November 3
This morning I woke up about 5 AM to get ready to go to the church with Kibron, the taxi driver. He had told me he was going to show me around, but he had to pick somebody up from the airport, but he took me to the church and walked up the hill with me.
At the base of the hill, an Ethiopian woman motioned to me and she put my prayer wrap over my head and both ends lifted and placed securely over each opposite shoulder. This is intended to represent the cross.
The wrap that Kibron selected for me is very simple and traditional, and very similar to what most women were wearing. The basic design is a long white cloth that resembles cheesecloth, with a criss-cross stitch connecting two panels. Along the hem of one side of the longest side, there is embroidery with traditional crosses or arrow shaped motifs. Generally, the wrap covers your head down to the knees. Some women’s designs are much more elaborate and colorful, others had a plain white cloth, but in general the idea was the same.
Many men had their heads covered as well, but there were no women without a wrap.
Climbing up the hill were hundreds of similarly dressed people, covered in white, because today is St George’s day, and coming to St. George’s church on his day will help to grant you a wish. Because they are making a journey to a specific church on a specific day, for spiritual reasons, which they might not have otherwise done had it not been St. George’s day, I am going to call these people pilgrims.
There were also many beggars, as well as people selling crosses, prayer books, even vegetables on the sides of the hill.
Inside of the church there was a cloth laid out with a pile of dirt on it. People picked up a piece of paper or a leaf, and placed the dirt on top of it, then placed the dirt in their mouths. When I ran into Kibron later that day, he showed me that he had about five or six different little packets of dirt in his ashtray in his taxi, all from different churches. He explained the purpose of the dirt , which you can either place on your tongue and eat by itself, or you can mix with water and use it as a drink, is to cleanse and heal the body, or just make you feel better. He told me that you should take your medicines, but afterwards you should eat some dirt from the churches.
The chanting in the morning definitely comes from St. George’s Church, which has a megaphone attached to the front so that people outside the church can hear.
Generally the pilgrims at the church faced toward the front, although several turned around to stare at me- I was the only white person there. Kibron had to leave for the airport to pick someone up, but after he initially left, I just was standing there, not knowing exactly what to do, but then Kibron came back and told me, “Sarai, do not be afraid, it is alright, go in the church.” Then he walked away.
So, I put my sandals into a plastic bag and went to the front of the church. Most people were standing outside of the church, and the people who did go in knelt on the ground and kissed it before entering. I just went in a little way, then looked around, and came back out. I was very self conscious, and I still don’t know how exactly I’m supposed to act or what I’m supposed to do. I don’t want to offend anyone, especially in their place of worship.
Then, disaster struck. I now know why James Spradley writes about ethnographers who hide out in their hotel rooms for weeks before they begin to get any work done. At first I didn’t understand it- after all the anticipation and work leading up to a research trip, how could you get there and suddenly want to hide out? Now I know why.
I was looking at a sea of people cloaked in white, raising their hands and alternately kneeling, and there was a small child wearing a brown dress and white covering who had twisted around and was staring at me under the arms of her mother. I thought I could discreetly take a picture by just peeking the lens of my camera out from under my cloak, but although I thought I had turned off the flash, I PUSHED THE WRONG BUTTON. My camera flashed. People turned and stared. I. felt. Like. An. Ass. (and I was one, in that moment).
I was also having trouble fumbling around with my recording equipment, and after listening to the recording, I’m pretty disappointed with the quality.
Anyhow, so I walked to the back of the gated area, behind everyone else, and just watched for about an hour. THIS IS WHAT I SHOULD HAVE DONE IN THE FIRST PLACE. Just watch. Observe. Learn.
That way, when you make an ass out of yourself, at least you probably did some things right, first.
I feel like I fumbled this one and made just about every mistake possible. That’s ok. I probably won’t be going to St. George’s church again- I just wanted to go to it today because it was his day. Saint George is actually the patron saint of Ethiopia. Sometimes, he is depicted as the king of saints, or other times as a great dragon slayer on a horse.
Tomorrow Kibron has promised me to show me around the Tekla Church, which is the one closer to my hotel and also the one where Timrat is the deacon and I have met the priest.
I feel like maybe I should just get over the not wanting to disturb anyone and just take my pictures. I mean, I’m already getting stared at, and maybe if I just walked around, shooting like I had a purpose, then people would understand better what I was there for? But then part of me just makes me feel even worse. I mean, how do professional photographers get some of those shots without being completely insensitive, especially with this type of subject matter, especially with their large camera equipment? Any suggestions???
I truly wish I had gotten some photographs, because it was truly a beautiful seen, all of those people gathered to worship God, some standing, arms outstretched, others kneeling, kissing the ground, all clothed in white cloths, a cross around their necks.
On the way back I had to find my way back to the hotel, since Kibron had left. A little while later Kibron found me walking back (guess I’m not hard to spot in a crowd, even while attempting to blend in by wearing local clothing) and picked me to drive me the rest of the way. He didn’t even charge me. He told me I was brave for going by myself. It will be nice to go with him tomorrow so I having someone to follow/mimic.
12PM
Yesterday afternoon about 2:30 we headed over to the Orphanage to play with the kids. Gabre met our group and he wanted to show them his plans.
He spent a little more time with them talking about his vision for a clinic one day, and also showed him a garden where they grow medicinal plants. Artemesia is grown to cure malaria, and J later showed me an article he had printed off of pub med that demonstrated that in fact the plant does in fact help to treat malaria. They have several other plants growing and I hope maybe one day Connie can show more of the garden to me.
Gabe took us inside and talked to us more about his vision and how it had come to be so far. When they first came here, it was to see their roots. Gabre had been born in Tigray, but moved to Addis Ababa when he was a boy with his parents. This allowed him to get an education, and also this is where he met his wife, where they were high school classmates.
He then moved to India where he received his degree, then to New York where Connie was. After the communist government was overthrown, he said they were able to come for a visit, but when they did, they saw so much need that they knew they wanted to help.
They came here without the funding to build an orphanage, but soon donors heard of what they were doing and began to give. They have one Jewish businessman in particular that has given over 110,000 dollars.
We asked Gebre how much more he would need to finish the rest of the place, and he said about $250,000. When we heard this figure, we were so surprised, because this will buy a school, a dairy farm, chicken coup, a second building for AIDS orphans, and the multi-purpose hall. It is a lot of money, but it just seems like such a small figure for so many good things.
I am continually impressed with how thought-out his plans are- the sections of land not being built on right now were planted with corn so that ‘the rainy season wasn’t wasted” and the future septic system for a second building is currently being used as a rain collector. The land is situated between two mountains, funneling the wind, and he has plans to harness the wind to power the orphanage.
We were sitting in the living area of the orphanage while Gebre was explaining all of this to us, when Connie peeked her head through the window and asked us if we would like roasted corn. She had torn fresh ears of corn from her garden and roasted them outside for us. We all accepted and plucked the kernals from the ear of corn with our fingers- delicious! We eventually had to ask her to stop roasting more ears, because she just kept bringing more!
Gebre also is a fascinating storyteller, and he told us much of the history of Ethiopia. He better explained the entire situation with Eritrea (from an Ethiopian’s perspective, of course). He said that the Eritreans know where the border is, but the UN drew a random line (he said something like “I’m telling you, if that line was used, houses would be split in half!) He said what should have happened was that elders from each side should have been gathered to show officials where the line actually was, because everyone knew where the “real” border is.
He also talked about the Italian aggressions of the 1890s and later in WWII, and how it had drained the countries resources. He is very proud that Ethiopia is the only country to not succumb to colonization by a western force , and was also quick to point out that Ethiopia could never be called an aggressor by any country, that anytime they had engaged in any military moves, it had always been reactionary, and that they had taught many countries good lessons, because they had never been defeated as a country.
He said that even tribes who were fighting with each other would drop their quarrels in order to help fight for Ethiopia.

Playing with Children:

1st Coffee Ceremony: