Ethiopia in Crisis Once More

After having spent almost 3 weeks in Ethiopia last August, hearing about their current, momentous plight is disenchanting, to say the least. While I was traipsing through Lalibela with Tracey Neale and Erma Millard Charles (www.veronicasstory.org), photographing and filming the lush green landscapes and the smiling children, I knew I was standing in the very same valley where the famine had taken over 1 million Ethiopians' lives in the early 1980s. During that famine, I was 9 or 10 years old. I sang "We Are the World" and "Do They Know It's Christmastime At All?" Ethiopia was the butt of many food jokes (see When Harry Met Sally).

But last August, I was filled with a simultaneous sense of relief and concern that far out-shot my childhood point of view. Sure, jokes were funny, and those songs were catchy tunes. But there was something more solid--stoic; real--about where I was standing.


Lalibela, August, 2007

Though the rainy season was generous while we were there, the prosperity was fleeting, at best. To have that thought was to bolster my own ego; I assumed it would be years--if not decades--before these people would be on the brink of starvation again. I assumed that they had figured out sustainable farming (though, deep down, I knew that not to be true). To think that those boys I met less than one year ago are aching for food right now breaks my heart.


Young Men Ask for a New Soccer Ball, Lalibela, Ethiopia, August, 2007

Please take a moment to think about what you can do for these people in Ethiopia. Donate some time, money, food? Perhaps someone reading this will be inspired to go to Ethiopia and help them change their paradigms about food and farming. Something drastic needs to happen, and another famine should not be the catalyst--but it is.


When the Land Produced Crops, August, 2007

I have attached a link to a slide show featured on my Alma mater's web site: Ethiopia Photo Blog

The Western (Or is it Human?) Activities of These New Friends of Mine

Hanging out on the weekends in D.C. consists of any variation of the following: sleeping in, meeting friends for brunch at The Diner or Savory Cafe. Going out to bars to watch sports, to dance, to people-watch. Playing board games with my favorite fiend ;) Going for long bike rides, runs or walks through Sligo Creek Park, getting lost somewhere in Maryland and navigating my way back by wits, alone.

Here, life appears to be so different. Dirt roads, potholes that rival the grand canyon, children running through piles of trash. But, once inside my compound, life becomes oddly western again (or is it really just normally human?). My new mates Afrah, Enity, Beatrice, Sarah, Irene, Abdallah, Pascal and Freddy (just to name a few) have tea. They stop by to say hi. They invite me over for a homemade, Ugandan lunch. We watch The Fifth Element, The Pelican Brief, The Matrix.

On the weekends we do laundry, we go shopping at the market (okay: it is a bit of a stark contrast to the farmer's market in Dupont or Takoma Park), we meet friends who have just come a long way on a bike journey. We go for strolls down the lane.

In other words, we hang out.


Pascal, Juliet and Freddy, Kyebando District, Kampala


Kids enjoy the waning sunshine

Welcome to Uganda ;)

As a very silly man said to me, "When you get to Uganda, be sure to welcome everyone there. And be sure to use silly string to stress your point."
So, welcome. Sorry I don't have any silly string. Funny how that isn't a common commodity here in Uganda.
Here I shall write a more personal supplement to my primary blog on The Advocacy Project's (AP) website, the great organization I am volunteering with. While working with AP and The World Peasants/Indigenous Organization (WPIO), and creating a documentary to help promote the WPIOs mission to bring civic education and human rights to the peasants and indigenous peoples of Eastern and Central Africa, I am surely going to have a lot to say about my own personal experiences. So, stay plugged in and tuned on. I'll be back with plenty of thoughts and observations.