This week

It has been a funny week or so. Paul and I have a bunch of big decisions to make, which I will write about when they are made. My time with CARE is wrapping up soon. Everytime I hold a focus group with the domestic workers I come out thinking "that is the saddest one ever". The one I held on Friday certainly made me feel that way.
As I've written about before, I've been meeting with Domestic workers here, to find out more about their needs (an lives). The last few were held at nigh schools, but we wanted to find a way to reach the workers that don't (or can't) go to school. We (mostly my amazing coworker Biniam) managed to get in touch with some brokers and we set up a group. 8 women walked in, all I would learn were 20 and under. 4 had children strapped to their hip. 3 of the others had children at home, watched by a friend or roommate. One more had a child who had died a few months before. The saddness, anger and frustration was palpable in the room. I won't get into the details, but these were all women who had worked as dw at some point in their lives. A few had gotten pregnant while working (2 by their employer, one who had been raped by him) and were than fired. Others had moved on to bar work, where they had gotten boyfriends who paid for their things, but bolted as soon as they got pregnant. They were fired as well. People won't hire domestic workers with children, because it is an almost full time job. The bars won't because of the late nights and small room space provided to live in. So the women are reduced to washing clothes, one household will pay them 50 birr/month to wash their clothing. That is just about 3 dollars, or what Paul and I paid for a pizza last night. Rent, most said is 250 birr a month, split with a roomamte. That is before the costs for their kids, many who despondently shared with us that they want to put up for adoption. As one woman put it "I don't want my mistakes to hurt my daughter".
The kids were all adorabe, though I resisted adopting them on the spot. I commented, as I was thanking them, that their children were all so quite and well behaved, nothing like American children. "That" on woman told me "is because they are poor children. They know not to make noise, because there is nothing to ask for".
I have 2 weeks here to stress how important this group is. I still want to figure out the best way to reach them. If anyone has any ideas please share them with me.

Paul knows I always feel glum after these sessions, and him and Puddles did the best they could to cheer me up! A Saturday of movies and cuddling on the couch with my 2 roomies was much appreciated!
Even better, we had the chance to escape the city on Sunday. Paul and I, plus our friends Jack and Stacy went horseback riding in the forests outside Addis. It was a beautful trail, and though the weather was odd (the first rain outside of the rainy season) it was cool and crisp, which was nice since all four of us are extremely pale! I ended up with a horse that can be best described as "tempormental and stubborn". While everyone elses horses would go when kicked and stopped when reighned (like trained horses are suposed to do) mine liked to stop at the back of the pack and pick up slowly. He wouldn't move any faster when I kicked him, but he would break into a trot whenever he felt like. It was a bit scary but our tour gudie was great and the horse was never mean, he clearly just didn't feel like working. It was a long day (we began riding at 10 with a lunch break around noon and got back close to 5) and were all sore and tired. It was really great though, and anyone spending time in Addis should definitly check Eqquos Addis out, especially if you need a break from this city. I should have pictures from our ride up in some form too.

Lalibela!

http://picasaweb.google.com/ejgold/Nov62010?authkey=Gv1sRgCODq8-_e5Iiz9QE&feat=directlink



I am trying something new today. People who don't have facebook, or are not friends on me on facebook (how sad!) have been complaining that they don't get to see any pictures of Ethiopia! I am rectifying that right now, by attempting to link directly through blogger 2 links to the albums of me and Paul in Lalibela. Here is some story as well, though I think in the case of this particular trip, the pictures tell 1000 words.


Lalibela is Ethiopia's second most sacred place, a area once known as "New Jerusalem" King Lalibela had visit had visited Jerusalem in the 12/13th century and wanted to build a sacred city in his own country, filled with churches and a site for pilgrimages. What he created was truly amazing. Carved out of rock, many of the churches are monolithic meaning they were all carved out of one slab, directly out of the mountain. At each site (there are 13 of King Lailibea's churches) Paul our tour guide Indy and I slipped off our shoes and entered the cold dark churches that are still standing after 700 years. Many have paintings of saints (St. George is a favorite here) or Mary and Jesus painted on the wall. Its hard to explain in words, but after having seen more churches than I can ever count in Europe, this was a totally different experience. In a way they seem more like the Buddhist Temples in SE Asia, cool and serene, providing a place for reflection. Many of the churches are connected by dark tunnels, one of which is was possible to walk through, a disconcerting yet rewarding trip. The first link here is from our first day there, visiting the 13 most famous churches in Lalibela. Take note of the many shots of Bet Gorges (House of St George) the monolithic church cut into the ground shaped as a cross. It was utterly spectacular.

Paul and I explored the grounds of our hotel that evening. Recommended for the restaurant and the views, we weren't disappointed on either front. We walked behind the hotel and managed to catch an amazing sunset through the mountains over the village. The hotel also has an a well known bird garden. Now those of you that know me know I don't really like birds. Actually having grown up near mostly NYC Pigeons and Long Island Seagulls, hate would be a more appropriate word. My love of birds wasn't enhanced at all when one pooped on me outside one of the churches that very afternoon (good luck, Indy assured me, even in Ethiopia). Even still, there was something nice about the happy sounds of what were admit idly very pretty colorful birds at dusk. But this hasn't changed my opinion of birds overall!

The next morning we headed out early to visit yet another rock hewed church, and a monastery, this time in the hills above the village. The 2 hour hike up was tough with the altitude, but amazingly rewarding, when we arrived at the top and got greeted with the view. I won't try to describe it here, but send your attention to the second link, which includes some pictures.

After a delicious lunch and a short break we were off again, this time to Yemrehana Kristos, a church about an hour and a half drive out of town, which predates Lailbela's churches by about 100 years. This was probably my favorite of the churches. We were the only tourists there when we arrived (though we ran into 1 other group when we left) and Indy had to find the priest, and his adorable son, to let us in. This church was built into a rock as well, surrounded by a cave that has protected it for so many centuries. As it is built into a cave it is surrounded by water and wood planks and bamboo make it possible to walk inside. The whole area is again cool and peaceful until you walk to the back and discover the partially mummified corpse of over 10,000 Pilgrims. It was beyond eerie when the priest switched one lamp on and we were greeted with the smiling corpses of these martyrs of 900 years ago, many who are said to have traveled from as far as Israel and Jordan!

Tired and hungry Indy left us back at our hotel for a delicious Ethiopian feast. We left Lalibela by plane early the next morning, tired yet excited to see our puppy and glad we had visited one of Ethiopia's most breathtaking sites. Enjoy the pictures!