceremony for us. She started with green coffee beans, she washed them and then roasted them over a propane type tank. After they are
roasted, she brings you the dish and you waft the smell to your nose. Then the beans are put in a large pestle and ground by hand. Then place in a “kettle” of sorts that looks more like a tall genies bottle. The coffee then comes to a boil and is poured in small cups. The same beans make 3 separate pots through the day. The first is very strong/dark, the
second is light and the third even lighter and used in the evening for conversation. It is amazing coffee. Not sure what I am going to do back in the states with the plain old coffee there.
After lunch we went back to the YM office and they were all gone for lunch, but the children from the group home were there just hanging out. We began to engage them. They were very shy at first (5 girls). We took a few pictures and showed them, they loved it. We gave them candy. So through bribery they became our friends. We played little games with them, high fives and such. We taught them English words and they taught us Amharic words, which I would massacre every time I tried to say one causing giggles all around. There are three children there that are not matched for adoption so I tried to spend extra time getting to know them. A brother and sister (4 and 8 years old) the boy is HIV positive. They are beautiful happy children and I am desperate to find them a home. The other is a 10 year old girl who is also positive. She watches all of her friends go to families and asks when will it be her turn? When will it be her turn, I ask myself and all of you? I ache for children with out families. It is not right. Later in the week we will visit the group homes and meet the rest of the children.
The girls loved Jill with her long blond hair. They loved practicing English and wanted to know about America. 2 of the sisters are going to Iowa. They wanted to know about Iowa and for a brief moment I was sad that they are leaving this warm city full of flowers and surrounded by mountains for the corn fields and flat land of Iowa. We talked about snow and farms and corn and windmills. They were so happy, they just kept saying “Iowa!” By the end of our time, Jill and I were sitting in the dirty driveway with girls braiding our hair and a little boy on my lap taking pictures of nothing and putting my sunglasses on upside down. I should also add the sun was shining the entire time. I love Addis Ababa!
Monday for lunch we were invited to Nesibu and Bertikan’s for lunch. Their home and guest house is across the street from the YM office. Bertikan prepared us a traditional Ethiopian lunch with (forgive my spelling…) Wat and Engera. Wat can be a wide variety of stew or vegetable type dish that is placed on the Engera, which is a spongy pancake sort of wrap. First you unwrap the piece of Engera on your plate and the put the Wat on 
top. You soak up the wat and use the remaining Engera to pick up the Wat and put it in your mouth. The Ethiopian people do this with ease… I on the other hand, make a mess. Oh and important to note here, they do not use napkins, if you are lucky you get a Kleenex. The Wat and lunch today was great. There was a lentil dish, a bean curd dish, a spinach dish, a potato dish and a cabbage and carrot dish. They were all excellent. My favorite was the lentil and it had a good amount of spice. 
Before we had lunch though, Bertikan prepared a coffee ceremony for us. She started with green coffee beans, she washed them and then roasted them over a propane type tank. After they are 
roasted, she brings you the dish and you waft the smell to your nose. Then the beans are put in a large pestle and ground by hand. Then place in a “kettle” of sorts that looks more like a tall genies bottle. The coffee then comes to a boil and is poured in small cups. The same beans make 3 separate pots through the day. The first is very strong/dark, the 
second is light and the third even lighter and used in the evening for conversation. It is amazing coffee. Not sure what I am going to do back in the states with the plain old coffee there. 
After lunch we went back to the YM office and they were all gone for lunch, but the children from the group home were there just hanging out. We began to engage them. They were very shy at first (5 girls). We took a few pictures and showed them, they loved it. We gave them candy. So through bribery they became our friends. We played little games with them, high fives and such. We taught them English words and they taught us Amharic words, which I would massacre every time I tried to say one causing giggles all around. There are three children there that are not matched for adoption so I tried to spend extra time getting to know them. A brother and sister (4 and 8 years old) the boy is HIV positive. They are beautiful happy children and I am desperate to find them a home. The other is a 10 year old girl who is also positive. She watches all of her friends go to families and asks when will it be her turn? When will it be her turn, I ask myself and all of you? I ache for children with out families. It is not right. Later in the week we will visit the group homes and meet the rest of the children. 
The girls loved Jill with her long blond hair. They loved practicing English and wanted to know about America. 2 of the sisters are going to Iowa. They wanted to know about Iowa and for a brief moment I was sad that they are leaving this warm city full of flowers and surrounded by mountains for the corn fields and flat land of Iowa. We talked about snow and farms and corn and windmills. They were so happy, they just kept saying “Iowa!” By the end of our time, Jill and I were sitting in the dirty driveway with girls braiding our hair and a little boy on my lap taking pictures of nothing and putting my sunglasses on upside down. I should also add the sun was shining the entire time. I love Addis Ababa!
3 comments:
Awww....loved picturing you and Jill with all those kids. Before you know it, those sisters are going to be saying "Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa!" :)
WOW! Again I think, I want YOUR job!! We could swap....you work with Josh, I'll travel the world and get cultured ;-)
sounds amazing!
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