Running in Ethiopia

mirror mirror

2009-10-18T16:35:00.000-07:00

big dreams

2009-10-18T16:10:00.000-07:00

This little guy with the big voice has big ambitions for his country. His message is that hard work is the only solution to get out of poverty, encouraging his people use their God given natural beauty and resources which have been neglected for centuries, to change the face of their beloved motherland.

I don't understand all the words, but the music grabs at my heart, and I can't help listening to this over and over again.

Abet Abet -Kirar

2009-10-18T16:07:00.001-07:00

traditional Ethiopian medicines

2009-10-18T15:25:00.000-07:00

making solar energy affordable

2009-10-18T15:15:00.000-07:00

solar

2009-10-18T15:12:00.000-07:00

traditional Amharic music

2009-10-18T00:05:00.000-07:00

hallelujah

2009-10-17T21:51:00.000-07:00

selling children

2009-10-17T16:49:00.000-07:00

http://www.ethiotube.net/video/5801/Fly-Away-Children--Commercialization-of-Children

failing aid

2009-10-17T15:31:00.000-07:00

In Dambisa Moyo a very interesting person has emerged from Africa with a fresh perspective on why Africa seems to be falling further and further behind. To me, her voice is incredibly important because it points a very accusing finger on the mindset the West seems to have regarding Africa, that in my experience, is way off the mark.

To me, it was very noticeable immediately. When you look around you in Africa, you see incredible beauty, a richness and abundance of nature and natural resources and vibrant, intelligent, creative people. Africa is not, as many people in the West imagine, a desert, as described by the pleas for aid, with starving, ill millions lying around apathetically at death's door.

However, one of the most difficult things to see is the begging culture. It is an attitude that often infuriates Africans themselves. How do we raise our children to become hard-working, responsible, creative citizens of the world if this is the image of themselves they see presented to the world, they ask.

Read Dambisa Moyo's "Dead Aid" and ask yourself if what she says about the failure of our aid policies to Africa is correct. Let us challenge ourselves to look at Africa in a new way. Let us open our minds and look at the ways we have been in the world that have contributed to the poverty in Africa. Have we been satisfied to soothe our conscience by donating to relief projects, when the underlying inequalities are never addressed?

As a woman, I can't help but identify sometimes with the plight of Africa. I understand the attitude implied in the discrepancies in power which impact women all over the world in the same way, and which are also behind the inequalities between the first and third worlds. I feel it often as I encounter powerful men in our culture in their attempts to relate to me as a woman. Their expectations simply do not allow me to be my whole self. And I find it very interesting how the most successful attempts to raise the standards of living in the poorer parts of the world have only been successful where the help has raised the hopes and opportunities for women. That should say a lot.

surgery

2009-10-17T10:36:00.000-07:00

The day before yesterday, I nervously hied myself off to have an arthroscopic procedure done on my knee. Dr. F. says he cleaned up some arthritic changes in my knee and repaired a torn medial meniscus. I should be able to resume my running in two weeks.

A little knowledge is dangerous thing, as they say. Being a nurse, I know a little about the risks of these procedures, anaesthetics, etc., which didn't help me one bit!

Thank God for the familiar faces of nurses I have worked with over the years, friendly professionals whom I trusted and made me feel so much more at ease!

While the anaesthesiologist was reviewing my medical history, Dr. F. made me smile by interrupting and declaring that I'm very healthy, an athlete who runs marathons!

"Not lately!" I said, acutely feeling the lack of running in my life over the past summer.

Well, this surgery is in the hopes of fixing that problem, getting me back out there. After all, I've spent weeks this summer on my back, laid up with a broken toe as well, with nothing but my books, television and magazines on running for company. Those running magazines were my best inspiration!

In those running magazines, I read about races all over the world that would be challenging and fun. I read about ways to be stronger, faster, healthier.

I started day-dreaming about the next race I want to run as soon as I'm better. I laid out new training-regimen after training-regimen for myself.

As soon as my broken toe had healed enough, I headed out on my first run of a new training schedule...only to be stopped by the old problems in my knee.

Ah well. It's all a journey, isn't it. I have no idea how this will end, but this is my journey. I love running and I hope I'll be out there running soon. I hope I'll get strong again, strong enough to start entering some of those races I've dreamed about. And strong enough to do something in my own way for the Ethiopia that I love.

meaning

2009-10-17T10:12:00.000-07:00

Do you ever wonder if your life has meaning? Are you here for any larger purpose, beyond the borders of your home, your family, your town, your country?

Does the idea that your life seems to be limited to scrabbling for a living, a rung on the ladder, a little status, some sort of legacy for just your own family, send you like it does me, screaming for the exit?

There has to be more, doesn't there? I mean, the idea that I got an education, entered the world of work and adulthood, merely to go on and reproduce and launch into the world some rather responsible, interesting citizens whose contribution is limited to enriching themselves and their children, frustrates me on way too many levels. I know I hope that my life has been more than that. (Let's be clear, I am very proud of my children, and I know some of my values have rubbed off on them. I am proud to say, I see their caring about the larger world in many ways!)

But I continue to struggle, to hope that in some small way, I have touched lives along the way, made the world a little better. But I want to do so much more. Don't you feel that way?

Don't you find it unacceptable that there is still so much suffering in the world, that the suffering is so unnecessary?

I have no answers. Trust me, I feel just as overwhelmed as you do. But this is what this site has been about from the very beginning, bringing my powers, such as they are, to bear on making the world a little better.

So, today I'm asking you to tell me what you plan to do today to make the world a nicer place. Maybe it's just taking the time to smile at a stranger, to really connect and just say "hello". Maybe you have a project that excites you. I invite you to comment and tell me how you are finding a way to give of yourself, your caring, your time, your commitment to the idea that we are meant to live lives that are just a bit larger than ourselves.

I believe our creativity is exactly that, a way to expand upon what is good, to stretch the boundaries of our lives so that what we are/are becoming, is truly a blessing to the world into which we have been born.

the mind

2009-03-30T08:48:00.000-07:00

You can buy the bumper sticker, or you can buy the t-shirt.

At the expo prior to my most recent race, Around the Bay, in Hamilton, Ontario, it was possible to buy all sorts of running-related gear.

This was on one such bumper sticker:

Running is a mental game and that's why we are all insane.

The race was very well organized, and despite the rain, there were people all along the route cheering us on. Fewer fans than on sunnier races of the past, but for my first attempt, I appreciated those that stood out in the rain!

Along the way, the distance markers all had some sort of inspiring quote on them too, some more inspiring than others. For example, "no pain no gain" does not inspire me. Does it inspire you?

So I started thinking. I would love to hear from anybody what quotes have been the most inspiring to you in your endeavors?

races & training

2009-02-06T13:27:00.000-08:00

So, training continues. But only because I had to scare myself into staying motivated to run by deciding to go for some races coming up this spring. The first is the Chilly Half. The second is Around the Bay, and the third is the Mississauga Marathon. I know, I know. I'm scaring myself silly, but I think I'm one of those people who has to go for something a little wild and audacious, something beyond what I know I can do at the moment, to keep it interesting.

Are you thinking, why? Are you thinking, she's already run the 10 km Great Ethiopian Run in 2008? You'd be right. But, now that I've done it, I have a better idea of what it's like and I'd like to return, in 2009 or 2010 if possible, to run it better. And if I'm not motivated to keep training, I'll just become a couch potato and couch potatoes can't very well just jump up and run a 10 km race.

Great Ethiopian Run

2009-02-02T22:48:00.001-08:00

Here's another video posted to YouTube -- another viewpoint of the Great Ethiopian Run.

last day traffic

2009-01-24T09:49:00.000-08:00

Strange bird noises woke me again on my last day in Ethiopia, like they had when we were in Bahar Dar. Awasa is a lovely city by another lake, south of Addis. All sorts of birdlife are attracted to the waters of Lake Awasa, kingfishers, storks, crakes, darters, plovers, and herons. In the tops of the thorny acacia trees, the marabou storks ignore the traffic below.

We drove to Lake Langano, but it was not possible to swim today because the waters were quite green with algae. The traffic of livestock being brought to the water to drink and bathe may have had something to do with it. Such traffic can only have a huge inpact on the amount of nitrogen in the water!

Back in Addis, here's another interesting sight we saw, not one, but two trucks, precariously loaded like this:

dressed to run

2009-01-24T08:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, even though my muscles were reminding me rather crossly that I had taxed them just a little by lifting weights at the gym on Thursday, I was pretty pleased with myself. You see, it's an exhilarating thing to set yourself a scary goal. And that's what has me jazzed up.

I finally committed myself to attempting my first marathon in May (details to follow). It is an event here in Canada, so you may be wondering why I'm blogging about it on a site that is supposed to be about running in Ethiopia. I'm so glad you asked!! It may make no sense at all to say this to you, but to me, it's all about Ethiopia. Maybe not November 2009, but I plan to return to do the Great Ethiopian Run again soon. And in the meantime, I have to keep running. And without a kinda scary goal, it's way too easy for me to lose "the juice".

So, recently somebody asked me what does one wear to run in the fluctuating winter temperatures of Canada. What indeed!

Winter running is challenging because running generates a lot of heat and being overdressed and then sweating a lot can cause you to get chilled and quite cold as your clothing gets wet. Therefore, it's a bit of a guessing game at first, to figure out how to dress, to imagine how heated up you actually get once you are well into a nice long run! The worst part of a long winter run is standing about freezing in your running gear (I hate this part!!), which you must do, because you know once you start to run, you get warmed up pretty quickly!

I usually wear:

1. coolmax/dryline underwear (technical material that wicks moisture away from the skin.)

2. smart wool socks (love those!!)

3. a base layer, especially on top, form-fitting with long sleeves, like long underwear, but also of technical material that wicks moisture away. I wear the same on bottom if the temperatures start to dip below -15 degrees C.

4. thermal/breathable long-sleeved running shirt and pants, also of a material that wicks moisture away from the skin.

5. an outer shell/jacket that is wind proof and also breathable. Rarely, I add a shell on the bottom when it's very windy and very cold, eg. -25 degrees C.

6. something on my head that ranges from a headband that covers my ears, to a thin, breathable hat, to a fleecy ski hat and/or balaclava as the temperatures drop and/or the wind rises.

7. fleece/breathable gloves or mitts (my hands are always the last part of my body to warm up!)

8. my Garmin

9. my running shoes

10. my belt with pockets for ID/money/power gels and water bottle (against my body heat, the water bottle hasn't frozen yet!)

Even then, after a run, it's important to get out of the wet gear quickly and into dry stuff because even on the hottest day in the summer, I start to chill and the body needs some time to recover. A warm drink always helps.

Thinking about all that reminded me of how I used to dress for long walks in the winter time. Here is a story I wrote for my granddaughter about that, with pictures! Maybe I should follow that up with pictures of how I dress now to run, eh? I could call it "Gramma Goes for a Winter Run".

borders

2009-01-20T08:13:00.000-08:00

November 2008:

When I revisited this photo the other day, it made me laugh at my naive enthusiasm. You see, I can see the road in the photo that leads from the top of Entoto, northward. There is a boundary at the top of Entoto, a boundary that marks the beginning of Oromo territory to the north of Addis. And that road, in the photo above, is already in Oromo Territory.

Where the road crosses into Oromo Territory, there is a check point. But I, on one of the occasions we had to cross here, didn't really notice the armed guards (yeah, I know: again!). I was thinking simply, "a boundary", like state lines, or crossing into another province in Canada. Sometimes we even have a colourful billboard at the border: "Rah Rah, and all that." But farthest from my mind was that it might be a hostile border!

However, as soon as my companions mildly suggested that taking photos of the border might not be a good idea, I noticed the armed guards! One of my friends teased me saying, he made it a habit not to photograph people carrying guns!

I remembered other "border crossings" in other parts of Ethiopia. The shared histories of the Amharas, Oromo people and other ethnic groups in Ethiopia does not mean that things are all that friendly between them. They may be a united front to outsiders, but there are hostilities within the nation. Of the many political groups who represent the interests of the Oromo people, some are in direct opposition to the current Tigray-led government and human rights groups have condemned the government's persecution of the Oromo people on many occasions.

So, even though the guards looked rather relaxed, even sleepy, I put my camera away!

more gardens

2009-01-17T11:22:00.000-08:00

November 24-25/08:

In my daydream strolls through some of Addis' finest gardens, I'm astounded as well as disappointed by the gardens of the Sheraton. They are beautiful, indeed, but I am surprised that the grounds are not larger. Everything also smacks of being very new, unlike some of the other older properties of Addis' embassies and hotels. There, the trees are quite impressive. However, I'm much more relaxed here and there is no obvious armed guard as in so much of the rest of Addis! In fact, several of the staff on the grounds take the time to chat with me as if I could afford to be a guest of the hotel -- a lovely idea, that!!

As I'm leaving I am momentarily confused. Doesn't this seem like an anacronism? Christmas decorations in the middle of sunny Africa? No, it's not an anacronism! I realize, it is November, and many of the hotel's guests are indeed in the mood to celebrate Christmas. I think what is jarring are the European/North American references in the choice of decoration: evergreen garlands and red bows!

gardens

2009-01-17T11:17:00.001-08:00

November 24-25/08:

After the race, I finally had the opportunity to relax a little and daydream my way through some gardens. The first garden I visited was the garden on the grounds of the Ghion Hotel. Hardly anybody else was walking in the gardens. I ran into one white lady, binoculars in hand, who was bird-watching. The gardens are a lovely oasis in the middle of Addis.

There is one thing, however, that I cannot get use to. Armed guards stroll casually through the grounds. And after my trauma after the race, I can't help wondering. Are the guards keeping rabble out of the gardens, are they protecting me, or are they watching me...???

It is a concept I am not used to at all. I tend to go through my life not really thinking much about people who have less than I do. I tend to look around me and assume people are pretty much like me. I have no concept of what it is like to be surrounded by desperation so profound that it might push people to steal or worse. A comment an Ethiopian friend made has stuck with me. He commented on how nice it must be to live in a house that is not surrounded by walls topped with razor wire or shards of glass, to be able to look out your windows and see an unobstructed view of the countryside.

Sometimes, I think when we travel, we forget how others look at us. For example, Europeans and North Americans are viewed as incredibly wealthy by many in Africa. We may be enjoying what is strange, different, quaint and unique about their costume and customs, but is the way of life for them. Our reactions are completely filtered through our prior experience and rarely prepare us to just see, without the added layers of our judgments.

forests of Entoto

2009-01-16T11:23:00.000-08:00

The forests on the Entoto Mountains are important in many ways to Addis. Besides being the primary source of wood for fuel and building, they are an enclave of quiet. Ethiopia's famous runners challenge themselves here, running up and down the steep mountain side as part of their training. Residents of Addis often come up to Entoto to sit and picnic or to chew chat.

The Entoto Natural Park can also be found here, and although quite undeveloped as yet, it is hoped that it will be a conservation area in which it will be possible to spot some of Ethiopia's wildlife.

Kitfo and Tej

2009-01-16T10:11:00.000-08:00

November 21-22/08: My friends took me north of the city, on the other side of Entoto, into Oromia, to sample some of the finest tej and kitfo in the area.

Tej is a honey-wine. It can be quite wonderful. The first bottle arrived and was rather fiery stuff. Cooled a little with a milder bottle, it went down pretty smoothly and it could have been far too easy for me to lose track of how many birilles I had consumed!

I had tasted tej before in Lalibela, where it tasted somewhat muddy and had a pronounced after-taste of minerals. This time the tej was far superior and justifiably deserving of its reputation as the traditional drink of Ethiopian kings.

The appetizer, tibs, most probably sliced up lamb, pan fried in butter with onion and mild chili peppers, served with berbere on the side. Injera, the bread/pancake-like staple of the Ethiopian diet is made from an endemic grain called tef. A roll of it is often placed at the side and one breaks off a piece of it to use as an eating utensil. Food is usually eaten by everyone off a shared plate.

The kitfo arrives. Kitfo is a specialty made from the leanest beef, minced and warmed in a pan with a little berbere and thyme. Traditionally, it is served only just warmed, much like steak tartare, but I didn't think I would be able to do that! So for me it was served betam leb leb, ie 'very well warmed' or well cooked.

Kitfo is also often served with kotcho, false-banana bread, made from enset. It looks something like two squares of bread smashed together with a whitish substance something like cheese in the middle. I have to admit, it must be an acquired taste that I have not acquired! Kotcho is visible in the photo above as the square piece at the edge of the plate in the foreground at 6 o'clock and as the brown square at 11:00 o'clock.

The photo below shows enset growing in a friend's garden.

Kitfo is often served with aib and gomen (something like cottage cheese and minced spinach). I just missed showing you how attractively the food was presented, the aib and gomen arriving in a small bowl in which the two were swirled in a pattern something like a flower. You'll just have to use your imagination.

Okay, as we're leaving the restaurant compound, I know I had a lot of tej to drink, but isn't there something wrong with that sign?

Kidist Maryam

2009-01-15T16:08:00.000-08:00

Entoto

2009-01-15T09:43:00.000-08:00

November 21 - 22/08:

North of Addis Ababa, one climbs up into the Entoto Mountains, the site of Emperor Menelik II's fourth capital.

Menelik chose this as the site of his fourth capital and then moved his official seat there, as King of Shoa, from Ankober. Strategically, it was a suitable fortress, but as a peacetime capital, the windy location, and with strains on local resources such as firewood and water, it became less desirable. It would serve as Shoa's capital only briefly. Menelik married Taitu Betul in 1883 and it was she who supervised the building of Entoto Maryam Church. Finally able to enlist the support of a majority of powerful warlords, Emperor Menelik II was crowned as Emperor on November 3rd, 1889. He was crowned at Entoto's St. Maryam Church by Abune Mattiwos. Two days later, Emperor Menelik crowned his wife as Empress Taitu, "Light of Ethiopia".

To the south of Entoto's mountainous peak was a broad hilly plateau, covered in forests and intersected by the Finfine, Kebena and Akaki rivers. Near the Finfine river, were some hot springs that had given the nearby river and area their name. The term finfin is from the Oromo language and refers to the fine spray associated with the hotsprings. Taitu and her ladies found it pleasant to leave the cold of Mt. Entoto to bathe in the theraputic mineral springs, and as her visits to this natural spa became so frequent, she built a house nearby. The climate was much more pleasant than windy Entoto, wood was readily available for fuel and building, and water was plentiful. Eventually a little settlement had grown in the area and Empress Taitu officially named the new town "Addis Ababa" in 1887.

Menelik moved his capital down the hill into Addis Ababa during the next decade at the same time as he continued to consolidate his power. Menelik II is credited with establishing the unified boundaries of modern Ethiopia pretty much as they exist today by limiting the power of the feudal warlords, and by expansion through conquests. He successfully repelled the colonial ambitions of European powers, in particular, Italy. He also continued to bring Ethiopia into the modern era despite the conservative suspicions and influence of Empress Taitu.

Upon Menelik's death, The Empress Taitu returned to Entoto's old palace adjacent to Entoto Maryam Church and lived out the rest of her days there.

photo of Kidist Maryam from my 2007 trip

inside the compound to the right, is a small museum that houses mostly religious clothing and other artifacts from Menelik II and Haile Selassie's eras

inside the gates of Entoto Maryam Church compound

Kidist Maryam

looking down to the old imperial compound adjacent to the church

monks, discussing things

The little bells on structures similar to this found atop all the Orthodox churches in Ethiopia have a poignant symbolism. They are said to represent the babies ordered to be put to death by King Herod when he heard of the arrival of the magis from the east looking for a Newborn King, ie Jesus.

In the old imperial compound:

sleeping quarters of Emperor Menelik II and Empress Taitu

fine views from the windows over Addis Ababa below

I adore the architectural detail of the roof here

the dining halls on the left, sleeping quarters to the right

leaving the imperial compound to climb back up towards Entoto's Maryam Church

around town

2009-01-12T11:42:00.000-08:00

November 21-22/08:

My hotel is very close to the centre of Addis. In fact, it is on the race course, which I didn't know until later. I have fun over the next few days, exploring Addis. I'm not interested in history on this trip. So, after I find some running routes, I want beauty and relaxation.

My friends take me shopping. I am very interested in textiles and traditional clothing, so that's where we go first.

Then we look for the Former Woodcarrier Women's Project and get a little lost along the way.

I was interested in purchasing a traditional coffee pot here.

People generally walk everywhere. And perhaps it's a sign of a walking culture that people seem to be oblivious to vehicles until the driver honks. Even on the busiest highway, trunk roads between major cities, pedestrians were everywhere and seemed to be startled by the appearance of a truck or bus, jumping off the road in alarm when the driver honked. Once, a girl ran right into the path of our vehicle in a panic, unable to decide in which direction safety lay.

Often a woman carrying a heavy load would venture to cross the road without looking for oncoming traffic, or if she did look, would underestimate the speed at which a vehicle was approaching. Invariably there was the startled reaction. Then I'd find it nearly unbearable to watch her run out of the way, laden down with her back bent under a load of firewood, or sacks of grain.

Men also carried heavy loads. But the more usual sight was men strolling elegantly along, dula casually across their shoulders.

In the country side, they would be found walking along the side of the road, but in the villages and towns, men would often be standing in the middle of the road, talking, or starting off to cross the road in any direction at all as they hailed a friend they happened to see. Their pride was stung just a bit by the impertinence of drivers honking a warning and vehicles bearing down upon them without any regard for their manliness!

Donkeys are made to carry incredible loads in Ethiopia and I saw some evidence of cruelty at times. I often saw people beat them mercilessly. I saw donkeys and mules with sores on their backs from where their loads or ropes had chafed their skin raw.

But the worst thing I saw was a horse that had wandered onto the Ring Road in Addis, and was standing, trembling, by the concrete median. It had been hit by a vehicle. It wasn't standing on its left hind leg which was shortened in a contracted fracture. It was bloodied and panicked.

I also saw great kindness towards animals all over Ethiopia and I hope that attitude will eventually prevail.

In the rural areas, vehicles have to contend with livestock on the roads all the time, but nobody complains about that. Drivers honk to warn the herders or shepherd boys and with a lot of whistling and prodding from dulas or the cracking of a whip, the herds and flocks are guided out of the way of the passing cars, trucks and busses. It's all a rather cheery business, actually.

But an animal is no match for a speeding truck or bus and I did see animals that had come to a sorry end.

We did eventually ask one of the relentless little boys who are constantly begging from likely looking people on the streets. After he volunteered the information we needed to find the Former Woodcarrier Women's Project, I noticed that he was cuffed and kicked by an older boy.

I thought the man nearby, who spoke to them both, was intervening on the smaller boy's behalf. But I think I was wrong. As the man casually walked away, the older boy continued to kick and punch the smaller boy. The littler boy danced away out of reach, but then they both walked off together with the man.

Hmmnnn. I started to think that maybe the little boy was actually being chastised for failing to extract some little bit of money from us. That was obviously the "job" of the little boy, to look as cute and winsome and pitiful as possible.

There is so much about Ethiopia that I admit I don't understand at all.

diary, part 8

2008-12-30T12:30:00.000-08:00

20/11/08:

Fields of tef, the endemic grain used to make injera, the national staple, even more seriously so than bread is to Finns!

At the edge of the escarpments into the Abbay Gorge.

school boys

curious geological formations

a priest, perhaps a holy artifact under the cloth in the shelter; offerings happily accepted

Again, the descent into the Abbay gorge was unnerving.

Fehim and Kassahun meet more former cohorts from their own construction days.

Traffic comes to a standstill as construction work blocks the road.

A priest from a nearby church comes out to take advantage of the traffic. He will open his colourful umbrella for you to toss in a few coins as an offering.

The bridge comes into view.

The new bridge to the left; we must use the old bridge to the right. Only one car at a time is permitted to be on the old bridge, which is hardly reassuring!

The Blue Nile heading south to travel around the Goggam region before it turns west and north to enter Sudan.

looking west at the two bridges in the Abbay Gorge, the older bridge built by the Italians

Ethiopia's variation on traffic is livestock.

The Blue Nile down in the Abbay Gorge.

Some of Ethiopia's interesting flora:

I would have loved to have been able to take more photos of the interesting people along the way, each region with it's own particular style of dress and hairstyle. Some of the men quite dapper, invariably carried walking sticks or a gun across their shoulders, some obviously ex-military.

a village in Oromia

I am exhausted, so shattered that I have no energy to visit this church near the monastery of Debre Libanos. Debre Libanos dates from the 13th century, built by one of Ethiopia's most revered saints, Tekla Haimanot. Situated on the edge of a spectacular gorge, not much of the original buildings remain. This present church was built in 1961 by Heile Selassie. A cross shaped tomb near the car park is dedicated to memory of the monks and deacons of the monastery brutally massacred in 1937 during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia. I wait in the car while Kassahun visits his father's grave nearby.

I was so exhausted that I barely noticed some interesting painted rock carvings on the descent of Entoto into Addis, depicting historically significant things like the stellae of Axum. We also passed some residences and training facilities of Ethiopia's elite runners.

I am dangerous when I tired; I left my camera in Kassahun's car when he dropped me off at my hotel -- worry about that tomorrow. I managed to have some soup and a beer before retiring to my room to drop into the sleep of the dead!

diary, part 7

2008-12-30T11:36:00.000-08:00

Taking our leave of the SDA misssion in Debre Tabor

19/11/08: Just before we leave, Megan tells me that there is internet access in Debre Tabor and takes me to the Pastor Adissu's office, where it really is working! I'm nervous and excited and dash off an update to my family and friends, the first email I've been able to send from Ethiopia!

My visit is over and we have to leave, aiming to be out of the mountains before nightfall. I'm quite choked up as Dr. Arvid says goodbye to us and tells me to be good. He's a joker, but then for a moment has regrets, thinking I might take offense. He doesn't mean anything by that of course, and I assure him I won't make promises I can't keep.

We nearly forget to leave behind the clothes I brought from Canada. We had stopped at a house in town to get some honey for Fehim when we remember. Kassahun phones Dr. Arvid at the mission and somebody comes to fetch the clothes.

The drive back to Bahar Dar is just as spectacular in reverse.

Again the descent is a little nerve wracking, warning signs of construction ahead, minimal. I mean really, one man working?? I don't think that is what is intended, but I love the different versions of English one finds around the world. There's a whole book in that subject, I'm sure. English is not as "universal" as one might hope.

(click on the photo above to get a better look at the sign!)

It feels rather like the wild, wild west. Men carrying weapons are quite commonplace.

The strange ambas we saw on the way to Debre Tabor, are now bathed in the last rays of the dying sun. The top of this one, covered like icing in bird droppings, has a name that translates to "eagle mountain".

The dust is almost unbearable, and we spend a lot of time cranking the windows up and down as we pass other vehicles, or the wind stirs it up.

The gun culture again (evident in the photo below, barely visible in front of the white truck); we come upon a small transport truck and up upon the load, two men with guns, semi-automatic weapons.

Down in the valley of the Reb Riber, rice is cultivated.

We arrive back in Bahar Dar at sunset. I'm tired and grimy with dust, but it's nothing that a shower can't fix. Then, I have a beer by the pool of our hotel. Sheer luxury. Later, Kassahun and I meet Fehim and his friend at a quaint little restaurant in town. The food is good and we eat outside in an intimate and rather romantic outdoor patio.

20/11/08: I sleep poorly. The next morning, we are to leave early. It's a long drive back to Addis. But first, I want to photograph a little of Bahar Dar:

The Blue Nile, viewed from a bridge just outside town, about 1 km south from where it exits Lake Tana.

The lovely avenues of Bahar Dar, lined with palms.

The aforementioned "Obama Cafe". Somebody has a sense of humour, doctoring a photo of a traditionally dressed woman to carry a hamburger instead of a basket and to carry a can of pop. (I will see another Obama Cafe in Addis on Churchill Avenue.)

We breakfast at this fruit juice bar and I try the avacado juice drink Fehim suggests, thinking it would at least be very nourishing and filling. It is delicious, sweetened just a touch with something and after a shot of fresh lime juice over it, it is very refreshing. But not drinkable -- it must be eaten with a spoon, like a soft icecream! I also nabbed a bit of Fehim's egg sandwich. A large macchiato is becoming an addiction!

Fehim asks me if I felt my mission was a success. Yes, Debre Tabor was more than I had hoped for. Now, only the race and a visit to an Ethiopia Reads library are left!

Across the street, the clinic is still closed, but small boys busy selling things to passersby, take a break to play with a stray puppy.

Fehim and Kassahun joke, tell stories and argue about politics all the way back to Addis. I'm starting to pick up more and more of the conversation, my meager Amharic stretching its infant muscles!

We stop in a village along the way so that I can buy an agelgil . It is the local version of a lunch box, a goat-skin clad basket with a lid that is fastened down with leather straps. It also has a loop of leather for carrying it. A small boy who knows he is unbearably cute, begs for treats, for money, for "highland". Highland is one brand of bottled water and also refers to the empty bottles as well. When the little boy, so much more audacious than his older sisters, snags himself a coveted bottle, he couldn't be more pleased with himself!

Children in Ethiopia often have their head shaved to get rid of lice. A top knot is left so that should God decide to call them, "God should have a handle with which to lift them unto Heaven."

We had picked up another traveler in a pretty suburb of Bahar Dar. She is on her way to see her son in Addis before he leaves for the U.S. He has apparently won the lottery for the ?DV, ie residency.

We stop again at the Shebel Hotel in Debre Markos for lunch. (Notice, we are using just the right hand for eating, never the left!)

I need my large macchiato!

Kassahun clowning around while I try to show you how the pop bottles' labels look written in the Amharic fidel.

Women are truly beasts of burden in Africa! If not carrying loads of wood or sacks of grain, they have children on their backs. The beautiful leather carrying pouch on the woman in the foreground is actually very practical. Strollers or baby carriages do not make much sense in Ethiopia's rough terrain. The clattering beads on the ends of the fringes are a lulling accompaniment that helps the child on her back go to sleep.

the stars

2008-12-26T09:20:00.000-08:00

Here is a lovely story Dr. Arvid sent me.

To end my note I need to tell you a short story that pastor Turneh
Woldeselassie shared in the surmon on Sabbath in Addis Abeba. He just finished 4
weeks of meetings and 23 people were baptized. They have started to translate
the surmons into English because there are so many members from other African
countries that need it. Pastor Turneh felt it a little difficult to av an
'interruptor' as they somethime call a interpreter. So he told the following
story. 'In olden days many missionaries came from abroad to preach the gospel in
Ethiopia. (Now they need missionaries from us in Europe and America, he said)
But one time there was an American missionary. The Ethiopian translator was not
so very well versed in English and struggled some. After a while the missionary
started to preach about stars. And when he mentioned gallaxies and stuff, the
translator got lost. So he said to the congregation: Now the missionary has gone
to heaven, but if you just sit quietly and patiently and wait, I will tell you
what he has said when he returns to earth.' We all had a good laugh.

How lovely it would be if we could, in a matter of fact way, believe that the preacher had really gone to heaven for a while...I'm just thinking.

diary, part 6

2008-12-25T13:09:00.000-08:00

19/11/08: We come at last to the compound I remember from my childhood, but we do not enter from the west, where the gate used to be. We enter from the south, from behind the church and everything looks strange. My perspective as a child would have been from the north, from my home, which was almost exactly in the middle of the compound.

We go first to speak with the director of the hospital that presently occupies the west half of our former compound. (The east half, fenced off from the west half, is now a school of nursing and under a separate administration.) We are invited to look around.

This is what used to be the church once upon a time.

We walk around, coming first upon what used to be my mother's garden and the space where I remember a large fig tree was, from which the school bell used to hang. Dr. Arvid confirms my memory of this piece of the puzzle that is here no longer. We stumble a bit here in recalling exactly where my house used to be, but orientating myself to look towards where the head teacher of the school, our closest neighbour lived, I find myself standing on the mound of dirt where our house used to be.

Standing approximately on the spot where the tower on the west end of our house would have been, the end of the house where my Dad had his office. The black and white stone house in the background on the right is what was the head teacher's house.

looking east at the house, now painted black, where the head teacher and his family lived

The distance to our neighbour's, which in my childhood was such a long, long way, has shrunk somewhat!

Behind where our house would have been we find what used to be the school kitchens. My memories of childhood are filled with the smells of eucalyptus wood, smoke and the delicious aroma of berbere-infused cooking!

Dr. Arvid standing in front of the kitchens.

We peek inside to find that the kitchens are still being used much as they were 50 years ago!

The ladies in the kitchens are shy but allow us to take their picture.

The laundry with what was the mission's clinic on the left.

The front facade of the clinic has been painted this interesting green-blue!

What was the clinic is now used as the surgery for the hospital compound.

One of my earliest memories is of standing here under the front windows of the hospital, quite sad and lonely because my mother was in there, hospitalized on Dr. H's orders. I didn't know my mother was expecting twins and that Dr. H was concerned about toxemia. I only knew that I wasn't allowed to see her and my two-year old world was pretty empty without her!

This small wing with all the windows was Dr. H's surgery. My mother credits him with saving my brother T.'s life. As a newborn, T. suffered from what was perhaps a severe case of infant gastroesophageal reflux.

Dr. H has passed away so I won't have an opportunity to ask him about it, but I am sure Dr. H was pretty reluctant to consider surgery with the limited resources available to him here at that time! I believe, as my mother does, that angels guided Dr. H's hands when he did the surgery.

looking at the front of the clinic, relatively unchanged from 50 years ago; only the presence of new buildings, such as the one on the right, make the scene different

Turning around to look south, almost directly opposite the clinic across what was the drive from the gate into the compound, we look at what was the home of Dr. H and his family:

This is now the pediatric ward of the present-day hospital.

In the pediatric ward, what used to be the living room of Dr. H's home, patients and their families wait.

Just as we are leaving, a gentleman calls out to Dr. Arvid. This youthful gentleman and his father both worked as guards on our compound 50 years ago! Dr. Arvid says my father will remember...so this picture is for my Dad:

Dr. Arvid drives us around the south and east perimeter of the former compound and we pass a sports field I remember from my youth. As we're driving along, I'm pointing out the direction of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, the direction in which the government school that was administered by our East Indian friends used to be. I'm amazed at how clear my memories are!

Then coming around to the north-west corner, I recall a well here which fascinated us as kids because we were endlessly amused to watch the frogs swimming in its water. My mother was always worried we were trying to get too close to the well, that we might fall in and I remember strict instructions never to come here on our own. In season, the ground was covered in fragrant white lilies.

The well is still there, in the picture above, and I will go to the well, I hope, when I visit Debre Tabor again!

overlooking Debre Tabor

2008-12-25T12:00:00.000-08:00

Megan went on to tell us that she went to a bar in Bahar Dar called the Obama Cafe to watch the broadcast of the results of the U.S. elections as they came in. She had to spend the whole night in the bar however, as the results came in at about 8:oo am the next day in Ethiopia -- because of the time difference!

Google Map of Debre Tabor

2008-12-21T14:19:00.000-08:00

Debre Tabor on Google Maps.

View Larger MapThe old SDA mission in Debre Tabor, with some of the places I remember from my childhood.

diary, part 5

2008-12-21T12:31:00.000-08:00

we have to cross that mountain pass up ahead

in the mountain pass, Kassahun says armed shiftas have been known to stop and rob travelers, especially after nightfall

"man working" sign warns of more construction ahead

looking back the way we came, the drop off into the canyon at the road's edge is straight down

my traveling companions: Fehim, Kassahun, and Abrahim

Everything, everything is suddenly so familiar. I cannot explain it, but I feel the light, the landscape, the roads, the children resonate with something deep inside me. Kassahun tells me Debre Tabor is just ahead.

Debre Tabor too is undergoing construction. Major road-building. Banners are flying. We meet proud men on horseback, the horses dressed to the nines, trotting by. What is happening?

(later I find out that the Deputy Prime Minister, Adissa Lagasa, is in Debre Tabor today to lay the cornerstone for the new Debre Tabor University)

We have to detour around the main road because of the occasion. Then Kassahun is asking me if I recognize this road. No, not really. I'm looking for the road that led to the gates of the mission and I don't think this is it.

We turn right into a narrow roadway. I don't recognize anything. Someone opens the gated compound for us. This is the church, Kassahun tells me. I don't recognize it. I feel miserable. Nothing is familiar here.

Dr. Arvid welcomes us warmly. He gives us a tour of his project, a guest house he is building on property he has purchased next to the church property. Dr. Arvid explains that the former mission was ransacked during the revolution in 1975. His parents barely escaped with their lives. The property was taken out of church hands at that time. Later, the church purchased this property to the north of the old mission compound.

My world starts to right itself again...

Dr. Arvid employes about 100 local people on the construction project, far more than is actually needed to do the job, but it is a way to put a little money into the local economy.

As I'm standing at the gate to Dr. Arvid's project, a small hand slips itself into mine and I look down to find this shy, pretty little thing looking up at me. My heart melts. From here on in, I am fighting back tears -- tears of belonging, tears of longing, tears of relief that I have found my home.

I meet Megan Bliss, an American Peace Corp worker whose year here in Debre Tabor is almost over. As usual, the national health office did not tell the local health office she was coming so she was not wanted or needed. She spends her time playing with the children and teaching English to those who are interested. She has also found a market in the U.S. for the jewelry that local women will make to earn some extra money.

Megan tells me it took a while for her to win the trust of the children, but now, some of them are quite the hams for the camera.

Dr. Arvid decides we must have something to eat before he takes us on a tour of Debre Tabor. We are served the kind of Ethiopian meal I remember, injera, cabbage, shiro, lentils, pasta, and egg wot. After lunch, Dr. Arvid plans to drive us to Mount Jesus, where we will have to get out near the summit to hike to the top. After that, he will show me around the old mission compound.

me, Megan Bliss, Dr. Arvid and Kassahun

diary, part 4

2008-12-16T09:57:00.000-08:00

The Abbay Gorge, landslides, and remnants of war

18/11/08: We drove nearly non-stop to Bahar Dar, stopping once at the Shebel Hotel in Debre Marcos to grab a bite to eat.

Kassahun was initially afraid that our cameras would be seized or worse if we photographed the bridge (I should say "bridges", as there are now two) across the Abbay Gorge. But we were told to go ahead and photograph the bridge if we wanted (see the post below). We even got out of the car to do it!

looking back east-ward across the Abbay Gorge and the bridges below

On the westward ascent out of the gorge, there was obvious evidence of landslides. The warning signs are clear enough, "approximately", and certainly tickled my funny bone. The depths of the gorge are unbelievable.

looking eastward, across the gorge again

Kassahun and Fehim defend themselves & blame Kajima, the Japanese construction company for the sign...I'm left pondering how it would be worded, say in Canada or the U.S. (I have a lot of fun with road-signs in Canada too, eg. "corn, turn left")

one more backwards look

Out of the gorge, the scenery flattened out to the rolling fields of the Ethiopian Highland's plateaux. Fields of barley, tef, corn. Grazing cattle. The fields lying fallow are quickly covered in a blanket of yellow flowers!

Fehim posing for Facebook?

little shepherd boys are given big responsibilities

sinister reminders of Ethiopia's troubled history, both the 1974 Revolution and the war with Eritrea having swept across much of Ethiopia's northern areas

Arriving in Bahar Dar after dark. I think we ate something, then I collapsed into bed, but I was unable to sleep. I was very tired, depressed and confused. I kept thinking "I have no idea why I am in Ethiopia. I have no idea why I want to go to Debre Tabor."

19/11/08:

I had misunderstood Kassahun and thought he had said we would take it easy in the morning and leave about 11 am. (I obviously had no idea how long 70 km on Ethiopia's roads can be!)

I took my time, ran a 4 km out-and-back eastwards to the Nile, stretched luxuriously in a hour-long yoga session. Generally I felt better and more optimistic after some sleep, troubled as it was. I was nearly done my yoga practice when Kassahun was knocking on my door. Oops! Well, I still had to shower and dress, so we were rather late getting started.

We got a fruit drink in Bahar Dar, then were on our way.

I adore the palm-lined streets of Bahar Dar, the centre medians blooming with African tulip trees. Strange bird-sounds from the trees around our hotel fascinated me. (next trip I have to plan for more bird-watching!)

Bahar Dar is the capital of the Amhara region. In the 16th and 17th centuries, it was the temporary capital of more than one emperor from time to time. Haile Selassie even contemplated it for his capital city in the 1960's.

It is also a booming tourist centre, the jump-off point for visits to the ancient, island monasteries of Lake Tana, the outlet of the Blue Nile. The impressive Blue Nile Falls are only 32 km south-east of the city.

However, we were on our way north, first, along a great paved road as far as Wereta on Lake Tana's east shore. There we would turn onto an (as of this writing) unpaved road that turns off the highway to go east, at first following the Reb River valley.

Kassahun was in constant contact by cell phone with Dr. Arvid. Arvid is the son of the missionary doctor and his wife who were in Debre Tabor at the same time as my parents. Their family stayed on after my family went back to Finland. I thought it was very fortuitous that Arvid was in Debre Tabor at this very moment, building a guest-house. Even second-hand, listening to Kassahun's end of the conversations, I felt Arvid was looking forward to our visit. I had no idea how much I was to appreciate the way he was able to confirm my childhood memories, memories that I had no idea if I could trust or not. After all, I was only 5 years old when we left Debre Tabor.

The badly rutted gravel road here is just a taste of what was to come. The road crosses a few fields of rice, then abruptly starts climbing. This road too was under construction, so it was very dusty and scary in many places! When it is completed, it will be wonderful to drive a paved road all the way. For now, however, it is dirty, jarring, exhausting, and even frightening at times.

The Pastor's A...

2008-12-16T09:53:00.000-08:00

My wise and thoughtful friend, running mentor and pacer, David G., sent me this story today. It was exactly what I needed today: it made me laugh my ass off, and it made me think! Check it out.

diary, part 3

2008-12-14T17:47:00.000-08:00

more excerpts from my diary:

17/11/08: Gorgeous sunny day, but it's still very cool this early in the morning, I'm guessing 12 or 13 degrees C. After doing my morning yoga practice, I'm watching Ethiopian tv in between watching the construction behind my hotel. Done completely with manual labour at this point with manual tools. At another construction site nearby, where the building is farther along, I hear power tools being used. Beyond is the "Lucy School".

I go to Kaldi's again with Kassahun for breakfast and my tall macchiatto (aaaah!). Kaldi's appears to be a pretty direct knock-off of Starbucks. Ethiopia does not have or does not respect international laws of intellectual property rights. J. back home would be amused to have a Kaldi's mug instead, as Starbucks is not to be found in Addis. Starbucks and Ethiopia had their dispute re brand-naming Ethiopian coffee. No conflict or discrepancy in principles here, eh?

Kassahun has work to do and I tag along, people-watching, while he goes in and out of various offices re his business appointments.

I have no idea where I am in this huge city, it's mixed up spider-web of streets leaving me quite disoriented. Only the morning or afternoon shadows give me some clue as to whether I'm facing n s e or w -- that's something!

I'm observing the loose, easy strides of the pedestrians going by. The posture of most people is beautiful, straight and tall. Almost everyone seems capable of walking long istances, although I'm noticing also many obviously middle-class Addis citizens, as they drive up and park near me, are developing the Western middle paunch!

Nobody seems to be in a hurry, although quite purposeful. I suppose if you have to submit to the long line-ups of any official business in Ethiopia, you might as well relax. Getting hostile isn't going to speed things along.

I ponder how my friends N and B asked me about how in Canada we do everything with the aid of some machine. Yes, I had to answer, I usually wash my clothes with a machine. But what a disaster it is when the power goes out, as it did for days in Canada during the SARS epidemic, and also along the whole eastern seaboard of North America. We don't know how to cope. In Africa, where you often cook with charcoal and do so many things by hand -- no problem. N was preparing peppers yesterday using the traditional method of grinding them in a large wooden mortar and pestle. No daily advertisements to buy a "new" machine with "new" features -- no, this is the same kind of mortar and pestle I remember being used 50 years ago when I lived in Debre Tabor.

I spent several hours in the afternoon trying to access my email without any luck. Seems the "international gateway" was down.

Very tired. Had supper of Italian in town with Kassahun. Not very tasty. What is it that I miss in Ethiopia's versions of Italian cuisine? Can't figure it out.

I retire to my hotel. I'm freezing again. It cools down immediately at sunset but I'm also tired, which always makes me feel chilled anyway!

Kassahun tells me he expects to have difficulty finding fuel for our trip to Debre Tabor. There is a shortage of fuel and the speculation is that the gov't is short of the foreign currency it needs to buy oil (the next day I find out that Kassahun spent hours driving around the city trying to scrounge up fuel, not sure we'd be able to find some along the way).

18/11/08: Yoga practice warms me up this morning and I again am grateful for the hot water. Not sure what our trip to Debre Tabor will bring.

My travel companions today will be my friend Kassahun and his friend, Fehim. Fehim turns out to be funny, very engaging, with a mischievous boyish smile. He notices things and is good at being the thoughful, chivalrous gentleman.

Long line-ups at gas-stations where there is fuel. Many gas-stations have already waved us away -- out of fuel. A cab driver ahead of us shuts off his engine, hops out, walks up to the gas station to check things out. The line ahead starts to move. We are too close behind the cab to get by. We lose our place in line. The cab driver returns and finds he too has lost his place in line. Horns honk, hands gesture, a little heated verbal exchange. Fehim takes one of our jerry cans to fill it up, then comes with it back to our vehicle. We get back into the line somehow. We get more fuel (hurray). I see two soldiers in blue uniforms. They are armed. I am told the government has posted two soldiers at every gas-station to keep order. I shudder!

Along the way, laying in a supply of jerry cans of extra fuel becomes one of our constant preoccupations. Just in case. We see fuel-tanker trucks driving north. Maybe there will be enough fuel in Bahar Dar when we get there.

We drive nearly non-stop for Bahar Dar today.

We go north over Entoto and at the city limits on the mountain, I'm surprised to find a "border" with an armed patrol. We are entering Oromo territory.

Kassahun and Fehim are friends from the days when they worked together on the construction of this road north out of Addis. They point out places where the camps used to be, where there was a crushing plant (for the gravel), where various adventures and misadventures took place, sharing memories.

(click on the photos to see a larger version)

About 50 km north of Addis Ababa, near Chancho, we come to a look-out point over the Muger River Gorge. It is a popular spot for spotting wild-life and as we stop to stretch our legs, indeed a couple of birders -- European tourists -- stop to take in the view as well.

The Ethiopian highlands are a patchwork quilt of cultivated fields. At an average elevation of 1800 to 2400 m, this central plateau is vast and beautiful. I am so glad that I asked Kassahun to drive us to Bahar Dar vs making the trip by air.

Around 200 km from Addis, we start a part of the trip I've been anticipating! The first glimpse of the Blue Nile in the Gorge below makes me so excited. The descent, about 1000m, is spectacular, back and forth down typical hairpin turns. Looking up at one point, I see a tractor trailor hanging on the side of a cliff where it landed after leaving the road. The scale is so huge that the tractor trailor looks like a toy. It has been there for quite some time, I'm told, the job of retreaving it too difficult and/or expensive.

Near the bottom, we encounter road work. A Japanese firm has been contracted to upgrade this portion of the road into the gorge (which is locally called the Abbay Gorge). Kassahun and Fehim are excited to keep encountering former cohorts among the road crews working on the construction of the road and the new bridge over the Blue Nile.

I had read prior to this trip, and Kassahan again repeated the warning, that photographing the bridge was strictly prohibited by the government. The idea seemed ridiculous in this day and age of satellites circling the globe, of easy internet access to tools like Google World, where I had already tried to guess if my memories of Debre Tabor were accurate (they turned out to be very accurate, in fact!). However, one of the friends among the road crews that Kassahun and Fehim met along the way, said it is now quite okay to photograph the bridge. So we did.

I did experience some trepidation, seeing the ever-present armed soldiers near the bridge. I still felt I had to be discreet about taking photos, not wanting to be all cheeky about it. So I was sneaky about it. It will always weird me out, as it always has, to see the soldiers all over Ethiopia. At strategic points over-looking the road or the gorge or the bridge, their brush-lean-to shelters are not obtrusive, almost camaflouged, but they are there nevertheless.

diary, part 2

2008-12-14T16:07:00.000-08:00

more excerpts from my diary:

16/11/08: Breakfast at Kaldi's, a Starbuck's knock-off, that serves breakfast, & fruitjuice. Had a large macchiatto. Awesome!

Drive across town -- I mean I forgot how large a city Addis is -- to my friend N's house interrupted by roads blocked for a ?bicycle race? so we took the ring road. My friend K tells me that Meles' gov't has stopped loans to many entrepreneurs and building has slowed to nearly a full stop. Buildings half built with no construction activity are pointed out to me. No activity for months. Still, everywhere I look, there seems to be a lot of construction going on -- more than I see in my part of the world, actually. I can't believe the dynamic energy I feel nearly verywhere in the city! Despite relatively difficult economic times, Addis has grown since my visit a year and a half ago, and continues to grow at a terrific pace. Construction methods are so different.

Mountains gorgeous. At traffic circle in my friend's neighborhood missed photo-op of a funny little troop of donkeys loaded with little "muffin tops" of dried hay, very like dwarf camels. B. sweet (he'd probably hate me saying that) very polite young man showed me around the neighborhood. My friend has many interesting plants in her garden, many used in traditional cooking and medicines.

enset, or false banana, used by many in Ethiopia to make a staple of their diet, "kotcho", something that is definitely an acquired taste

endod, Phytolacca dodecandra, or soapberry plant, an effective control of the fresh-water snails which host the parasite that causes bilharzia in humans

On tour of neighborhood, stopped at a traditional doctor's office -- unfortunately closed; stopped at lovely garden-cafe for coffee that is popular for weddings. Can see why, with cool outdoor space shaded by flowering trees (poinsettia tree-sized here in Africa) -- relief from sun, quite hot by now. At roundabout, climbed up to a diner on 3rd floor with a view of the neighborhood. A lively noisy spot, seems locally popular; we had fries and coke.

hot peppers drying in the sun, the most important ingredient in berbere, a blend of ground peppers and up to 16 other spices and herbs, a signature flavouring in Ethiopian cooking

Returned to my friend's to find her and a servant (I'm assuming?) sorting and cleaning the woody stems off dried peppers to make berbere. Ahhh! the odour is so familiar and comforting.

It is so relaxing to wander around my friend's garden, or just sit in the shade, listening to the noises of the neighborhood, observing birds flitting in and out of the trees, her dogs occasionally yawning, stretching, then settling back down to their mid-afternoon naps.

Dust a problem for my breathing and for the camera. Shutter starting to stick as it did back in '07.

Most people in the streets here ignored me politely, only a few calling out to me, here in the suburbs -- "ferengi" -- unlike the way they do in the middle of Addis. Still stick out like a sore thumb, very aware I can't blend in! Children the cutest things in the world. Very well-behaved, polite. And Walk! They walk a long, long way with their parents. Even the littlest ones -- up and down steep, rocky, rutted roads. Everybody walks.

I confess I'm a geek about using the toilet. Forget how to manage without the things I take for granted in Canada. Discover that tp is called "soft" here. I like that better than tp.

My friend's house is spacious, airy, cool even in the heat of midday, and very, very tidy. B. has a photo which he shows me of himself at about age 6 or 7 with the famous runner Haile Gebresellasie. HG visited his school when he was young. Television has like 2 stations. Occasionally I understand whole phrases of the news in Amharic, but it gets difficult when it switches to Oromo.

Sung evening prayers accompany our conversation after dark sets in. Moths are attracted through screen-less windows to the electric lights in the house.

Meal of injera, rice, doro wot and fried potatoes is absolutely delicious. I'm so hungry, but there is too much food even for me! Cannot explain how homey and cozy my friend's house is, how welcome I feel and how I enjoy the familiarity of the sounds and flavours -- even though I haven't lived in Ethiopia for nearly 50 years!

I forgot too, about the stray dogs and the homeless boys huddling together under the overpasses of the Ring Road near the airport at night to ward off the cold of Addis' nighttime temperatures.

This morning saw runners trotting along past Kaldi's. Sunday am is a popular day for athletics in Ethiopia.

Find hotel a little cold and lonely. Thought hotel and hot shower in the morning would be a good idea if driving north to Debre Tabor in the morning. However, K. (who has agreed to drive me to my old home in Debre Tabor) has business to take care of on Monday and cannot leave Addis until Tuesday. I would have enjoyed better staying at N and B's home out in the suburbs. Oh well. C'est la vie, n'est-ce pas?

diary, part 1

2008-12-11T10:11:00.000-08:00

Here are some excerpts from my diary:

1809h, 14/11/08: Leaving Toronto, it's dark, raining and foggy. I'm at 171m altitude at the airport and the outside temperature is 14 degrees C.

2140h, 15/11/08: Arrive in Addis, 1/2 hr early. Did stop in Khartoum for 1 hr under clear skies just after sunset. Sahara and Nile too awesome for words. Shared trip from Amsterdam with gentleman from Sudan returning from job with an ngo in Peru. He buys perfume in-flight for his wife, says Chloé is made from plant extracts that are all native to Sudan (who knew??): peony, cedar, amber. Did he offer me a pinch of chewing tobacco?? lol

In airport, get visa, changed my money into birr, go through customs. See my friend Kassahun waiving in arrivals as my luggage is x-rayed once again. I'm cold, tired and cramped up generally, grimy, with a huge bruize on my left knee from...what??? Need to run or do some major yoga to get body unstuck, big time! I'm booked into a brand new hotel in the east of Addis with gorgeous, but cold, echoing marble floors. Hot water doesn't quite happen...

16/11/08: No idea what time prayers from church awoke me. It was still dark. Lay in bed for a while trying to sleep. Gave up and did hr of yoga practice at dawn as sun came up. Feel 100% better as headache like ax between the eyes relieved by yoga. ? re altitude? Addis is at 2300 m. Oh yeah! Hot water works this morning! Halle-lu-yah.

...(thoughts, why do churches in the cities in Ethiopia broadcast the church services over loud-speakers. I don't remember this from my childhood. When did this practice start? I discover that it's rather pleasant to listen to the prayers, the song drifting in and out. Later I find out that the church is located across the road from the hotel.)

17/11/08:

Monday morning: construction going on behind the hotel, with a school called Lucy Academy in the background. Lucy, for those who don't know, is the name given to the archeological remains of one of the earliest hominids found in Ethiopia.

my project

2008-12-11T09:19:00.000-08:00

Off the busy Debre Zeit road, in the Beklebet neighborhood, at the end of a short alley, is this oasis of calm.

It really is a peaceful, nurturing place, and as my visit to Ethiopia was drawing quickly to an end, I was anxious to visit the Shola Children's Library, finding the opportunity to do so on Wednesday, November 26. Such a special place!

I was welcomed by Ato Abiy Solomon who is the Publishing Project Manager at Ethiopia Reads/EBCEF. He kindly took me around to show me all the various aspects of the facility here and even introduced me to some of the staff: Arefagne Fantahon, the Communication and Special Projects Manager, Sinfaghe Lemma, the Shola Children's Library Manager and others.

I am thrilled to be holding their gift to me, their latest book published in Amharic and English, The Elephant and The Rooster. This is a colourfully illustrated, 25-story collection of folktales from regions across Ethiopia, collected by the British writer Elizabeth Baird.

The facility even spills out into two large tents on the grounds, where more students are found, busy studying and reading. It is a quiet haven for many of these students who live in the area and provides a safe, clean, inviting place to read, study and learn.

One of the most thrilling things I saw here was a map, showing all the libraries that have been established by Ethiopia Reads since it's inception, about 30 in all in Addis Ababa and Awassa. Then, to top it all off, there were many, many dots showing the planned locations of all the new libraries that are planned for as far ahead as 2010!

I was especially pleased by the Ethiopian section of the library. It is so important in a country with such a proud literary history, that books in their own language be available to as many children as possible.

For someone like me who has always loved books, I could not think of a program that is more exciting and rich with potential, the potential to inspire learning, ignite imaginations and stimulate thinking in hundreds of Ethiopian children. Books are such an important tool in education and education will be, I'm sure, a key to improving the lives of the next generation of Ethiopians.

the race experience

2008-12-10T10:38:00.001-08:00

some unique vignettes that show how it felt to be in the midst of the race

course map

2008-12-07T23:51:00.000-08:00

This is, so far, the only course map I have been able to find, but as Google maps gives you a satellite image as well, with some idea of the elevations of the hills, it's been huge fun for me to review my run on this map!

View Larger Map

training

2008-12-07T22:45:00.000-08:00

Upon returning to Addis from the highlands, I managed to get in this one more run before the great race. I was alarmed at the steep, long incline up Menelik II Avenue. The hill down Yohanis Street was not much better, as I was to discover when I had to run up it during the race! However, it was a thrill to see some of the Ethiopian elite runners running effortlessly up and down Menelik II Avenue past Addis Ababa Park. In my mind, I'm an Ethiopian! (as if!)

training

2008-12-07T20:10:00.000-08:00

November 19, 2008: Bahar Dar

I got up early, went for a run, encountering the awful diesel exhaust of vehicles in Africa. But I also found people amused at me, a 50-ish white woman, running down an African street early in the morning, when most people were walking to work or school. A few people encouraged me, saying "you go, English", as I passed.

A couple of homeless teenagers with limited English at the turn-around point said "me too. I run", but when I invited them to run with me, either their English ran out, or they had no intention of running.

The link to the map is to an old map, a map that does not show the newly paved road as it is now, where I ran, from the Papyrus Hotel east to the Blue Nile and back. However, I submit it anyway, as part of my record.

emotions

2008-12-07T20:04:00.000-08:00

excerpt from email to my friend Don:

"Nov. 24, 2008:

So far, it's been an emotional trip for me for many reasons. Seeing my old home was particularly difficult but in a good way, if that makes any sense at all. My old home has been torn down. But what were the old hospital, church, school, boys dorm, kitchens, laundry, an the doctor's home, remain, although quite run down. It is a government hospital now and part of the property was partitioned off for a nursing school (separate administrations).

I was very pleased that so many of the things I remembered were real and still there. I was able to confirm many of these things for myself. And (fortune smiles on me again) Dr. Arvid H. (whose family stayed on in Ethiopia for many years after my family left) ... was also able to confirm some of the things I remembered that are no longer there, like the fig tree from which the school bell hung. Of course, there was a lot of religion (that's a relative thing, of course, re my lack of it, I realize), but I don't mind when people really have good hearts.

The race was tough, with one very long steep hill and a couple more challenging ones. But the worst part of it was not the running, elbow to elbow with lots of enthusiastic Ethiopians (32,000 officially registered runners) in mostly a celebratory mood. The worst part was afterwards, when my friend's nephew, who ran with me for most of the way, disappeared. I looked for him in Meskel Square in vain. I finally gave up and went back to my hotel, which is very near the site of the start/finish line. I waited some more, then phoned his aunt, thinking he might have gone home...I didn't even get a chance to ask anything before she was telling me that she was at the police station, that he had been picked up by the police for wearing a Teddy Afro T-shirt and like hundreds of others in the crowd, shouting and chanting, " free Teddy" and "Teddy/Obama".

Needless to say, I was shocked, but not surprised. I had another friend who was picking me up to take me to have dinner with his family drop by the police station to see if there was anything I could do. However, I wasn't permitted to say anything at all. But, once the paperwork was processed (a long process, I see), he came before a judge this morning, and as he is only 14, he is being released today. I am certainly very relieved, because in a way, I felt guilty. He might not even have been at the race but for me asking him to take my camera and try to get a photo of me at the finish line. But I am told, that is what life is like in Ethiopia. Political protests of any kind are suppressed. (Later, when I talked to other Ethiopians, many just shrugged or even laughed, as if just to live in Ethiopia, getting arrested is an everyday hazard.)

(Note: he could have been beaten, transported to another jail far away or even disappeared. As it was, when I saw "Baby" briefly on the evening I had to leave Ethiopia, either the police or his aunt had shaved his head -- perhaps in a bid to get rid of lice or bedbugs, I'm guessing, because I didn't want to ask! His aunt had to sign a promise that he would stay out of trouble or she would be arrested in his place if he participates in such "organized illegal protests" again.)

Anyhow, I'm planning to go to the gardens at the Sheraton for a while this afternoon to escape into the beauty of the landscaping and flowers there! More later, Love, Kati"

As you can probably tell, even though I long ago lost my naiveté, I hope I'm still pretty idealistic and all this shocked me and disturbed me a great deal.

However, there is a comic twist to this tale. My camera was returned to me (which I hardly dared hope for), the memory card was still in it and to top it all off, none of the photos or video had been erased, including the "illegal" video of the demonstrations and protests that "Baby" had filmed during the race. There is nothing to stop me from posting these or talking about it on the worldwide web! The comments from some of my Ethiopian friends when I made this discovery? The police are "bush men" who can barely read or write, never mind understand how to operate a digital camera... Hmmmnnn...either gross tribal prejudices there, or a description of the nature of the people being given power by Meles' government.

freedom

2008-11-29T04:05:00.000-08:00

I don't claim to know what is going on. The best I can tell, Teddy Afro is a popular young Ethiopian musician, and some of his music was used by the opposition during the time of the hotly contested 2005 elections, to criticize the Meles' government, in some minds, thus making Teddy even more popular. Many believe that the impact of Teddy's music on Meles' government was such, in particular with the song Yasteseryal, that not only was the song banned in Ethiopia, but it appears Meles has set out to silence Teddy by putting him in jail.

Teddy was arrested and charged with reckless driving, vehicular manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident in 2006. Later, a higher court reversed the initial decision to release Teddy on bail. Even though he had been in and out of the country for nearly 18 months while out on bail awaiting trial, performing in the US and elsewhere, the higher court said in its decision that they believed he was likely to flee the country. Teddy maintains his innocence, saying he was not involved in the accident and is not the type of person to flee the scene of an accident. So, Teddy remains in jail, in the undeniably deplorable conditions of Ethiopian jails, waiting for the wheels of justice to grind to a resolution.

That's the best I can do to make out what is happening. The rhetoric on the streets is impassioned and involves such language that even I blush at the personal level of the insults that I hear and read.

It is difficult to trust Meles' government which has a poor record of human rights' abuses since coming to power. Meles faces pressures from all sides, inside and outside the country. The border disputes with Eritrea still fester. Somalia is in chaos and increasingly violent and US and other oil producing nations interests there only add to the stew. Although Meles denies it, he recently gave a large portion of its western lands outright to Sudan (in exchange for what, is not clear.)The Oromia within Ethiopia are restless and their larger numbers worry the other ethic groups in Ethiopia. Meles' policies have worsened the ethnic frictions in Ethiopia, which have in times past been better, even to the point where much intermingling of people, language and customs have taken place. The recent pirate attacks off the Somali coast do not make it any easier for Ethiopia as such a large part of the products it imports come through Djibouti. Meles' situation is difficult indeed, but does not excuse his fear of freedom of speech.

I personally was touched by this during my visit to Addis, to run in the Great Ethiopian Race. I'll fill you in on what happened in a coming post!

...now that I'm back

2008-11-29T03:03:00.000-08:00

Now that I'm back, I don't even know where to begin in recounting my experiences in Ethiopia. Each trip I make is different but many elements are the same.

I've said it before. Travel to another place puts things into a perspective that you don't take the time to notice sometimes, in the everyday routine of your life. You don't see the things around you that are beautiful, joyful, funny or terrible, sad, and ugly. You just go through your day, putting things behind wall, into compartments, trying to survive, forgetting to take the time to notice, to be mindful, to truly live your life fully. It is sometimes through travel that the different frame of a different place puts things before your attention that you must notice. It's a challenge, but that must be one of the reasons people travel.

Coming home after a while away, gives you that same perspective, however briefly. You are glad to be home. You notice the big skies. And then you notice the snow covered fields, forests and lakes the plane flies over on it's approach to Toronto, and then the architectural marvels of the complex overpasses of the highways near the airport...At home you appreciate the fact that you made your bed (I do that once in a while!) before you left home and it's good to be home. And you notice that things work: electricity, there is hot water, the toilet flushes...Little things that can be so difficult when in many other countries. You even notice the way you wash your hands is different. And you love the fact that there is some bread in the freezer and your little toaster is so smart and efficient!!

All this is to say, that as I have time, I will talk here about the trip I made to participate in the Great Ethiopian Run in Ethiopia and I will talk about some difficult things. But the reason I want to talk about them must be very clear. I simply want people to notice, to be aware and to believe as I do in a vision that can bring people together. It would be too easy for people to see what I have seen and judge, criticize and tear down. I hope that will not happen, therefore the song.

busy!!

2008-11-13T04:43:00.000-08:00

Frantic.
Busy.
Disorganized.
Packing.
Laundry.
Last minute shopping.
One more sleep...

training

2008-11-09T23:24:00.000-08:00

Troubled Sunday morning dreams, perhaps because hot flashes woke me before the alarm went off and I had a big breakfast at 5:00 am, going back to bed to continue fretting about everything I need to remember to have ready for my upcoming trip to Ethiopia. I dreamed about transport trucks going off the road one after the other in front of me. I dreamed about having minutes to solve the problem of Phyllis Diller hair before having to go to work. I dreamed that my ex-husband (someone I always considered to be an excellent driver not liable to do this) driving a motorhome out of a parking lot, kept repeatedly and carelessly backing into parked cars, acting almost as if the motorhome was a tank!

Just after the alarm went again, the phone rang and my running buddy Jim was asking if I needed a ride this morning.

It was cold and grey and there was a wind with a bite in it. I'm running sans gloves, remember, having lost the second pair I had bought already! (I'm resisting putting on my reallyreallyreally warm fleece mitts until it's minus 20 degrees in January) I pulled the long sleeves of my shirt over my hands, but I'm thinking that long gloves right to the elbow, might be more comfortable. In fact, later at the Second Cup on the corner, I commented to Candace that it would be fun to bug Mary, who despises girly-girls and anything pretty, by wearing long pink satin gloves with lots of sequins sometime...

There are several new people who have joined this 1/2 marathon clinic that I want to get to know. Isn't it fun? You never know how interesting people can be -- or not! until you talk to them!

After the run, I headed to Toronto to have dinner with my Amharic tutor, his wife and step-daughter. I had a marvelous time, catching the absolutely very last train home!

training

2008-11-07T23:12:00.000-08:00

I had a late appointment with the chiropractor this afternoon. The taxi driver from Brooklin to Whitby was an Acadian man and me wondering how brave I could be with my French distracted me so that I left my running gloves in the cab. Some of my usual running gang had opted for an earlier and longer run. The handful of us that had come out for this later run in the dark were initially thinking 10 km or so, but Davey G. in his wisdom suggested that a shorter run was in order, for at least two reasons: most of us had done the Niagara 1/2, some had done some speed work the night before, and I was quite sore from the chiropractor's treatment on my IT band.

We agreed to Davey's plan and before we knew it we were nearly half-way and realized that we had run it without doing our usual 10's and 1's, ie. 10 min running, 1 minute walking, which seemed to feel just fine!

And I was also happy to suffer through some ab work with Davey, who believes that a strong core will improve our endurance and our times in the longer races to come.

I wanna tell you...

2008-11-06T19:43:00.000-08:00

Sea of Love - Cat Power

My wonderful family, friends and coworkers have been incredible, taking an interest, listening to me as I prattle on about my upcoming trip, and finding ways to help and contribute!

To everybody, I want to say a great big Thank-you!

training

2008-11-06T17:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday evening was a fun run, the first session of a new 1/2 marathon clinic. Crowds came out, some familiar faces that I had not seen much of over the summer, plus the regulars who have been running together since January.

It was a surprisingly warm and humid evening for November. Many leaves are still on the trees.

Mary managed to get confused about the route we had intended to take, therefore you'll see the loop back upon ourselves, before somebody corrected us and we continued on.

With just days until I leave for Ethiopia, I am excited indeed!
Tire Swing - Kimya Dawson

In case you've missed my explanation of the reason for this trip: I will be running the 10 km international Great Ethiopian Run in Addis, November 23/08. I am raising funds for Ethiopia Reads. Click on the link to check out what they do!

training

2008-11-04T16:02:00.000-08:00

Pleasant day after the frost burned off the ground. Ran from my chiropractor's office in Brooklin, through some areas that are still actually farm land. Total distance: 12.52 km (map is modified somewhat).

training

2008-11-02T12:59:00.000-08:00

I am tired. Terrible shifts at my paying job where we are short-staffed, still being tired from the race last weekend, plus my body trying to heal, I guess from the strain I am experiencing in my IT band and glutes on the right side, have me wondering how the run will go today.

And idiotically, even though I kept reminding myself at work last night to set the clocks back when I got home, I completely forgot. This morning I'm at the Running Room wondering where the hell everybody is, when I realize about the clocks! duh...At least I'm not the only one, finding at least one other fellow in running togs at the coffee shop on the corner with an hour to while away until 8:30 am. I enjoy my time perusing a new artists/writers paper called "surfacing". It has me thinking maybe I should renew my membership in the Durham writers' association. I had let it lapse during the years I spent living way out in the country.

However, about my run, my chiropractor said as long as I don't experience any stabbing pain in that right knee I can run. I wonder how relative one's experience of pain is. I mean, I'm a self-confessed wimp about pain, but is my perception of stabbing pain the same as somebody else's? Oh well. Who cares. I think I am comfortable enough to run.

We start off r-r-e-a- l -l -l - y slowly. This is not fun. I never like the first 5-6 km. I'm out of breath. I can hardly talk. And anybody who knows me, knows this lady likes to talk. But by the time we are at Rossland, I'm feeling better. By the time we reach Taunton, I'm in that happy groove again, which I love!

Turning towards home at Garrard and Taunton, we meet Henry. Now, Henry normally runs far too fast for me. But we happily chat away, the kilometres slip by, and only occasionally do I have to tell Henry that since I can hardly gasp for breath AND talk, we are going too fast. He kindly slows down.

It's a great run for me. I'm ecstatic. I feel good. And I faithfully stretch in the warmth of the store afterwards, before we head to the corner coffee shop for our compulsory cup of coffee.

clean eating

2008-10-29T09:26:00.000-07:00

My friend Jacquiline is apparently also a foodie! Here's the link she posted yesterday on Facebook for a recipe for Curried Roast Parsnip Soup that looks interesting. Maybe I'll try it this weekend and let you know how it tastes!

I discovered Clean Eating before it was called that, so I was also pleased recently to discover a Canadian, Tosca Reno, writes a lot about clean eating in fitness magazines like Oxygen and has published some cookbooks on the subject. I bought two:
The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook: Great-Tasting Recipes That Keep You Lean
and The Eat-Clean Diet for Family and Kids: Simple Strategies for Lasting Health and Fitness. Does it sound like a project coming on? oh you know me too well!!

resting on my laurels

2008-10-29T08:18:00.000-07:00

I'm being very good. I'm resting (not an easy thing for someone who feels guilty about everything, "parce que j'ai l'habitude", especially resting.)

La confession - Lhasa De Sela
I have been tired this week, thus far. However, that may have more to do with my othr scheduled appointments and work commitments. I am also taking the time to enjoy the sharing of photos taken by our families and friends during our race weekend in Niagara Falls, as well as catching up with the news of my running buddies who participated in other races at other locales this past weekend.

After my chiropractor's appointment yesterday morning, it seemed like my aches and pains were awakened rather than soothed, leaving me rather cross by the time I fell into bed when I got home from work. That should pass. Yoga stretches and the excercises Andrew recommended are a part of my every day this week.

The plan is to think of maintaining the level of performance my body has reached as an athlete, maintaining my level of fitness through a maintenance program while I contemplate my next goal, the 10 km international Great Ethiopian Run, November 23, 2008.

It is suggested that half marathon runners can schedule a long run of 12 km (7.5 mi.) to maintain their endurance. The half marathon runner on the off weekends can schedule in some 10 K races to work on strength, speed and self-confidence to run. By giving myself adequate recovery from my race—experts recommend two weeks for a 10 K race, three weeks for a half marathon and four weeks for a marathon—before I race any distance or do any high-quality running, I plan to avoid the hazards of over-training and damaging fatigue.

I will run this week, but only “massage type” running to loosen the legs, the distances yet to be decided. Next week, I am searching for some fun hills to lessen my anxiety about the hills in Addis. Then, I will already be in Ethiopia during the week prior to the race and have the opportunity to become more acclimatized to the altitude!

Niagara 1/2

2008-10-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

me with a few of my running buddies and John Stanton of the Running Room, at the pre-race expo on Saturday

my son and I, on the eve of the race

I'm resting this week -- well, mostly, I am. (That is what I'm told is the best thing to do after a big race like Niagara was for me.) Then next week, I'll do some hills and speed work before I have a week of acclimatization to the altitude in Ethiopia before the actual race in Addis.

crossing the finish line -- WOO HOO!!

I finally hear my name being called...

I did great in Niagara, getting a personal best time of 2:12:15.1 (chip time). I had a bit of difficulty after with my breathing (I'm blaming it on the cold I got after the Scotia), but it scared the bejeesus out of my poor son, who turned around to find me in what he thought was a "change tent" (he had never attended a race before) with an oxygen mask clapped onto my face.

My running buddies who knew better -- seeing the big grin on my face -- immediately accused me of doing ANYTHING to get to sit on a cot surrounded by good looking ambulance attendants! Well, DUH!! The EMS guys WERE way better looking than most of my running buddies....A couple cups of coffee later, I felt much better, even if I was a bit blue around the gills for a while after.

my wonderful and crazy 1/2 marathon gang from the Whitby Running Room, showing off our finisher's medals with the Horseshoe Falls in the background

At the top of the trolley ride above the falls on our way back to our hotel, the wind nearly blew us all away. My son grabbed me when the wind filled up my warming blanket so I looked like a silver balloon about to blow off into the sky, and all I could do was laugh so hysterically that I nearly peed myself! Thank goodness the wind and rain and lightning and thunder and hail held off until AFTER the race! My poor son, however, may never have the courage to come see me run a race again!

I sent the photos my son took in 5-part emails to our running gang. Davey G. wrote back wondering why no "part 6" of the partying that evening (he and my son had to leave that Sunday afternoon, while the rest of us stayed one more night in Niagara): was it censored or was I too impaired to take more pictures. Huh! As if!!

Anyhow, I was so proud of myself I wore my finisher's medal to work on Monday. I did! And the shirt we got, as well! So there!

race

2008-10-26T18:00:00.000-07:00

Oct. 26/08: 10:00 am, 21.1 km race in Niagara Falls, Ontario. My gun time: 2:14:00.7; chip time: 2:12:15.1. My personal best time thus far.

training

2008-10-25T11:00:00.000-07:00

Oct. 25/08: quick and easy morning run in light rain "at home", before we make the trip to Niagara Falls later in the day. 5.14 km.

chiropractor

2008-10-24T11:05:00.000-07:00

I took Mary and Jim's advice and made an appointment to see a chiropractor this morning. Having heard him speak already at the 1/2 marathon clinic offered by the Running Room, my impression of him was only reinforced by my first session today. Most encouraging is that there is no mention of not running (woo - hoo!!). Afterwards, I felt by turns, no pain, then as if I'd had a workout. And that's good enough for me.

I understand, however, that it's not only the IT band as I had imagined, but also some weakness of other muscles that support my right knee. There is also lots of tightness in the gluteal muscles. Overall, my peculiar gait results in pain...but it's fixable with some time and work. Ain't that great??

what it's about

2008-10-21T08:07:00.000-07:00

Somehow, my first post, explaining what this trip is all about, has disappeared into the ethers. So, here goes again. I'll try to start at the beginning. Please bear with me.

Fields Of Gold - Eva Cassidy

Many of us can remember a favourite book we loved as children, something that sent delicious shivers up your spine, as when Robert Louis Stevenson’s Elephant Child in the “Just So Stories” comes at last

“to the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with
fever-trees, precisely as Kolokolo Bird had said…”

I grew up with books all around me. I couldn't get enough of stories and I loved being read to every night. My doll Figrebee often received letters, like my mother did, from family back home in Finland ("letters" that were composed of my scribbles all over a piece of paper) which my mother then read to me in various voices. And my love of books was passed on to my oldest daughter, who is teased in our family for asking me repeatedly when she was about 2 years old to "read me a story about when you were little, Mommy."

Stories are so important, whether they are an oral history passed down from generation to generation, or stories in books. They unleash the imagination and allow us to travel to worlds we might otherwise never see. They allow us to vicariously experience adventures and problems, triumphs and happy endings, feelings and emotions, expanding our ways of interacting with people and problem solving skills. They allow us to examine our world in so many different ways, to add to our knowledge of it, our appreciation of it and our understanding of it.

It is difficult for us in the West to imagine how impoverished your world becomes, how difficult it is to navigate, if one is illiterate. It might seem that where poverty causes so much anguish, one should focus on other more important things than literacy. But it is true in the more developed countries of the West as well, where higher levels of education are clearly linked with higher standards of living, better health and longer life-spans, that literacy is definitely a most effective tool for the betterment of lives. It is crucial for so the many ways we must function in today's society. Most of us cannot imagine doing our jobs without some literacy skills.

Imagine the worker trying to understand how to operate machinery. Or the health care worker, reading the labels on vials of medicine. Or trying with some discretion (sadly still in a judgmental world) to learn more about how to protect yourself from HIV/AIDS.

In many countries poverty and illiteracy go hand in hand, particularly among the women and children. Many experts on poverty agree that literacy is the answer to greater productivity, better health, longer life, as well as better maternal and neonatal health. It would be rare to find a mother who reads, who does not ensure that her children can read.

So how is all this connected to me and Ethiopia?

My earliest memories are of Ethiopia, although I was actually born in South Africa to parents who were from Finland. My dad was a teacher and shortly after I was born, our family went to live in Ethiopia where my dad administered two mission schools hundreds of miles from the capital, in mountains east of Bahar Dar and Lake Tana. Thus my first clear memories of any place were of that particular place. How deeply evocative I find my memories of certain kinds of near-equatorial sunlight, the smell of eucalyptus trees, the sounds of the Amharic language spoken around me, the sight of donkeys!

After years away from Ethiopia, I walked into a restaurant in the Washington, D.C. area, to be viscerally moved, utterly exhilerated, by the aromas of Ethiopian food! It's hard to describe how excited I was. My family certainly couldn't understand it.

More years passed, and I suddenly found my marriage falling apart. Shattered, I sat in my doctor's office, a family friend for many years. He wisely suggested that a way that would help me heal might be to re-visit my roots. He understood that Finland was in many ways a foreign country for me; he meant Africa. That idea stuck in my mind, but I was unable to do anything about it then.

I have always written stories and I had come to a point where I wanted to write stories for my granddaughter about my memories of my childhood in Ethiopia. When I found gaps in my memory I asked my mother what she could remember. It was she who insisted that I needed to go back. However, little did even she suspect that going back would inflame such a passionate response in my heart to this far flung, oft forgotten country in the Horn of Africa.

During my planning of my first return trip to Ethiopia, I came across a blog by someone who had cycled through Ethiopia, and during their trip, participated in one of the early annual 10 km international Great Ethiopian Runs in Addis Ababa. For some reason, I wanted to run that race. So it became part of my dreams. My trip fell together at last and I did get to Ethiopia in March of 2007, but I was not able to get to the race which usually takes place in November.

freezing rain and snow in the Simien Mountains, in the village of Chiro Leba, where I visited the local school

It may seem that in the midst of the crushing poverty of the country, where an estimated 4.6 million children are orphans, where nearly half of the children suffer the stunting effects of malnutrion, I would have felt terribly discouraged by what I saw in Ethiopia.

However, that's not what I saw. It's undeniable that travelling in Ethiopia is not easy going. In fact, for the most part, it is downright challenging. But when I was there in March, 2007, I saw a complex, fascinating country, rich in history, awesome in its natural beauty, full of resources, peopled by a varied population possessing an amazing inner strength that endures, despite Ethiopia' s troubled recent history. Much had changed since I was there as a child, nearly 50 years before. Yet, that indefinable, exciting essence was still there.

And Ethiopian children -- like children everywhere -- love stories. The children I met were full of questions, some of it phrases of English learned by rote which they didn't completely understand. "Where are you from?" "How are you?" "I am please to meet you." "What is your name?" And some of them did understand the answers, which delighted them no end. Some were even able to explain the lesson that was still on the blackboard of their one-room school.

However, the educational resources and opportunities that we in the “first world” take for granted, are nearly unheard of in Ethiopia. According to Unicef reports, an estimated 72% of Ethiopian children don’t go to school because their families are too poor to send them. And in a country that boasts a unique literate history among African nations, it is a shame that only 43% of Ethiopian adults can read or write. Where there are schools, most have no libraries! Many classrooms don’t have a single book. The teacher writes the lesson on the blackboard which the children then copy carefully into notebooks. I discovered that much of the lesson is memorized by the children and repeated faithfully, by rote. It is questionable how much understanding takes place. The enjoyment of books that is not associated with school work or the church (more on that later) is inconceivable.

Shortly after my return to Canada, I discovered the work of Yohannes Gebregeorgis, the founder of Ethiopia Reads . When Yohannes returned to Ethiopia with a dream of opening libraries for children, he enlisted the help of Jane Kurtz, an internationally known author with 22 published books for children, writers and fellow educators. Jane spent her childhood in Ethiopia and has written many books about its land and people. Ethiopia Reads came into being in the late 1990's through the vision of Yohannes, and Jane now leads Ethiopia Reads’ all-volunteer Board of Directors.

Yohannes' own life is a story about how books opened up the world to him as a young boy. Yohannes believes that children exposed to books will look beyond a lack of material goods to a world of possibilities. Literacy will enable them to function in today’s world as well as unlock their imaginations and creativity. Who knows what ideas or inventions, what solutions to Ethiopia’s problems, may arise from the mind of a child whose mind has been stimulated by the world of books? Literacy is the tool that will improve their lives today and the lives of future generations of Ethiopians.

Ethiopia Reads (still known locally in Ethiopia as "Ethiopian Books for Children and Educational Foundation" or EBCEF) is a grassroots non profit/non government organization. It is geared toward bringing literacy and literacy related resources to Ethiopian children.

Because I cannot imagine a world without books, I am endlessly delighted, when I visit the Ethiopia Reads website, by the vision of children I see experiencing the joy of holding a book in their hands for the first time, having the opportunity to hear wonderful stories, learning to read themselves, stories about the world at large, but also stories about their own world, funny, colourful stories about brave or silly heroes and heroines in their language. And because donkeys are such a part of my earliest memories, I am absolutely tickled pink that one of the first efforts to reach out to areas outside the capital, involves a "donkey library" with the most important leadership of Queen Helina!! (you'll have to explore the Ethiopia Reads website to find out who she is!)

Okay, so back to the Great Ethiopian Run. Did I forget to tell you that this is a big part of what this upcoming trip is all about?

The TOYOTA Great Ethiopian Race 2008, in its 8th annual edition, stages a mix of competitions for fun and fulfilment, bringing together people and communities, mostly from Ethiopia, but also from around the world, to celebrate the great Ethiopian running tradition. It is expected that the 10 km international race, which will take place in Addis Ababa on Sunday, the 23rd of November, will attract 32,000 participants this year!

At the elite end of the field the race continues to serve as an important stepping stone for Ethiopia’s up-and-coming athletes. Previous race winners include some of Ethiopia’s all-time greats such as Haile Gebrselassie and Berhane Adere (race winners in 2001) and Tirunesh Dibaba and Sileshi Sihin (race winners in 2003). Kenenisa Bekele has twice participated in the race (2001 & 2002) finishing 3rd on both occasions. Since the first race in 2001 the event has also enjoyed the support of many other world-famous athletes and well-known names from international athletics.

This year’s 2008 TOYOTA Great Ethiopian Run features a special campaign entitled “I’m running for a child” which highlights the work of organizations working with orphans and vulnerable children living in Addis Ababa and raises funds to support their work. This campaign is being jointly promoted by UNICEF Ethiopia and Great Ethiopian Run. If you are interested in the charities which will benefit from the funds raised this year, you can visit the Great Ethiopian Run site.

Because of the high altitude (2400m), think of a 10km in Addis Ababa as though it were more like running 10 miles at sea-level. Runners know, running up hills anywhere is tough, but particularly so in Addis. The 10km course is a one-lap city centre course starting and finishing in the capital’s main square known as Meskel Square. There are two uphill sections of the course around 2km and 7km. The centre of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital, where the race starts and finishes, is situated at an altitude of 2400m above sea level. The race takes place at 9am when temperatures in November typically range between 20 and 24 degrees Celsius.

I plan to run this race as a personal athletic challenge, but also to raise funds for Ethiopia Reads.

I believe every child deserves to experience the thrill of reading books that spark their curiosity, stimulate their imaginations, and are simply fun to read. Please consider sponsoring me in my run in Addis Ababa on November 23, 2008. All the money I raise will go directly to Ethiopia Reads.

If you are interested in helping my cause, you can email me at katiquu at hotmail dot com, to find out how to reach me. Even easier is to donate directly to Ethiopia Reads online through the fast and secure services of PayPal, donate using your credit card by dialing 303-468-8422, or by downloading the printable mail-in form from the Ethiopia Reads website, http://www.ethiopiareads.org/. (Or if you are on Facebook, Ethiopia Reads is one of my favourite charities there as well.) I don't need credit for your donation, but I would be pleased if you will let me know by commenting here, that you did donate something. Every little bit helps.

Thank-you.

training

2008-10-20T22:18:00.000-07:00

Oct. 20/08: Evening run, cool 3-5 degrees C. Rained earlier, but pavements nearly dry. Misty rain toward end of run. Little to no wind. Time Taken: 00:41:22 Route: (out&back) uphill on Nichol, downhill then uphill around Powell, downhill across Burns; then the reverse. Total Distance: 6.36 km. Ran most of it with Jonathan who has been running for 30 years and has done something like 50 marathons!

injuries

2008-10-20T08:16:00.000-07:00

It is unnerving, but true. Athletic endeavors can, in themselves, cause injuries.

It is sometimes difficult to talk about these injuries with people who do not participate in any strenuous physical activity. They are all too liable to respond with such helpful comments as: "You have to rest." "You are working too hard." "Running is not good for you." "You have to stop running." "I read that running can cause (fill in the blank here with whatever catastrophy you want to envision)."

It is even difficult to find a doctor or other health practitioner who understands that runners have to run. Far too many health practitioners are liable to tell you to lay around on the couch until the injury heals. That, in my opinion, only causes a general deconditioning that is not at all helpful.

I, however, believe, that while the body is telling you something, it is not necessarily telling you, with the pain, to stop a particularly activity. It is far more likely to be telling you that you need to do something differently, in a better way, with better technique, with better body mechanics.
The hard part, for an ordinary person, is finding the experts who can tell you how to exercise better.

If you can afford it, or have a health plan that covers it, there are some marvelous people around, that's for sure. Exercise physiologists, physiotherapists, chiropractors, massage therapists, dietitians, etc., who love working with athletes and understand that you cannot tell an athlete to stop working out.

So here I am, a week before the Niagara 1/2 marathon, nursing along a strain of my right IT band that is so painful, I can hardly walk. The pain extends from my hip to my right knee. But I am determined to run next Sunday.

How am I going to do it? Here's my simple plan. I am doing a lot of stretching and yoga. I am doing a lot of icing. I am drinking lots of green tea and yerba matte tea. I am getting some massages this week. I am tapering the distances and difficulty of the runs I do this week. I am going to the gym to do some cross-training which will strengthen all the supportive muscles around my hips and thighs. But most important, I am still running because when I run, the pain is actually not there.

Most difficult, however, is the mental aspect of it. I was terribly frightened at first. This is so similar to the injury I experienced in March 2007 when I was trekking in Ethiopia, that I had visions of spending months unable to run, unable to even walk longer distances, unable to take the stairs at work... It is far too easy to get frustrated and depressed.

Then, I thought about it some more. I gratefully recalled the different talks presented at the running clinics I've attended through the Running Room. I recalled the stories of other athletes who have worked through injuries to keep on achieving their goals. So, I am working at accepting where my body is right now. And I am working through my injuries, trying to find things that will heal my body and mind, trying to find ways to run better.

More resources:

Yoga Journal poses for legs
Yoga Journal poses for knees
BodyMind Resources with great illustrations of the muscles of the leg & hip
YouTube video of an IT band stretch
Another YouTube video of an IT band stretch

2008-10-17T22:41:00.000-07:00

Ran 12.71 km this evening. Temperatures dropping, but not freezing. Gloves really helped and now I'm wondering if I didn't drop them in Jim's truck. He gave me a ride home and I'm hopeless at keeping track of gloves and mitts...My IT band and right knee were very painful during the run, even worse when I stopped at lights or cross walks. I should have iced it right away, but I admit it. I'm a wimp. A hint though: hot green tea is lovely when you are starting to chill on a cool evening after a long run.

2008-10-16T12:30:00.000-07:00

I ran 12.25 km today under overcast skies, a temperature of about 12 degrees C., with light winds. I think I intended to do some fartlek work but ended up sprinting only a couple of times for short distances. It ended up being more of a tempo/steady run, taking me 1:19.35. There are a couple of hills on the route I took, with the first climb being over the first 3.5 km from an elevation of 106 m to 140 m. The route I took takes me past the hospital, around the airport, then back home again. After the airport, the route descends gradually over 4.5 km, with a steep ascent over 0.5 km from 106m to 130m. That was the toughest part, being at the end of my run when I was tired. But I can say I did it, running all the way, and finished standing up!

in motion

2008-10-16T11:36:00.000-07:00

So, tickets have been bought. I'm registered to run. I've started soliciting sponsors to raise funds for my favorite charity. I've been in touch with my contacts in Ethiopia. I'm so excited I can't sleep.

Should I back up, maybe start at the beginning of this story? No, that's too far because it starts over 50 years ago.

I'll try to summarize what has brought me to this day.

Ethiopia has always had a specil place in my heart because the first memories I have of anything are of Ethiopia, its sunlight, its mountain air, eucalyptus trees, donkeys, injera and wot, and the music of the Amharic language being spoken all around me. My parents were missionaries there many years ago, and even though we left before my 5th birthday, I could never shake my memories. After many, many years, when I finally went to an Ethiopian restaurant in Washington, DC, the perfume of berbere and incense and coffee took me right back to my childhood in a physical, deeply visceral response that was incredibly intense!

Then again many intervening years ... and I found myself shattered as my marriage fell apart. My wonderful family doctor, who had been a family friend for decades, wisely suggested that something that might help in my healing process would be a return to my roots. Not my Finnish roots, where I actually feel myself to be a complete stranger in many ways, but my African roots, the places where I spent my earliest childhood years. That idea planted itself in my head then, but it was again many years before I could do anything about it.

Leela James - My Joy - Leela James

I've always written stories and I started to write down stories for my granddaughter about my childhood memories. But I had questions. There were things I wasn't sure I remembered or if I was making them up. I asked my mother. It was she who declared sensibly that I must go back to Ethiopia. But I don't think even she could have predicted how strongly Ethiopia would resonate with me when I did go back in 2007, how wildly and passionately my love for the country would flare up again.

In planning for that 2007 trip, I came across a travel blog of cyclists who had along the way on their trip, participated in the annual Great Ethiopian Run. The Run was not to be for me for about 3 years, but I started running, training on my own at first, then joining clinics offered by the Running Room here in Whitby this year. I ran some 5 km races, some 10 km races, a 1/4 marathon, then the Scotia half-marathon in September. Way back in January of this year, I also registered for the 10 km Great Ethipian Run, not sure how I'd manage, but determined that this was my year to finally do it.

In the meantime, I had discovered the marvelous work of Yohannes Gebregeorgis and the Ethiopia Reads foundation.

Anybody who knows me, knows that I love my books. I cannot imagine my childhood without books. I have many wonderful memories of discoveries I made about books and through books! I even still have a very tattered set of illustrated Golden Nature Guides, that I treasure for the memories of many hours spent looking through them on Saturday afternoons as a child. Not only was our house filled with books, but visits to the library quickly became a part of my life as well.

Ah the magic of books, the smell of them, the way they feel in your hands, whether they have beautiful illustrations or not, the music of language that they can bring, the far-away, magically places to which books can transport you.

How I loved the thrill of reading the mysterious, melodious words describing how Robert L. Stevenson's Elephant Child in the Just So Stories comes at last “to the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees, precisely as Kolokolo Bird had said…”, as just one of many, many examples!

What is truly shocking, actually is, that Ethiopia is a country that prides itself on an ancient literate history, yet, today's culture is largely illiterate. Ah, you see young students everywhere carrying a notebook. But books are scarce as hens' teeth. And children's books practically non-existent.

I believe strongly that education is the way out of the aching misery of much of the third world and I think many experts on poverty agree that education is vital for improving the lives particularly of women and children. It is almost a given that if the mother reads, her children will learn to read. And how important literacy is just to manage in this world today, never mind having any hope of a better future. How is a worker going to read warning instructions on the proper use of machinery? How can information on AIDS/HIV prevention be quickly disseminated? How much vital information is on the labels of vials of medications, containers of chemicals? Now matter how electronic our age might be, literacy is still intrinsic to the communication of information, knowledge, wisdom and culture.

But even more importantly, I believe reading is a most excellent way to give children the opportunity to see a world of possibilities beyond their current material realities. Without imagination, nothing great has ever been achieved. What better than books to spark imaginations?

I'm not keen on campaigns against anything. I believe that only perpetuates the negative. I much more excited by campaigns for something, like literacy. Please visit the Ethiopia Reads website. Maybe you too will enjoy meeting Queen Helina, who is, in my opinion, a very important donkey! Maybe you too will be thrilled to read of the children who are able, through this program, to hold a pretty book in their hands for the first time, to learn to read, and to discover new worlds! And maybe you too, will understand why I love this opportunity to help, through asking you to donate and help the Ethiopia Reads organization.

You can donate through their website, by phone (the number is on the site), by mail (they have a printable mail-in form you can download). If I see you in person, I'll ask you to sponsor me on my run. Or you can go on Facebook where Ethiopia Reads is now one of the charities that members support.

training

2008-10-13T22:10:00.000-07:00

Oct. 13/08: Easy, steady, evening run from Running Room, looping around Taunton Rd., down Thornton to Hwy 2. Two fun hills along Hwy 2 going west, just before Thickson Rd. Ran much of it with Tony and Kelly. Right knee bothering me. Suspect it's my IT band again. Always the right side, whether it's the tight glutes or whatever!

training

2008-10-12T20:20:00.000-07:00

Oct 12/08: It was supposed to be a long,slow,steady 20km loop up to Winchester Drive, then back down Thornton. The weather was perfect. Sunny, cool, no wind. I figured out pretty quickly that Jim was setting an awfully fast pace. This was no LDS, even for him. Damn. But I hate running alone, as nobody else running this morning runs at my much slower pace. Double damn. I kept up with them all the way to Rossland Road, on the home stretch. By Adelaide, I lost them. Thank god Kieran's foot was bothering him and Mary had indigestion...Anyway, I made it up that hill on King St. west of Thornton, back to the Running Room on Thickson. And Jim and Mary are congratulating me, saying they think I'm getting really fast...HUH??I'm dying here, running MY race pace or better on what was supposed to be a nice easy LSD!!! Is everybody crazy, me most of all??? We went for our usual coffee etc after, and I almost puked up my muffin and coffee I was so wiped out.

training

2008-10-10T23:04:00.000-07:00

Oct. 10/08: Late morning run behind hospital, via Alexandra Park to Somerville and west, around airport. Down Thornton Road to Adelaide, where going east, the hill to Stephenson is a great challenge. Total distance of run: 12.25km. Time taken, approx 1:19:35. Weather windy, overcast and about 12 degrees C. Had to run alone because of missed runs with the gang due to my work schedule conflicting with the group runs.

training

2008-10-10T23:00:00.000-07:00

Oct. 10/08: I've been sick all week with a head cold. Not running. Feeling sorry for myself. Mary has planned a 20-ish run to Taunton and back. Tony is running with us again, complaining about the cold weather. On the last leg of the run, we turn to go west along Hwy 2. Mary waits for Tony's reaction to the sight of the hill on Hwy 2 going towards Kendalwood. She is amply pleased by his horrified response! I find the run very enjoyable although, as usual, I've started out pretty fast and am fading on that last hill. That one is tough.

2008-10-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

Oct. 1/08: Evening hill work in the rain, in the dark. Run from Running Room up Glen Hill to Elizabeth. 6 repeats of the hill on Elizabeth: 0.41km one way, climb from elevation of 114m to 131m. Very snuffly, getting over a cold. Glasses totally obscured by cold, blowing, misty rain. Run back to running room. Total 6.64 km.