Easter In Addis with Workaferahu's Family

How special to be invited to Workaferahu’s home for Easter.  She told us to be sure and not eat before we came.  We asked the door man to get us a yellow taxi so he went out into the street and hailed a taxi from across the road.  We dialed Workaferahu’s number and gave the phone to the driver.  After he hung up, he told us it would be 250 burr and in we got.  As we got nearer to her place, the driver pulled over no less than three times to find out from her where to go.  There are no street signs and it is a maze of streets once you are off the main road, not paved, lots of obstacles to go around, lots of turns to make.  The last round we could see Workaferahu with her phone to her ear looking for us!

Workaferahu’s two children are Blen 7 and Dawit 8.  They were dressed in matching Traditional Ethiopian dress. 

Blen and Dawit In Traditional Ethiopian Dress for Easter

They were quite excited to carry a bag with goodies for them.  We were able to buy an Easter basket filled with biscuits and bad things!  Their mother said they had to wait until after we ate to open it.

Little did we know that they had all been up all night because the Easter Orthodox tradition is to meet at church at 2am to worship until Jesus’s resurrection at sunrise.  Blen, who was so excited about us being there and the possibility of sweets hardly made it through ½ hour and she hit the sac. In addition to church, she had an appointment to have her hair done for Easter on Easter morning because the line ups were so long the previous day.   In fact, we didn’t see her the whole afternoon! 

Blen's Easter Braids

Dawit, on the other hand was eager to eat so he could have some sweets and that he did!  He was careful each round to offer to everyone and have one himself of course!

Workaferahu has had a nanny for 1 ½ years.  Together with her sister, they prepared an Easter feast!  Nine days previous they ground barley, added sugar and set a brew.  Nice flavor but must be careful, it does have kick. (Workaferahu phone the next morning to make sure we weren’t suffering from a hangover!).   They had popped popcorn in sunflower over the open fire.  Workaferahu prepared Traditional Ethiopian Coffee.

Workaferahu and Lydia visit as the coffee beans are roasting. 

As the Easter Bread is brought out (made by Workaferahu), we learn that Workaferahu's Father blessed the bread as is the tradition early in the morning.  Allan was able to take a picture from Workaferahu's Smart Phone.

Workaferahu's Father Blessing The Easter Bread

   Yumm.  The meal was set out.  Injera (East African sourdough-risen flatbread with a unique, slightly spongy texture. Traditionally made out of teff flour, it is a national dish in Ethiopia), both dark and light.  The fast for them has finished so all stops are pulled!  Chicken wat with hard-boiled egg.  Wikipedia is a great help! (Wat, we̠t’, wot (Amharic: ወጥ^?, IPA: [wətʼ]) or tsebhi (Tigrinya: ጸብሒ^?, IPA: [sʼɐbħi]) is an Ethiopian and Eritrean stew or curry that may be prepared with chicken, beef, lamb, a variety of vegetables, spice mixtures such as berbere, and niter kibbeh, a seasoned clarified butter.)

There were two kinds of chicken Doro Wat, one hotter than the other spice wise, both delicious.  Then cottage cheese (a treat because milk is very expensive.  In the dryness cattle and goats do not produce extra we are told!  Allan takes special note of the spice powder on the table because Workaferahu warns us it is very hot!  Allan likes hot! 

Injera, Cottage Cheese, Dot Wat, Mutton

Now for the story of the day.  We only learned the details when Workaferahu’s brother drove us home.  On the Saturday, Workaferahu’s brother went to the market to buy a sheep.  When we were outside I asked if they had a rabbit because I saw droppings that looked like rabbit.  No, it was the sheep!  So Workaferahu’s brother’s job on Sunday morning to slaughter the lamb.  Oh dear.  So, we had the special dish of mutton, very special.  It too was delicious. 

Workaferahu’s dear Father has been ill with depression for several months.  He is a cartographer by profession and suddenly several months ago he knew he was unable to do a job that he had committed to.  Workaferahu has been able to work with the hospital and obtain medication but the medication was giving bad side effects so they have changed medication recently and he has improved considerably.  He came out to greet us.  A man of great dignity.  He and Allan had a nice talk.  Later a friend of his came by to visit.  He comes every day.  Workaferahu is pleased to see him gaining his interest in life back.  Depression is a mean affliction robbing one of their jois de vive.  She talked of the sudden change in him that he himself noticed. 

Allan and Workaferahu's Father Having A Nice Visit.

Despite his urge to sleep, Dawit sprung to life as soon as ‘Easter Basket’ was mentioned.  There were little gifts for everyone.  Blen got a little shoulder bag from ‘Bali’ and immediately found something to put in it (she loves shoulder bags).  Although meant for Workaferahu, Dawit immediately latched on to a bright yellow bag which he immediately opened to find a reflectent vest that Jeff Yuill had given us.  Dawit immediately jumped into the role of policeman, perfectly directing traffic in the middle of the living room just like the Addis policemen in the middle of the crazy intersections.

Dwait Directing Traffic In His Mother's New Vest!

With everyone asleep, Workaferahu, Allan and I had a great visit.  She is a wealth of knowledge having worked with EWEA for the last 14 years.  She was able to give great insight as we talked about how the women could better work together to help each other and how businesses could improve their products and move forward to better market them.  Such depth of relationship.  I can’t begin to tell you how Workaferahu works to help this organization totally as a volunteer.

And to give a little insight into the dynamism of her other activities, she is on her way this week to work with a Sock manufacture (Star Socks) which is interested in setting up a factory south of Addis.  She has a new job with a consultant.  https://iba.ventures/iap/   

Along with this, she had some really exciting news for us.  EWEA is going to open a ‘One Stop Shop’ at the airport here in Addis.  Wow.  This will give all members a chance to sell their product through this airport shop.  Their aim is to open in two months.  I was pleased to hear that the plan is to hire one full time person and the other good news is there is an accounting system they will use to organize the complexity of running a business.  What a great move forward.  This will open new worlds.  It’s like Workaferahu’s recent experience of taking one of Root in Style’s leather bags to her Norwegian friend who put it in the hands of a retailer in Norway who immediately initiated a request for a substantial order for Root in Style.  She had more good news.  The Norwegian group will do EWEA’s web site free for two years. 

An organization here in Addis that is very close to Workaferaheu’s heart is AWSAD, Association for Women’s Sanctuary and Development.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/gallery/2016/jul/27/ethiopia-women-girls-safe-houses-shelter-ethiopia-female-survivors-violence-in-pictures

It is only when a person open’s their heart does another know learn of their life changing tramatic experiences.  So, friendships across the miles develop.  Such a special time together.

Workaferahu and Lydia.  Easter sharing at Workaferahu's.