09 /13/2001
  Meki - Ethiopia
  08°10 N   38°50 E
  + 276

After school, Nicolas goes through his weekly ritual. With a punk look, an extroverted and intense nature, Nicolas always shaves his head on Thursday, keeping four dreadlocks on his neck. But in Ethiopia, shaved hair is a sign a sign of mourning... and here, there are a lot.

The dtudents invite us every day at their place. They are poor, most of our pupils are issued from a peasant familly. Many of them live in huts, with corn and spice fields around. All of them offer us, Injera, tea, a soda, coffee... They give us all that they have with a lot of dignity and generosity.

But it's still hard to exchange ideas with the population. Except our students, a very few people can speak english. Old people know a few words of italian, as a memory of the attempt of colonization. Most of the people are of orthodox beliefs and peacefully coexist with catholics, protesants, muslims.

Tonight, we went to see Enouk, a radio, electric devices, and audio tapes dealer. Seen as one of Meki's richmen, he prepared us a meal with fish. We gave him two tapes, one of Luis Armstrong, the other from the latest Jamiroquai. His father is an incredible character: he's 88 years old, wich is very uncommon in Africa... and had his last son when he was 77 !!! Our compliments !

And now click on the picture and download the VIDEO !  

Tonight, thinking about her day, Aurélie says :

When you help someone else, you're helping yourself. It's quite hard to admit... The worst poverty is when you feel useless.


Here are some expressions of the people we meet:

Farengi -  'a stranger' scream the children when we arrive in little villages

Where are you go? - A casual expression when we go downtown.

You ...hey you! - to get our attention.

Caramella - the children say this to obtain something.

Money - people beg in the big cities, not in the countryside. In the villages, people would give you everything they have with a lot of dignity.

My ambition is... - say seriously our students about their future.

Franco! Franco! - Shout the children when they see Franck. He became a real personality here.

Let me move now - our new expression since Ejegu said it. (see video 09.03.2001)

 

Revolt of the Ethiopian students !

All began the last 12th of April, when two teachers gave a conference in the University of Addis Abeba about Human Rights. The next Monday after the Conference, a small group of students beagan to protest inside the University, with slogans like: "Stand up for your rights!". Hundreds of people joined them. Inside this group, there were unfortunately infiltrated agents. That's how the incidents began...

Policemen, then soldiers, armed and driving armoured vehicles, start to fight against the crowd. The fightings, very violent, lasted four days. The official assessment was 32 dead young people, one thousand injured.

The actual Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, is now trying to minimize the facts. But today, a few days from the beginning of term, people are talking about what happened... The situation is all but quiet.

We'll try to know more about it.

 

Finals of the Meki School soccer tournament. We'll organize our last week-end in Ethiopia. What about you, Virtual ? Come on the Forum, and think about the Car@van's next step...

We must feel unite in these difficult days for the all World.

 

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