Done doing princess things...
Trip Start
May 16, 2007
1
7
25
Trip End
Jul 28, 2007
Dessie,
Ethiopia
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Done doing princess things.
Although there wasn't very much of any princess like things to do on this trip.
It was more about a mother and son reconnecting after many years of separation.
Touring around the old castle land in town - we all came to the same conclusions about what to do with the place. That was cool.
Tsehaye - a guy who works for my grandma and legally represents her at certain times - was able to brief my dad in regards to the legal situations the family is in.
Dad was able to account for some of the reasons why he's been so scarcely involved here, in the past.
And, things are looking interesting.
The future is looking interesting.
One good thing about driving the miles of dusty, bumpy road for two days was dad being able to see parts of the country he'd worked in some thirty years ago.
He remembered the famine relief, and development work he was involved with.
Personally, I've met individual people who were starving to death.
It's a stark, horrifying thing to see.
The first time I talked to a starving man - I was literally sick to my stomach, had a rough time trying to keep sane (its rather infurirating), and trying to keep any food down myself, for the next few days.
But I've never been around for mass scale famine relief work. When there are thousands and thousands dying.
On the road, dad talked about areas where he was merely "managing death", trying to make it as humane as possible.
Roads that he said were covered with the hungry who would just lie down in the middle of streets, waiting to die.
So, anyway - I can imagine it was quite something for him to see valleys stacked full of cattle, lush green grass, vibrant markets and people looking strong.
Not only that, but villages becoming towns, towns becoming cities.
In thirty years there has been a complete transformation.
We went looking for a hotel in Dessie to spend the night, and encountered that typical discrimination in regards to foreigners. Dad looks like Habesha (ethiopian), speaks a couple habesha languages - but they take one look at Jon and I and we're all quoted the foreigner price. Of course, Dad is also walking around with in maroon sweatshirt with a big american flag on it. We were quoted up to double the local price for a hotel.
On the fourth try, we find a place.
Dinner equaled three ethiopian meat dishes.
Tip Number 54 How to Please a Hodges: offer meat.
