Jewamongyou

There are no homosexuals in Ethiopia

Posted on April 16, 2015 by jewamongyou

I count, among my many talents, the ability to make people feel uncomfortable by asking awkward questions, or by telling random stories at inappropriate times.
But in Ethiopia, anyone can do it! All you have to do is bring up the subject of homosexuals. On my last day in Ethiopia, I was hanging out with a young hotel worker. He wanted to make my last day in Ethiopia a pleasant one (because he thought I wasn’t treated right by another employee), so he showed me around Addis Ababa, and I had a beer with his friends.
In the spirit of small talk, I told him how, on one of my layovers flying to Ethiopia, I’d noticed a lot of homosexual males making out with each other. I said, “It’s not unusual to see this sort of thing, but at that particular airport, it was all over the place. I was confused – until I remembered that I was in San Fransisco.”
“Men hold each others’ hands all the time. It’s no big deal,” he replied. Indeed, in Ethiopia (and black Africa in general) it is common for same-sex friends to hold hands or put each others’ arms over each others’ shoulders. It signifies friendship, and no more.
“I’m not talking about just friendship…” I explained.
His eyes widened, and he became animated. “Oh no! We don’t have that sort of thing in Ethiopia. If it does occur, it’s only because that person was raped, or abused, as a child and his mind was messed up.”
And that’s how I learned that there are no homosexuals in Ethiopia. Except that, while staying at a hotel in Jinka, in the south, I happened to notice a printout of the hotel rules in my room:

I found rule #2 amusing but not surprising; Ethiopian law calls for the death penalty for homosexual activity – though I doubt it’s ever actually been carried out. I was told that this rule is common in Ethiopian hotels, though hotels that cater to Americans and Europeans might tone it down.
Even though I followed the rules at that hotel, I still got sick. My room had numerous insects, including mosquitoes, flying around, and this was a malaria zone. So I asked for some bug spray at the reception desk. They had some, and I sprayed it at the bugs as needed. I didn’t use much of it. Unfortunately, the window to my room had no screen, so I kept the window shut and, as I was tired, I laid down. After about half an hour, my throat was scratchy and I knew I was getting sick. The bug spray they use over there is much more powerful than what we have in the U.S. I’d poisoned myself, and I can still feel traces of the effect in my throat. Seasoned travelers to Africa know to bring their own window screens. Too bad I hadn’t thought of that.

Posted in human sexuality and morality, travel | Tagged Ethiopia, gays in Ethiopia | 8 Comments

The Dorze tribe of Omo Valley

Posted on April 15, 2015 by jewamongyou

In all the excitement over the more famous tribes of Omo Valley (the Hamer and the Mursi), one tribe fell through the cracks and was left out: The Dorze. To all you Dorze reading this blog, I extend my sincere apologies, and I’ll make it up to you with this flattering post.
Unlike some other tribes, the Dorze don’t have extreme body modifications or bloody rituals, and they dress more or less like other Ethiopians. Nevertheless, they’re a cool tribe. Let’s start with their houses:

They’re built very tall. The reason for this is that termites eat the houses from the bottom up. By building them tall, they last longer. One can more or less tell how old a house is by its height. On the inside, they’re fairly cozy, featuring traditional homemade chairs:

They cultivate banana plants, but not the type of banana plants that bear fruit; they’re “false banana” plants, which bear no fruit. You may wonder why they would do such a thing, and the answer is that they use the pulp, from the stems, to make bread. It’s “false banana bread” and it’s quite good. First, they extract the pulp from the stems as shown here:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_wZYRbl2-M&w=560&h=315]

Then the pulp is sealed and left to ferment for several days:

Next, the pulp is diced until it has the right consistency:

Then it’s formed into patties and carefully cooked. Banana leaves are placed around it so that it doesn’t burn:

When it’s done, it can be served to hungry farenjis, along with hot sauce and honey:

It can be accompanied with traditional Dorze schnapps, which is also very good. You may be wondering how you say “le’hayim” in Dorze. They do it like this (the man on our left is my driver):

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRsQoDPJSdo&w=560&h=315]

The Dorze are famous for their weaving and knitting. All along the road, leading to their villages, one can see them selling their wares. When they dance, they tend to use their buttocks. Coming down from the village, we were stopped by a “dancing roadblock.” The video gets interesting toward the end.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGWVj83oHg0&w=560&h=315]

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Some lovely Ethiopian women

Posted on April 14, 2015 by jewamongyou

I’ve written about Ethiopia’s geology, it’s fauna, it’s cultures and its architecture – but no honest visitor to Ethiopia can deny that some of the most beautiful women in the world are found there. Indeed, this was the consensus of every single one of the other tourists I spoke to about this topic. It didn’t matter where they were from, which gender they were or how old they were. They all agreed that Ethiopia is home to many more than its share of stunning women. Some of them have already appeared on these pages. Most of the ones I saw just happened to be walking by, or were in other circumstances where it wasn’t possible to photograph them. Here are some photos I was able to take, but have neglected to post until now:

Female tourists told me that many of the men are handsome too. I did take some portraits of them as well. I’ll start with one of my local guide in Harar, Hailu (next to the window, shown with a friend):

And I’ll finish with Dagi, my driver in much of the north. A fine fellow who had some hard times while I was there. I hope things are better for him now.

Posted in travel | 7 Comments

Melka Kunture, Lake Ziway, another rock-hewn church and a fish market

Posted on April 13, 2015 by jewamongyou

There are many important archeological digs in Ethiopia. One of these sites is Melka Kunture, which we (I was with a British tourist) visited. The site features a museum, which consists of several modest structures and some replica bones.

We took a boat trip on Lake Ziway, and saw many interesting birds.

We stopped at an island, and hiked up to a popular church. On the ascent, we passed a hut, and the woman who lived there gave us some homemade injera.

The injera was on the gritty side, but the woman’s smile made it delicious. Here’s the church:

I wish I could remember the name of the rock-hewn church we visited. It’s south of Addis Ababa. Perhaps somebody will recognize it and help me out:

We stopped at a fish market, whose location I also can’t remember:

At one point, we stopped at a restaurant by the side of the road. When they brought us the menu, it was covered with a multitude of small spiders! I guess you could say that spiders were on the menu. I tried to order several items, but each time they told me they don’t have that item. It appeared that all they actually had was spaghetti – so that’s what I had. I was hungry, so I tried not to think about the spiders.
As we were about to leave, I noticed that they did have one other item available: Raw meat.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9iZ6DgIedA&w=560&h=315]

Posted in travel | Tagged Ethiopia, raw meat | Leave a comment

The stelae of Tiya, Lake Shala and the Rift Valley

Posted on April 12, 2015 by jewamongyou

Almost as soon as I got off the plane, in Addis Ababa, ETT had me embark on a two-day trip to Awasa (also spelled Hawasa) by car. Due to the long flight, I was already very tired, but if I was to see all the things I wanted to see, there was no time to be wasted.
When we did, finally, arrive in Awasa, my room was on the fifth floor, and the elevator wasn’t working. On top of that, there was no water in my room. Not even cold water. A normal tourist would have been outraged, veins popping out of his forehead and waving his arms wildly. Instead, the following morning, I told the staff that if one of them sat down with me and tutored me on reading Amharic, all would be forgiven. I’d like to say that this lesson culminated in my being able to read Amharic well by the end of my trip. But I’m still working on it.
What of the two-day trip itself? I saw many things, so here are a few of them. I’ll follow up with one or two later posts.
Some 50 miles south of Addis Ababa lies the town of Tiya. On the outskirts of Tiya is a collection of monoliths, which is a world heritage site:

According to my local guide, these are ancient tombstones, and the swords depict the number of enemies killed by the deceased. The guide also claimed that the people who erected these monuments were Semites. He said that this marked the border between the Semitic world and other language groups, such as Omotic and Cushitic.
We visited a large lake called Lake Shala. Near its shores are numerous hot springs, as you can see here:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsLi9Zr3AMM&w=560&h=315]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhGI1dKFsfI&w=560&h=315]

The lake water is high in sulfur, but nearby villagers have only this water to use. I was told that the discoloration in this boy’s teeth is a result of the sulfur. Feel free to correct me if you know otherwise:

Here are some views of the Ethiopian Rift Valley:

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

The villages of Danakil

Posted on April 10, 2015 by jewamongyou

Our journey to the salt mines, and Erta Ale volcano, took us through a few villages. My understanding was that these were mixed Tigre/ Afar villages. They are very conservative, and the locals didn’t always appreciate our roaming around shooting photos. Sometimes there was tension in the air, but when one of the tourists, an Israeli, forgot his backpack at one village, it was still there for him days later when we returned. All the contents were intact.
I can’t remember the names of these villages, but here are some samples of the scenes, and people, of this leg of my journey:
It’s very common, in this part of the world, for men (but never for women) to carry a stick, if they’re tending livestock, over their shoulders. If they have a gun, it’s carried in the same fashion, as we see here:

In one area we stopped in, it’s customary to sharpen one’s teeth, as we see on this girl:

At one point, when we stopped to rest and take photos, we were accosted by a group of young men begging for bottled water. We were told that they’re road workers, and that their employer gives them water – but that they prefer bottled water. They all had crosses carved into their foreheads. They were more interested in water than in getting their photos taken, so this was the best I could do:

On the way to Erta Ale, we encountered a dust storm. This is where we stopped, for lunch, during that storm:

It was miserable, and here’s the “shelter” we used for lunch:

The village once had a medical clinic, but this is all that’s left of it:

Here’s a local guide/militiaman at the base of Erta Ale:

As we passed through vast volcanic areas, we could see isolated huts in the distance. We wondered how they survive in such a harsh environment, and how they get water:

Posted in travel | Tagged Danakil, Ethiopia | 4 Comments

Lalibela

Posted on April 9, 2015 by jewamongyou

As in other Ethiopian points of interest, the journey was almost as interesting as the destination itself. Here are some photos I shot on the way to Lalibela:

Lalibela is famous for its 11 stone-cut churches. I’ll quote Wikipedia:

Lalibela is a town in northern Ethiopia famous for monolithic rock-cut churches. Lalibela is one of Ethiopia’s holiest cities, second only to Aksum, and a center of pilgrimage. Unlike Aksum, the population of Lalibela is almost completely Ethiopian Orthodox Christian. Ethiopia is one of the earliest nations to adopt Christianity in the first half of the fourth century, and its historical roots date to the time of the Apostles.

I was able to visit all of the eleven stone churches in Lalibela; I didn’t have time to visit the ones outside of town. Here are some photos of the churches:

It’s impressive that these structures were carved out of solid rock without the use of modern machinery. I’m told it took 30 years to built each of these churches.
There are many catacombs among the churches of Lalibela. Most of them have been emptied, but not all of them. Here are some mummies that were left behind; I could have touched them if I’d wanted to:

It was crowded when I was there; there was some sort of festival going on. At one point, we had to traverse a narrow stone bridge that led into a narrow doorway into the church. This stone bridge had to accommodate two-way traffic – and there was about a 10-foot drop on either side. It was on this bridge, with people squeezed against us on all sides, that we had to somehow remove our shoes, and place them somewhere. Here’s a view of the bridge when it was a bit less crowded, before we used it:

Across from my hotel were a few gift shops. One of them is owned by a gentleman who claims to be Falasha. I had been wondering if there were any Falashas left in Ethiopia; most all of them had been airlifted to Israel decades ago, so I was overjoyed at having found one. When I told another local man about this, he laughed and said it was just a ploy to gain my friendship and trust – in the hope that I might sponsor him someday to settle in the US or Israel. He said such “tall tales” are commonly told to tourists, and that there are no Falashas in this area. Indeed, they were found mainly in the Aksum area, not Lalibela. But what do I know; I’m just a farenji (white person/tourist). I purchased a manuscript from Serash (the “Falasha”) and I think I got a good deal; it’s a beautiful manuscript, and I paid only $50 for it:

I wandered about Lalibela with my local guide, and we visited some shops. There are interesting subjects to photograph in some of these shops. This one might have put the “bella” in “Lalibela:”

Posted in travel | Tagged Ethiopia, Lalibela | 2 Comments

Is the U.K. Left turning a new leaf?

Posted on April 8, 2015 by jewamongyou

Thanks to Diversity Chronicle for sending me the following video:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb2iFikOwYU&w=560&h=315]

At first blush, Mr. Phillips sounds like a breath of fresh air, when we compare it to the usual drivel we get from the British establishment regarding race. He acknowledges that there’s truth to the various stereotypes about different ethnic groups in Britain. He brings attention to the scandalous whitewashing of the underage grooming crimes in Rotherham, and he even acknowledges the fact that British whites feel marginalized – that it’s almost as if being white is now a crime in Britain.

But in reality, Mr. Phillips says nothing new in this video; most of his proclamations are now common knowledge. It’s upsetting that, while he does a good job illustrating the awful way the authorities reacted to the Rotherham scandal, he neglects to mention that it was the BNP that brought the matter to public attention in the first place. In fact, the BNP is not mentioned even once in the video.

This is probably because the BNP no longer presents a serious political challenge to the ruling parties – but UKIP does. Therefore, Mr. Phillips dedicates a substantial chunk of the last part of his video to making UKIP look bad. This, and the fact that the British media/government allowed this video to air in the first place, tells me that the video is naught but a political move. A pathetic attempt to fool voters into thinking that Labour has turned a new leaf, that they never meant to set up a Stalinist state of fear in the first place. That it was all just an oversight on their part, that they’re sorry and that things will be different in the future.

At the very end, Mr. Phillips even implies that white youth benefit from diversity, because they too might get their turn at having some attention lavished upon them – after the educational establishment is done lavishing attention on all the other groups! How absurd!

The video may be of some use in bringing the uninitiated to an awareness of the excesses of political correctness in Britain, but let us not be fooled by such ploys. Did Labour deliberately overreach, in their campaign of political correctness, just so that they could backtrack later and “reinvent” themselves politically? I wouldn’t put it past them.

Posted in examples of propaganda, freedom of speech issues, immigration/ Hispanics | Tagged Britain, Political correctness | 9 Comments

The road back to Addis and the "Merkato"

Posted on April 7, 2015 by jewamongyou

The drive back to Addis Ababa, from Harar, took a long time. It’s only one lane in each direction, and there are a lot of trucks in Ethiopia. One thing I noticed, almost from the beginning, is the shocking number of crashed, and overturned, trucks on Ethiopia’s roads. Scenes such as this are not uncommon:

On a more positive note, camel caravans and traditional garb are very common in much of the area between Harar and Addis:

At one point, toward the end of our journey, we had to take a short detour due to roadwork. The detour was a dirt road, and to our left (downwind) was a hut that was clearly inhabited by a family. The constant truck traffic sent relentless clouds of thick dust directly toward the hut. I couldn’t stand such dust for even a minute; breathing would be difficult, let alone eating, socializing, playing etc. I asked my driver how anybody could live like that. His answer was “you get used to it.” There were plenty of other places to move the hut to; I guess I’ll have to add this to the list of things I’ll never understand.
After a while, we reached the entrance to one of Ethiopia’s finest roads: The expressway to Addis Ababa. it’s a toll road, but well worth the price. Animals, and slow-moving vehicles, are not allowed on this highway. As for quality, signage and upkeep, it’s as good as anything we have in the United States, if not better. Of course, as soon as we got off, we had to contend with the notorious Addis traffic and construction.
Toward the end of my Ethiopian tour, I had the opportunity to visit the largest open-air market in Africa, the famous “Merkato” of Addis Ababa. It’s a rough and tumble place, where men and women sell their wares, and sweat for a living every day. In general, people there don’t like having their photos taken, but this doesn’t mean it can’t be done.

The pounding of metal, along with the smell of welding and smoke, really adds to the ambiance:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=why-KxSPOFI&w=560&h=315]

Speaking of metal, it’s interesting to see the uses for rebar in the third world. In Gondar, I saw it used on a tombstone:

The taxi driver who took me to the merkato used it to replace his window handle:

I concluded my visit to the Merkato by purchasing a fine leather belt for 60 Birr. The man initially wanted 200 Birr, but I didn’t need a belt that badly – so I offered 60 and started to walk away. That’s how great deals are struck in much of the world. 60 Birr is about $2.50. Not bad!

Posted in travel | Tagged Ethiopia, Merkato | 5 Comments

Harar: At the crossroads of civilizations

Posted on April 6, 2015 by jewamongyou

There was a communication lapse regarding my drive to Harar, from Addis Ababa, and I was stranded in a God-forsaken area near the coffin market for a couple of hours. It seemed I would not get to Harar in time for the famous hyena feeding. I made it back to my hotel, the fabulous, clean, friendly and reasonably priced Caravan Hotel, and resigned myself to remaining in Addis for the remainder of my trip.
But there are good, responsible, people everywhere on Earth, and Ethiopia is certainly no exception. The owner of ETT, Bisrat, took ownership of the problem – and sent a driver to my hotel to take me, immediately, to the airport; he had bought a business-class ticket, at his own expense, to get me to Harar as promised. To be honest, Harar wasn’t intended to be a highlight of my trip; it was more of an afterthought. But I was touched by this gesture of honesty and goodwill. Incidentally, “Bisrat” means “good news.” In Hebrew, it would be “besura,” and in Arabic “Bushra” (I’m warming up for my Ethiopian language posts).
Actually, Harar has no airport of its own. We landed in Dire Dawa, about 45 minutes away from Harar. The driver, Mohammad, was waiting for me at the airport, and the drive was a pleasant one. Though his English wasn’t the best, he managed to explain everything to me, stopped when requested and drove safely (unlike so many other drivers in Ethiopia). Here’s something I never thought I’d witness in real life:

I thought this sort of thing was only done in the movies! We passed through Harar’s markets, and saw much chat being sold. Harar is famous for its chat, and it exports the leaves to Djibouti, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen.
When we arrived at the guesthouse where I’d be staying, I met my local guide, Hailu. Every one of my local guides had been excellent, but Hailu was the only one to specifically state that he had no ambition to emigrate to the US or Europe; he feels it’s his duty to remain in Ethiopia and work to improve it. He certainly made my brief visit to Harar as special, and enjoyable, as it could possibly have been. He’s also a fellow cat-lover. Here’s his cat about to get fed:

Speaking of getting fed, the time was approaching for the hyena-feeding, so off we went to the outskirts of town. Here’s one of the stars of this event:

And here’s Yousef, one of the hyena men, at work:

Some crazy guy allowed a hyena to perch atop his shoulders to be fed!

Oh wait… that’s me. Never mind. Hey eldest daughter, do you recognized that shirt? It was a lot of fun, and I was the only tourist at the time.
Harar is the 4th holy city of Islam, and most of its inhabitants are Muslim. However, Christians live here as well – with no problems as far as I could tell. Traditional dress is not hard to find in Harar, and it reflects a strong Yemenite, and Somali, influence:

Men can be seen passing their days chewing chat:

Here’s a banana vendor:

Camel meat is eaten in Harar, and it can be seen sold at the market:

Here’s a view of the chat market:

Harar was founded in medieval times, and the narrow, winding, streets of the old city reflect this:

They remind me somewhat of Cusco, Peru.
The last emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, was born near Harar. Here’s a view of the mountains where he was born:

Notice the “W” shape? It has become symbolic of the emperor himself, and one can see houses with a “W” painted on them. This means the owners are loyalists, and supporters of the late emperor.
As mentioned, Harar is a holy city for Muslims, so it is home to many magnificent Islamic manuscripts, some of which I saw in museums:

My guide, Hailu, showed me around the vast Harar marketplace, including the second-hand market, where just about anything can be found:

The old city of Harar is a walled city, and like other walled cities, it has a number of gates. It also has gates specifically for the hyenas:

As we drove around the old city, I noticed people living in caves:

I was going to write about the drive back to Addis, from Harar, in this post. But it can wait for tomorrow, or the next day.

Posted in travel | Tagged Ethiopia, Harar | 4 Comments

There are no homosexuals in Ethiopia

The Dorze tribe of Omo Valley

Some lovely Ethiopian women

Melka Kunture, Lake Ziway, another rock-hewn church and a fish market

The stelae of Tiya, Lake Shala and the Rift Valley

The villages of Danakil

Lalibela

Is the U.K. Left turning a new leaf?

The road back to Addis and the "Merkato"

Harar: At the crossroads of civilizations

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