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Saturday morning, we
all go to have a lunch in the countryside.
Here, the cabs are little carts pulled by
half-starved horses. Today is a feast day,
many people walk quietly down the road. These
days, the women wear white clothes, with
multicoloured borders. Men don't wear special
clothes; sat in little bars, they all seem to
talk about the attempts in the United States.
We have been invited by
Gennet and Tsehay, two nice students. The two
sisters have organised a big party to say
goodbye, with a lot of drinks, injera, music.
With twenty other students (we're about 20),
we talk about anything, but the main subject
is their will to come in Europe. Here, young
people are amazed by anything coming from the
Occident, fashion, trends, brands... They see
them as a model, as a way to be.
Gennet seems in love
with Franck, Tsehay with all the boys from our
group. And when their parents arrive, the
girls try to convince them to let them go in
Europe with us. Then, their father, a very
wealthy and respected man, begins a long
speech in amharic. He thanks us for our work
and for the cultural exchange with the young
people. We thank him for his invitation,
concluding Occident is not as good as people
think, but that whenever he or his children
want to come over there, they will find
fiends.
The evening, we all sit
on the terrace, and sing old songs... Wham,
Milly Vanilly, the Bee Gees... Celine, Sophie
and the hyenas singing louder than the others.
Sunday morning, at 8.00
am, Donnie knocks on our door. We get on three
carts and leave for the countryside. It's so
great to get lost in the green campaigns. Theo
says that in Africa, you're closer from God.
And this, because of the contacts with nature,
the four elements, the people, your 5 senses
awoken.
We arrive in Gamo, a
village with a hundred of people, most of them
young. Some children cry and run away. Some of
them have never seen a white man. Donnie
proposes to pay a visit to all inhabitants. He
tells us his sister died of aids a month ago;
now, his grandmother dies from the yellow
fever. The old woman lies on an old mattress,
her bony body is all wrinkled, her eyes seem
gone. The visit is hard and very sad.
Outside, we play with
the children, Nicolas and Franck give gym
lessons and acrobatics. Then we go in a hut
for the coffee ceremony. The main room is very
smoky, because of a fire, and in the air
stands a strong smell of spices. At first
dark, our guests look illuminates and becomes
very warm. We feel like we're now very far
from our occidental world.
But
click on the picture, and, as you read,
download the two videos !
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Our only
regret is that we didn't have time
to visit Ethiopia's wonders. There
are so many:
Bahar
Dar, close to the Lake Tana
and its antique monasteries and
mysterious monks. The Blue Nile
cascades, that flows into the
Nile...
Axum
and its obelisks (when will Italia
give back the one in Rome). The
Queen of Saba went to live here
with her son Menelik. It is said
that Moise's Ten Commandments are
buried in this region, that used
to be Copt.
The Rift
Valley, homeland of our
oldest ancestors.
Lalibela,
Bieta Ghiorghis'church, entirely
built underground, in the XIIth
century. A legend even says Adam
would lie here, in the hills
around !?
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At
the end of the last lesson, we all
thank our students for this
splendid experience in Meki. They
have prepared a speech that they
read with a lot of emotion. The
conclusion is:
Intelligence is one's real
wealth !
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The new
slavery:
Today, the main part of the
Third World is taken hostage by a
new form of slavery, with
disastrous consequences, same as
the ones from the past. The main
part of the Third World is
overwhelmed by the international
debt, the biggest ever known.
The statistics are impressive:
in Ethiopia, 100.000 children die
from diseases easy to cure every
year, as the governement spends
four time the amount of the
ministry of health, to refund the
debt.
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High Tech
challenge against poverty:
The United Nations Agency for
Development (UNDP) says that
"If a man is hungry, give him
a computer". It sounds like a
provocation but it's exactly their
position: "Ignore
technological progress concerning
medecine, agriculture, and
computers means loosing the
opportunity to transform the
poorest populations lives"
declares Mrk Brown, administrator
of the UNDP.
During the millenium UN summit,
the richest countries committed
themselves to divide the poverty
in the World from now to 2015.
Their priority is the 'Techno
Gap': the invention of a low price
computer, and above all the
spreading of new energies, at low
cost and ecological (like the
solar one), as well as a solution
for the telephone connections.
Who knows...? Tell us what
you think about this on the Forum.
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It will be our last day in
Ethiopia, the end of our mission
decided by the Community. Tomorrow
morning, we'll go to Addis Abeba
and visit the city. The night,
we'll take a plane towards Europe.
Because of the flight trip, the
next Journal will be put on line
with a little delay.
Big big kiss !
The Team
team@nomadcommunity.com
- loako@hotmail.com
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