As many of you may have heard, a couple weeks ago it was announced that the dear Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles, had passed away. The news hit all of the camp staff pretty hard. They respected him and were extremely sadden by his passing. Just this week, Bryan and I had the opportunity to attend a lixo (or wake) for the late PM in the community that we live in. The lixo was to be held just outside the local kebole (government) offices, about a 45-minute walk from our house - if you don’t stop to greet everyone you see! As we walked into the yard in front of the kebole offices, about 20 men separated from the main group of mourners. These men took off running in all directions yelling, jumping and thrusting their spears downward towards the ground. One took off running towards us, his erratic movements gave me no inclination as to where he was trying to run, so I just stood still. Before I knew it he had knocked shoulders with me and continued on his jumping, spear stabbing way. I glanced around to see if I was the only one slightly uncomfortable, and I found the two Ethiopian teachers we had been walking with eyeing these men with great concern and slipping away from the ‘action’. At that point I was thinking – “Oh man, even the Ethiopians are uncomfortable, what have we gotten ourselves into?!?!” Each community across the country has been holding lixos and mourning in accordance with their own cultural traditions. Once the crowd had been reigned in, we listened to a speech and then were invited to join in the ‘singing.’ The crowd of 250+ gathered and the men began banging the butt of their spears into the ground to create a rhythm and then various leaders led a series of call and response type of chants. Everyone was slowly hopping up and down to the rhythm and many mourners held handmade signs or photos of Meles. At one point someone repeatedly loped a horse around the entire group. When the people started to tire, the officials instructed everyone to sit down and the speeches began. One after another, leaders in the community would get up and speak about Meles in Oromyfia. After about 2 hours of listening to these speeches we began plotting our escape. It has been neat to experience this difficult time for the country alongside our Ethiopian brothers and sisters.
In an attempt to show our Ethiopian pride, we have purchased a poster of Meles and taped it in the window of our vehicle! Unlike the Ethiopian taxi, minibus, and large bus drivers, we opted to not put the poster right in front of the driver!!!! :)
In an attempt to show our Ethiopian pride, we have purchased a poster of Meles and taped it in the window of our vehicle! Unlike the Ethiopian taxi, minibus, and large bus drivers, we opted to not put the poster right in front of the driver!!!! :)
