A Maltese Day.......
Today was my Maltese Day, I got to meet all the Maltese in Ethiopia. Saturday afternoon, while I was making my dish of Maltese ‘Mqarrun’ I got a phone call from this Maltese guy I had spoken about before…… he had just come down to Ethiopia and decided to contact me….
We spoke some Maltese – which I realized I forgot to speak, as I was mixing Maltese and Arabic in a funny accent, and we decided to meet up on Sunday for coffee. I was pretty excited…. Apart from the fact that I hadn’t seen a Maltese in 6months, I had also never thought to meet any in Ethiopia.
It was great. I met Frank and Endalkachu for coffee off in Meskel Square, after Frank made fun of my funny Maltese accent and teased me a bit about forgetting my Maltese, we spoke about Malta, about politics, refugee problems, and Ethiopia. He is currently running a project here in Ethiopia that helps extremely poor and intelligent people educate themselves. A very noble cause in my opinion, and one very much needed in Ethiopia. So they interview loads of people, see their qualifications, see how poor they are and sponsor their education, find them somewhere to live, give them and bed and help them with their tuition. Its very interesting how they do this. The Maltese lira is very strong compared to the Birr and so its not very hard to run such a project with the Maltese donors. He was telling me that they get girls from bars who are prostituting themselves, and boys who are sleeping in garbage cans – he told me that if they have the motivation and the grades he will help them…..
He then had a committee meeting of some sort and took me to meet the people in the committee – I had never seen such poverty in my life….. We walked through the little village, the kids were playing in the mud, the women were washing their clothes in the puddles and hanging their clothes in the street, no electricity, and the people lived in little one-roomed metal huts. I also got to go into the room and see, it was heart breaking to see that people could live in such conditions, especially with today’s technology and way forwards. I wish I had the heart to take photos to show them to you…. But I did not have the heart to take my camera and take pictures, though it will forever be a picture in my mind.
I also got to speak to this young teenager, who’s parents died when he was young, and his uncle blinded him after they died so he could beg with him, his uncle then came to Addis and abandoned the child, the project found him and now he this blind boy is studying in university and doing well…. Quite a heart warming story.
Frank was also telling me that this project is running in the north in Bahar Dar and Lalibella, he invited me to go with him to Lalibella though he advised me to fly there, as they were going in a big truck carrying provisions and beds to the poor people there, and I would meet him there and he would take me around…. They should be going around August and I’ll probably take up the offer…. He warned me not to be shocked and to be ready to rough it up, as the poverty is much worse than in Addis – I can rough it up, and roll up my sleeves!!!!
This was not the end!! I had more to see. Thus while Frank was in his meeting I went to Kobbene to see the other Maltese here. Sister Camilla, an old Maltese nun who I think has the heart of a 20yr old!! She was amazing! So nice and lively…. So I surprised her and went to the Children’s Home that her and another Maltese run (the other Maltese is on holiday in Malta) There she was happy to see me…. showing the well known Maltese hospitality. She took me around the orphanage and told me about the children, about adoption. Most of the children there, were already adopted, she went round telling me this one was going to England, this to America, this to Holland, this to Germany and some also to Malta, she says a lot of Maltese want to adopt babies from Ethiopia. The babies were adorable….. She also showed me the babies infected with HIV, she told me most of them get cured at such a young age through blood transfusions. Though she told me that a lot of babies are born positive cause most of the time their mothers would be in prostitution or their parents died of AIDs….. it was very heart breaking to see little babies, healthy looking, but infected with such a cruel disease. I played with some of them for some time and helped the Sister out with some chores, and then we went somewhere I never thought I’d go to…. I decided to go with her to the hospital…. Ahh if only you could see the hospital…. I was in awe, or rather shock, the hospital was not the cleanest, we went to the children’s ward, all sick kids, most of them with AIDs most of them not enough nutrition, kids whose mothers tried breast feeding them but there is no milk cause the mother is also mal nurtured, or kids that were born and abandoned by their parents – the police picked them up from the street and took them to the hospital…..seeing all this actually motivated me to want to help… I cannot really do much though I promised Sister Camilla that I’ll come over to the home as often as I can to help her out. There are about 180 children with only a few nuns!! She is the most adorable! She kept on telling me that if there are any troubles in the next few days I should go to her and she will take care of me….. She had been in Ethiopia for about 35yrs and speaks the language perfectly, everyone loves her……
Seeing this orphanage brought up the urge of adoption even more…. I had always wanted to adopt a child….. but never knew from where, but now I know….. I tell Sister Camilla that I’ll come back in a couple of years to get a child from her. She told me all about the agencies, she told me that they charge a lot of money and the process is long and tedious! In a couple of years…….
I want to do something good for the children and the sisters, I’ll do some craft session or organize some educational games!!! I’m sure they’ll enjoy it! I also promised the Sister that I’ll make Mqarrun for her! I wish I could make for everyone, but I don’t think I have enough dishes in the house and a big enough oven to do that!
I’m glad I spoke to this guy and pushed away my fear of diseases and walking in the streets….. wait till I tell the people at work that I walked around the poor villages and caught micro-busses and went to the hospital and the orphanage with children infected by AIDs…… they’ll think I’m crazy! They also probably won’t go anywhere next to me anymore!!!!!
Coincidentally last night, after this day I sat at home watching a CNN documentary about the poverty in Ethiopia, I couldn’t believe that what they were showing on TV was exactly what I saw that day….. it is hard to believe that on one part of the world people are living in luxury and stuffing themselves up with food while people here are dying with hunger, diseases caused by hunger and dirt…..
Something I was discussing with an Ethiopian here….. Is this poverty actually man made?? If the western world hadn’t built all this technology and cities would the people still be living like this? How was Africa before the Western world invented technology, high buildings, pollution, and dirt? People lived in nature, with clean water and lived quite well…. Now that there is this great barrier between rich and poor, resources decrease, and people get poorer! – I don’t really know….. I wish something could be done to help
We spoke some Maltese – which I realized I forgot to speak, as I was mixing Maltese and Arabic in a funny accent, and we decided to meet up on Sunday for coffee. I was pretty excited…. Apart from the fact that I hadn’t seen a Maltese in 6months, I had also never thought to meet any in Ethiopia.
It was great. I met Frank and Endalkachu for coffee off in Meskel Square, after Frank made fun of my funny Maltese accent and teased me a bit about forgetting my Maltese, we spoke about Malta, about politics, refugee problems, and Ethiopia. He is currently running a project here in Ethiopia that helps extremely poor and intelligent people educate themselves. A very noble cause in my opinion, and one very much needed in Ethiopia. So they interview loads of people, see their qualifications, see how poor they are and sponsor their education, find them somewhere to live, give them and bed and help them with their tuition. Its very interesting how they do this. The Maltese lira is very strong compared to the Birr and so its not very hard to run such a project with the Maltese donors. He was telling me that they get girls from bars who are prostituting themselves, and boys who are sleeping in garbage cans – he told me that if they have the motivation and the grades he will help them…..
Street Sheep...
He then had a committee meeting of some sort and took me to meet the people in the committee – I had never seen such poverty in my life….. We walked through the little village, the kids were playing in the mud, the women were washing their clothes in the puddles and hanging their clothes in the street, no electricity, and the people lived in little one-roomed metal huts. I also got to go into the room and see, it was heart breaking to see that people could live in such conditions, especially with today’s technology and way forwards. I wish I had the heart to take photos to show them to you…. But I did not have the heart to take my camera and take pictures, though it will forever be a picture in my mind.
I also got to speak to this young teenager, who’s parents died when he was young, and his uncle blinded him after they died so he could beg with him, his uncle then came to Addis and abandoned the child, the project found him and now he this blind boy is studying in university and doing well…. Quite a heart warming story.
Frank was also telling me that this project is running in the north in Bahar Dar and Lalibella, he invited me to go with him to Lalibella though he advised me to fly there, as they were going in a big truck carrying provisions and beds to the poor people there, and I would meet him there and he would take me around…. They should be going around August and I’ll probably take up the offer…. He warned me not to be shocked and to be ready to rough it up, as the poverty is much worse than in Addis – I can rough it up, and roll up my sleeves!!!!
This was not the end!! I had more to see. Thus while Frank was in his meeting I went to Kobbene to see the other Maltese here. Sister Camilla, an old Maltese nun who I think has the heart of a 20yr old!! She was amazing! So nice and lively…. So I surprised her and went to the Children’s Home that her and another Maltese run (the other Maltese is on holiday in Malta) There she was happy to see me…. showing the well known Maltese hospitality. She took me around the orphanage and told me about the children, about adoption. Most of the children there, were already adopted, she went round telling me this one was going to England, this to America, this to Holland, this to Germany and some also to Malta, she says a lot of Maltese want to adopt babies from Ethiopia. The babies were adorable….. She also showed me the babies infected with HIV, she told me most of them get cured at such a young age through blood transfusions. Though she told me that a lot of babies are born positive cause most of the time their mothers would be in prostitution or their parents died of AIDs….. it was very heart breaking to see little babies, healthy looking, but infected with such a cruel disease. I played with some of them for some time and helped the Sister out with some chores, and then we went somewhere I never thought I’d go to…. I decided to go with her to the hospital…. Ahh if only you could see the hospital…. I was in awe, or rather shock, the hospital was not the cleanest, we went to the children’s ward, all sick kids, most of them with AIDs most of them not enough nutrition, kids whose mothers tried breast feeding them but there is no milk cause the mother is also mal nurtured, or kids that were born and abandoned by their parents – the police picked them up from the street and took them to the hospital…..seeing all this actually motivated me to want to help… I cannot really do much though I promised Sister Camilla that I’ll come over to the home as often as I can to help her out. There are about 180 children with only a few nuns!! She is the most adorable! She kept on telling me that if there are any troubles in the next few days I should go to her and she will take care of me….. She had been in Ethiopia for about 35yrs and speaks the language perfectly, everyone loves her……
Children collecting Money for Charity
Seeing this orphanage brought up the urge of adoption even more…. I had always wanted to adopt a child….. but never knew from where, but now I know….. I tell Sister Camilla that I’ll come back in a couple of years to get a child from her. She told me all about the agencies, she told me that they charge a lot of money and the process is long and tedious! In a couple of years…….
I want to do something good for the children and the sisters, I’ll do some craft session or organize some educational games!!! I’m sure they’ll enjoy it! I also promised the Sister that I’ll make Mqarrun for her! I wish I could make for everyone, but I don’t think I have enough dishes in the house and a big enough oven to do that!
I’m glad I spoke to this guy and pushed away my fear of diseases and walking in the streets….. wait till I tell the people at work that I walked around the poor villages and caught micro-busses and went to the hospital and the orphanage with children infected by AIDs…… they’ll think I’m crazy! They also probably won’t go anywhere next to me anymore!!!!!
Coincidentally last night, after this day I sat at home watching a CNN documentary about the poverty in Ethiopia, I couldn’t believe that what they were showing on TV was exactly what I saw that day….. it is hard to believe that on one part of the world people are living in luxury and stuffing themselves up with food while people here are dying with hunger, diseases caused by hunger and dirt…..
Something I was discussing with an Ethiopian here….. Is this poverty actually man made?? If the western world hadn’t built all this technology and cities would the people still be living like this? How was Africa before the Western world invented technology, high buildings, pollution, and dirt? People lived in nature, with clean water and lived quite well…. Now that there is this great barrier between rich and poor, resources decrease, and people get poorer! – I don’t really know….. I wish something could be done to help
posted by Thea at
8:29 AM
2 Comments:
Thea, I admire you and your courage. Keep it up, and do continue to paint us a picture of the real Ethopia and the poverty you are seeing all around you. Through your descriptions, you do more to increasing my understanding of poverty and my sympathy than any Live8 concert can ever do.
By
Anonymous, at July 04, 2005 2:37 PM
Wow, seems like the reality check was really strong and shocking. It's amazing to have a glympse of the Ethiopian reality, and funny to think that some people might not even talk to you anymore after this experience.
You know it's interesting to see different perspectives on places, countries, realities and then challenge your own, I hope I get a chance to visit Ethiopia once and challenge my perspective of it, but until that day come keep posting your perceptions. And keep us updated on how your adoption plans are going, OK?
By
Rafa, at July 07, 2005 12:18 AM
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