hey hogs...
its been a long time since i posted or looked at this...however, since there were many other places and occaisons that i had shared some of my experiences and reflections about my time here in Addis, I will just share them here with you as well.
this is a short note i wrote to a fellow Ethiopian friend in DC who was eager to return home like me. maybe some of you who are going back to your roots can identify with this...
This
is Ethiopia
Here in Addis. We are
living and learning and growing.
Sometimes it just
doesn’t make sense, and other times it if so rich with
meaning…
But most times its
somewhere in between.
Its funny how we keep
visualizing so many wonderful things but end up in the same place we were at, we
end up right inside ourselves.
Coming to Ethiopia is
not the transformation that we dream about when we are in DC, but coming to the
self that we expect Ethiopia to bring out in us is the transformation, and for
that, Ethiopia is not necessary. So I say, come, but don’t expect to love
Ethiopia, or at least not in the same way. And prepare to find that Ethiopia
just does not give a damn about you. Ethiopia does not hold dear all the things
that you hold so dear for her. She does not see beauty where you see beauty,
she sees survival and struggle. She does not think culture and history are very
vital, she just blindly uses them because she has not choice. And you too may
find that the worst part of Ethiopia is her culture. Prepare yourself to slowly
fall out of love with Ethiopia. And this is fine, but what deepens this anguish
is that even when you don’t love her and she does not love you, you are bound
together, forever. You learn that you can never walk away from her. Ethiopia
is like an alcoholic parent, you can’t help but love her simply because she is
yours but you hate everything about her, how she abuses herself, how she abuses
you, but she has so much potential to love and to be better, but those moments
are fleeting and the rest is pain.
