One of the biggest holidays celebrated in Ethiopia is Meskel, or “the finding of the true cross”. This is an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian holiday; approximately 44% of Ethiopians are Orthodox Christian, so this is celebrated by many people. It is believed that Queen Helena had a dream in which God told her to light a bonfire and follow the smoke; the smoke would lead to the crucifix upon which Jesus was hung. After doing so, she indeed found the true cross. Every year on September 27, this story is remembered by lighting bonfires throughout the country. The grandest celebration occurs in Addis Ababa at Meskel Square (named after the holiday itself). On the eve of Meskel (September 26 – also my sister’s birthday!), people start to gather early in the afternoon. As soon as the sun goes down, individuals light candles and eventually the bishop and other important religious figures light the main bonfire in the center of the square. Many people watch until the fire stops burning and make predictions for the upcoming year based on which direction the smoke blows. I decided to travel to Addis Ababa for this special occasion.
I opted to take the bus since it is about $15 USD one-way versus about $60 USD to fly. There are two main “luxury” bus companies: Sky Bus and Selam Bus. Sky Bus only operates on certain days of the week and is a little bit more expensive, so I decided to take Selam Bus. You have to purchase your ticket at least several days in advance; the bus only runs once per day, so it fills up rather quickly (only 47 seats). I had tried to purchase my ticket on Saturday, but it was not ready, so I had to get it on Monday morning at the ticket office in Harar. I purchased a ticket for Wednesday morning so that I would arrive in Addis by Wednesday evening (the Meskel celebration would start Thursday afternoon). However, the bus leaves Harar at 5am in the morning and it would be difficult for me to find a mini-bus from Haramaya to Harar that early, so I had to spend Tuesday night in Harar.
I opted to take the bus since it is about $15 USD one-way versus about $60 USD to fly. There are two main “luxury” bus companies: Sky Bus and Selam Bus. Sky Bus only operates on certain days of the week and is a little bit more expensive, so I decided to take Selam Bus. You have to purchase your ticket at least several days in advance; the bus only runs once per day, so it fills up rather quickly (only 47 seats). I had tried to purchase my ticket on Saturday, but it was not ready, so I had to get it on Monday morning at the ticket office in Harar. I purchased a ticket for Wednesday morning so that I would arrive in Addis by Wednesday evening (the Meskel celebration would start Thursday afternoon). However, the bus leaves Harar at 5am in the morning and it would be difficult for me to find a mini-bus from Haramaya to Harar that early, so I had to spend Tuesday night in Harar.
I arrived in Harar around 5pm and checked into a hotel right across the street from the Selam Bus ticket office. The room was nothing special, but only cost 115 birr (about $6 USD). The electricity worked and I had my own bathroom, but the water was not running. I went to Fantish Restaurant, the place Muluken had introduced me to, to get some delicious kitfo (raw minced meat). I ended up staying there awhile because they were showing How Stella Got Her Groove Back on TV there. After eating, I stopped for dessert at Tesh Fresh Juice. I couldn’t decide which flavor to get, so they let me combine: avocado, guava, and orange. They layered the drink with the avocado on the bottom since it was so thick and creamy, the guava in the middle, and the liquidy orange juice on top. It was so sweet and yummy! With a full belly, I headed back to my room and went to bed early.
I woke up at 4:30am to make sure I caught the bus. Even though they said the departure time was 5am, the bus didn’t leave until almost 6am (they had to check everyone’s luggage and tickets). I started out with a cardigan and hooded sweatshirt, but within a few hours, had to strip down to just a t-shirt. The bus was supposedly air-conditioned, but it got so hot and stuffy! I got restless after 10 hours and was ready to get off of there! Along the way, there were a few interesting sights to see. I saw the turn off for Awash National Park, the Awash River, the new Awash bridge project, and baboons begging for bread near Awash. I also saw a lot of camels, goats, donkeys, mountains, and savannahs. Finally, after almost 12 hours, I arrived at Meskel Square in central Addis.
Before doing anything else, I headed to the Selam Bus ticket office there to buy my return ticket. I was lucky to get one for Sunday morning (leaving at 5am again). I was then picked up by Teddy, the brother of my friend Andarge. Teddy and a couple of his friends manage a private school in Addis called Ethio Canada. It is just starting its third year and has about 1,400 students (grades pre-K – 8). Teddy wanted me to visit his school and I was more than happy to oblige. I have been wanting to visit as many schools as possible to get a better idea of what the education system is like in Ethiopia and what kind of prior training I can expect my university students to have.
I woke up at 4:30am to make sure I caught the bus. Even though they said the departure time was 5am, the bus didn’t leave until almost 6am (they had to check everyone’s luggage and tickets). I started out with a cardigan and hooded sweatshirt, but within a few hours, had to strip down to just a t-shirt. The bus was supposedly air-conditioned, but it got so hot and stuffy! I got restless after 10 hours and was ready to get off of there! Along the way, there were a few interesting sights to see. I saw the turn off for Awash National Park, the Awash River, the new Awash bridge project, and baboons begging for bread near Awash. I also saw a lot of camels, goats, donkeys, mountains, and savannahs. Finally, after almost 12 hours, I arrived at Meskel Square in central Addis.
Before doing anything else, I headed to the Selam Bus ticket office there to buy my return ticket. I was lucky to get one for Sunday morning (leaving at 5am again). I was then picked up by Teddy, the brother of my friend Andarge. Teddy and a couple of his friends manage a private school in Addis called Ethio Canada. It is just starting its third year and has about 1,400 students (grades pre-K – 8). Teddy wanted me to visit his school and I was more than happy to oblige. I have been wanting to visit as many schools as possible to get a better idea of what the education system is like in Ethiopia and what kind of prior training I can expect my university students to have.
Teddy and his friend/co-worker, Karkidon, took me to a traditional cultural restaurant near the airport. The building was designed to look like a traditional Gurage house (many Gurage people originated from the southwest part of Ethiopia). Inside there were pots and pans hanging on the walls, thatched walls and roofs, and a stage for live entertainment. As we ate, we were entertained by musicians playing traditional Ethiopian instruments. The food was delicious; we had kitfo – both raw and cooked and some bigger chunks of meat – also available raw or cooked. Karkidon and I drank tej, an Ethiopian honey wine. It was sweet, so you can easily guess that I liked it!
After dinner, Teddy and Karkidon dropped me off at my hotel south of the city center, called Atelefugne. This hotel was more expensive than some of the others in Addis, but they had a web site and took reservations. Because of the holiday, I was worried that other hotels might be full, so I wanted to make sure that I had a place to stay. For $15 USD a night, I had my own room with wifi access, but a shared bathroom. When I first arrived, there was no electricity and no running water. I later found out that there was electricity; it was just the light bulb in my room that was burnt out! For my third night there, they switched me to a different room and I finally had light (good thing I packed my headlamp)!
After dinner, Teddy and Karkidon dropped me off at my hotel south of the city center, called Atelefugne. This hotel was more expensive than some of the others in Addis, but they had a web site and took reservations. Because of the holiday, I was worried that other hotels might be full, so I wanted to make sure that I had a place to stay. For $15 USD a night, I had my own room with wifi access, but a shared bathroom. When I first arrived, there was no electricity and no running water. I later found out that there was electricity; it was just the light bulb in my room that was burnt out! For my third night there, they switched me to a different room and I finally had light (good thing I packed my headlamp)!
The next morning (Thursday), Teddy and Karkidon picked me up at 7am to take me to Ethio Canada School. We also picked up Tamaru (another co-manager of the school and also a friend of Teddy’s) and his son. The students arrive by 8am and then there is a morning ceremony. All of the students line up in the courtyard by class and the teachers make important announcements. Then everyone stretches and does a few physical exercises. Finally, the flag is raised while everyone sings the national anthem (see video below). Teddy had me introduce myself during the morning ceremony and give a few words of encouragement to the students. I was able to visit some of their classrooms, but did not have time to see them all. I shook many hands and kissed many cheeks before leaving with Teddy and Tamaru for breakfast.
Later in the afternoon, I met Muluken at Meskel Square. We arrived there around 3pm and the crowd was already burgeoning. Meskel Square is actually shaped like a semi-circle with tiered seating. We were lucky to arrive when we did because there weren’t many seats left. We had to sit for nearly 3 hours on the concrete benches before the fire was lit. During that time though, we were able to watch various processions in the main square. There were many priests from all over the country as well as Sunday school students. Each group wore different vestments, so the whole display was very colorful. There were a couple parade-like floats; one was Noah’s Ark and the other was shaped like a church. It was amusing to watch all of the people stream into the square and see the police force try to control them. At one point, the guards communicated to each other that there was nowhere else for the people to go, so they gave up trying to control them. When it was getting closer to the lighting of the fire, everyone stood up to be able to see better. Around 6pm, everyone in the audience lit their individual candles. This was an amazing sight; suddenly thousands of dots of light appeared throughout the amphitheater. After waiting for so long, everyone was so happy to be actively involved in the ceremony. As all of candles started to burn out, the main procession of the archbishop and other top church officials lit the big bonfire in the middle of the square. Muluken and I watched it burn for about 10 minutes, but then tried to get a head start out of the massive crowd. We made good progress for a while, but then came to a complete halt. I felt like I was in a mosh pit at a concert. I was surrounded by bodies on all sides and people behind us started pushing. It got chaotic very quickly as people yelled and the police started waving their batons. I was frightened for only a moment, but was happy to get out there. I lost Muluken in the craziness, but we had to go our separate ways anyway.
I decided to walk back to my hotel from Meskel Square. Teddy had offered to pick me up, but I did not want to burden him and force him to drive in such crowded conditions. I knew the general direction of where to go and felt confident that I could find my abode. After about one hour of wandering around, I admitted to myself that I was lost. It was dark out, but only 8pm or so. I was in a busy commercial area with clothing and food shops. I wasn’t sure who I should ask for help; I didn’t want people to try to take advantage of my confusion and charge me lots of money to give directions. My gut instinct told me to go into a men’s clothing shop and ask the young workers for help. I asked them where Tanzania Street was, but they had no idea. This is a major problem in Ethiopia. Most streets don’t have names and if they do, people do not know the names and the streets are not labeled. Everything is navigated via landmarks. I had written down the phone number of the hotel, so the main guy working called. Unfortunately, it was an old number that was no longer connected. I was ready to leave and keep wandering on my own, but the guy working was determined to help me. He asked me to wait 10 minutes while he closed up the shop for the day.
Once the shop was closed, we walked to the nearest Internet café. I learned that the guy’s name was Tsegaye (pronounced like “t-sky”) and was a 23-year-old student who occasionally helped out at his brother’s shop. We found the web site for my hotel and an updated phone number. Tsegaye called them and found out where the hotel was located (I wasn’t that far away – I had been walking down a street that paralleled the street I wanted to be on). He graciously drove me the short distance to my hotel and refused to take any money for helping me. I was so grateful to have met such a decent man who wasn’t out to get anything, but just wanted to do a good deed. We exchanged phone numbers and hoped to meet up the next day.
I decided to walk back to my hotel from Meskel Square. Teddy had offered to pick me up, but I did not want to burden him and force him to drive in such crowded conditions. I knew the general direction of where to go and felt confident that I could find my abode. After about one hour of wandering around, I admitted to myself that I was lost. It was dark out, but only 8pm or so. I was in a busy commercial area with clothing and food shops. I wasn’t sure who I should ask for help; I didn’t want people to try to take advantage of my confusion and charge me lots of money to give directions. My gut instinct told me to go into a men’s clothing shop and ask the young workers for help. I asked them where Tanzania Street was, but they had no idea. This is a major problem in Ethiopia. Most streets don’t have names and if they do, people do not know the names and the streets are not labeled. Everything is navigated via landmarks. I had written down the phone number of the hotel, so the main guy working called. Unfortunately, it was an old number that was no longer connected. I was ready to leave and keep wandering on my own, but the guy working was determined to help me. He asked me to wait 10 minutes while he closed up the shop for the day.
Once the shop was closed, we walked to the nearest Internet café. I learned that the guy’s name was Tsegaye (pronounced like “t-sky”) and was a 23-year-old student who occasionally helped out at his brother’s shop. We found the web site for my hotel and an updated phone number. Tsegaye called them and found out where the hotel was located (I wasn’t that far away – I had been walking down a street that paralleled the street I wanted to be on). He graciously drove me the short distance to my hotel and refused to take any money for helping me. I was so grateful to have met such a decent man who wasn’t out to get anything, but just wanted to do a good deed. We exchanged phone numbers and hoped to meet up the next day.
Friday the 27th of September was the actual day of Meskel, so most shops around the city were closed. I predicted that this would be the case, so I decided to just go for a long walk and look at the outside of buildings. I walked all the way to St. George Cathedral which was probably about 3.5 miles – all uphill! The church was open, but I wasn’t allowed to go in because a special Meskel ceremony was going on. I stopped at a little café for lunch and had my first hamburger in Ethiopia; it was good and less than $3 USD for a hearty burger and fries. I continued to walk around the Piazza area and then down to the Derg Monument.
I tried to walk to Merkato (the largest open air market in Africa), but most of the shops were closed and the people were much more aggressive in this area. By “aggressive” I don’t mean physically. It’s just that the market is located in a poorer area of town and people are more likely to beg relentlessly. I am constantly hearing people shout “faranji” (foreigner) at me and “you, you, you” to get my attention. Once they have my attention, almost all children hold out their hands or put up 1 finger and ask for “money, money”. It is so frustrating that children have associated foreigners with free handouts. As much as I want to help, I don’t want to reinforce the idea that all foreigners are rich or the behavior of receiving something for nothing. I prefer to help others by spending money for goods or small services (although I still fight for paying a fair price – not the quadrupled foreigner rate). I also believe in the power of random acts of kindness. For example, yesterday when I was on the mini-bus , home, I sat next to a woman with her newborn baby. We could barely communicate with each other, but we shared some smiles. We all had to pay 3 birr ($0.15 USD) for our fare, but the smallest note I had was a 10 birr. I decided to just pay for the woman, her husband, and myself – 9 birr total. They were surprised by this and seemed very appreciative.
I tried to walk to Merkato (the largest open air market in Africa), but most of the shops were closed and the people were much more aggressive in this area. By “aggressive” I don’t mean physically. It’s just that the market is located in a poorer area of town and people are more likely to beg relentlessly. I am constantly hearing people shout “faranji” (foreigner) at me and “you, you, you” to get my attention. Once they have my attention, almost all children hold out their hands or put up 1 finger and ask for “money, money”. It is so frustrating that children have associated foreigners with free handouts. As much as I want to help, I don’t want to reinforce the idea that all foreigners are rich or the behavior of receiving something for nothing. I prefer to help others by spending money for goods or small services (although I still fight for paying a fair price – not the quadrupled foreigner rate). I also believe in the power of random acts of kindness. For example, yesterday when I was on the mini-bus , home, I sat next to a woman with her newborn baby. We could barely communicate with each other, but we shared some smiles. We all had to pay 3 birr ($0.15 USD) for our fare, but the smallest note I had was a 10 birr. I decided to just pay for the woman, her husband, and myself – 9 birr total. They were surprised by this and seemed very appreciative.
I figure that I walked around 10 miles by late afternoon on Friday. I was tired and hungry. I got a hold of Tsegaye, the man who had rescued me the night before. We decided to meet up for dinner. He took me to another traditional cultural restaurant. This time we were able to hear live music and watch traditional dancers. The food was great; we had a variety of wots that were considered “fasting” style. Most Orthodox Christians here fast on Wednesdays and Fridays. After dinner, I was more than ready for a good night’s sleep!
Saturday was my day to do some sight-seeing since everything would be open again after the Meskel holiday closures. First, I packed up all of my stuff and walked to a new hotel. I wanted to be closer to Meskel Square to catch the bus the next morning at 5am. I found Wanza Hotel off of Bole Road for 200 birr a night. I dropped off my stuff and then met up with two people from Haramaya University: Ayoka and Mark. Ayoka is here doing research for her graduate studies and Mark is here doing volunteer work in the IT department. We went to the National Museum together to see Lucy, the oldest known upright bipedal human ancestor. She was discovered in Ethiopia and is thought to be 3.2 million years old! I really enjoyed this museum; the displays were well-labeled and the artifacts were interesting and eye-opening. We also wandered next door to an exhibition hall that had Mexican photographs and attire on display. As I walked back to my hotel, I was surprised to see police stationed on both sides of the road about every 200 meters. I talked to some of them and found out that the Prime Minister was returning from a trip to New York for the 68th session of the UN General Assembly, so there was heightened security since he would be driven back to his palace soon.
I woke up bright and early to catch Selam Bus back to Harar. Once again, the bus didn’t leave until after 6am even though the departure time on the ticket is 5am. I got a window seat near the back of the bus. Like the last ride, it got hot and stuffy after a few hours. It was almost 1pm and we hadn’t stopped for lunch when the bus suddenly stopped. The engine had shut off and would not turn back on. We were stuck on the side of the road for over an hour with the driver trying to repair the bus. No luck! Eventually, we were squished into a couple of mini-buses for the duration of the trip (about 2 hours). I met a traveler named Nancy who was doing a 1-month tour of Ethiopia. We sat next to each other and talking to her made the rest of the ride home go by quickly. I got to Haramaya University by 7pm and was happy to see that my house had not been taken over by rats!