Ethiopia Blog 2: Donkeys, Coffee and Heartache.
- May 5th, 2011
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Ethiopia Blog 2: Donkeys, Strong Coffee and Heartache.
My second day in Ethiopia started off with a nice breakfast of eggs, bread and a couple of cups of strong coffee. Me and couple of fellows, sat out on the veranda at the restaurant next to our lodging and watched folks in Addis begin their days. Business men and women walking to work, young men and boys pedaling brooms, calling cards chewing gum trying to get food in their bellies. A donkey ran down the highway with the flow of the hectic Addis traffic.
This experience here has felt both normal and completely surreal. I feel the energy within me that is at home everywhere and that is a complete foreigner here. At this moment I don’t feel the warm bosom of Mother Africa but the intensification of disconnection to each other. In the states, it is so natural for me to give to people who ask for money on the street but when people here ask me, I become paralyzed by this culture’s disdain for these people especially as it becomes more western here. From my hotel window I can see a woman, across the street holding her child with a tarp over her to protect her from the pouring rain as she sits in the mud. I feel paralyzed. Paralyzed by being a foreigner feeling moved to restore the balance by giving her one hundred birr(Ethiopian Currency) which is a mere $6 out of my pocket but a fortune to her. Then, all these bullshit cultural sensitivity questions come into my mind and I hold back the tears of seeing human injustice to keep appearances as me and my bandmate write our respective blogs. At this moment, this is how I feel and I know it will pass and it will call for me to rise up and be who I am, which in this moment feels like Love. Holding itself back.
& the heart cracks open to make us bigger…
Wow, Evan. This packs a punch. For one, you paint a very clear picture of the environment you’re presently situated in. For two, I can definitely feel the pain of the spot you’re in. I believe all of us, at one time or another, stand at the same crossroads that you’re at now-where our hearts very much tell us to do one thing but other, significantly powerful influences steer us another way. It sounds like you may encounter this throughout your journey. I do admire your awareness & your ability to stay present in what is indeed an uncomfortable and difficult situation. As long as your eyes stay open & your heart keeps beating, I believe more will be revealed. Best of luck on your travels.
Katy
Evan, this is exactly the reason that foreign travel is in my opinion the best educations. Spread the word.
Hi Ev,
From the nature of your short experience, it sounds like you are experiencing the human spectrum of love, generosity, guilt, and connection. Many times these are not mutually exclusive emotions, eventhough a novice might experience them as such. There is love and support all around you in Addis, and with that, is growth to be had. I hope you find that your true spirit of a desire to connect with others is exercised as you learn the art of connection in another culture, with social issues and poverty that are quite challenging to those faced in the US. However, despite cultural and social difference, we all experience the same emotions; love, despair, guilt, desire, happiness, humor. When you glance out your window at the young woman with her child, shielding herself from the rain, reflect upon the concept that the only real barrier between your world and hers are the walls that protect each of you from the rain. The depth of connection that your mind is waiting to experience exists within every human being you could encounter throughout your travels.
Love you! Tracey
Dear Tracey,
I feel it all and I feel the point of my power and desire to shine and share. What I am speaking is the recognition that this is within ALL OF US and the frustration I have when we act like it doesn’t. It took crying the tears to unfold into the place where the CONNECTION is felt. Where I felt stuck is the keeping up of appearances… Which becomes more and more repugnant in this time in my life. I am at the point where I have to say to hell with it and LOVE. There many levels to this understanding within me and a desire to share all of them. And I am. Love you Tracey.
Fascinating and poignant, Evan — and a reminder that people who offer easy solutions for society’s problems are either ill-informed or ignorant. Keep writing.