Pentecost Sunday--Harar

June 7, 2009, Pentecost Sunday.

 

The distance between heaven and hell is 19 km.

 

As you travel from the floor of the Rift Valley, the temperature quickly drops from the "breath of the Devil" to the much more refreshing breeze of Angel's wings. As quickly as the temperature changes, so does the landscape, the number of people and commerce. The mountains are agricultural, where the semi-desert is pastoralist. The drive to Harar (I have found it spelled "officially" three different ways) is short.

 

We arrive and the first order of business is lodging. We find two hotels near each other which can accommodate our number. Once everyone gets settled in, we head to find the hyena man. Harar is an ancient walled city, with twisting streets and alleyways. The roads outside the old city are crowded with taxis. There are very few vehicles within the walls, because there is no parking nor roads wide enough for them to pass. The streets are alive with vendors and animals.  Except for the electric lights (which our hotels were without), it was like stepping back hundreds of years.

 

Outside the wall, where the city fades to countryside, lives the hyena man. Shortly after dark, we arrive. Soon an old man comes out of his nearby house with a bucket of meat scraps and begins to whistle and call the hyenas by name. You see their eyes first. Soon the dominant male overcomes it fear of all the people gathered to watch and the hyena man feeds him a scrap of meat from his hand. After a few moments two younger hyenas appear, perhaps a female and its pup. The hyena man then invites the visitors to give it a try (using a 10 inch stick). He positions the person next to him, puts the stick in his hand and then drapes a piece of meat over the end. Cautiously the hyena approaches and quickly snatches the meat. Over and over the procedure is repeated with different  people. Some bravely put the stick in the mouth. It is a fun experience. Once the scraps of meat are depleted, some "helpers" dump a bag of bones and as people back off nearly 20 hyenas end up showing themselves for the feast.

 

We depart to the Ras Hotel for dinner. Again, no electricity, so dinner is by generator. There is no injera (somewhat like the restaurant in Heathrow being out of English Muffins). So we opt for western fare. Not so successful. My lamb chop which the waitress said was fried, was chopped lamb at best: braised. So we returned to our waterless and dark hotels. Both lights and water came on shortly after midnight. We left the following morning at 6:00 am.

 

We stopped in the town of Asabteferi where we had stopped on the previous trip. This time the Franciscan Sisters, one of whom is Brother Teddele's cousin, Sister Tsega, had prepared a breakfast of pancakes, omelets, scrambled eggs and coffee for us. After breakfast they had a coffee ceremony. Starting with the roasting of the coffee beans, they then passed them around so we can inspect both the roast and the fragrance. I asked Sister to show me how they are ground. When the coffee is for a few, they us a mortar and pedestal, but for larger groups they use the hollow of a large log and a wooden pole about 4 ft long, both worn smooth through use. She took me out behind the house to see it. Then she showed me women baking bread. There was a large shallow pan over a brazier on which they placed large wet leaves. On top of the leaves, they placed the dough and on top of that they were placing several more layers of dampened leaves. Their gardens had fallen victim to the lack of rain, but there were fruits on the pomegranate tree. I also saw a little cordon bleu finch.  We only had time to drink one cup of the three traditional cups of coffee of the ceremony and we were on our way again.

 

We passed the same route as we did on the way to Dire Dawa. However, this time we travelled the lower elevations in the heat of the day. By the time we left the mountains and arrived at the town of Awash, it was fully 100 degrees and still climbing. The van travelled faster than the luggage truck, so we arrived in Awash after they had already gone. We had discovered a little café that keeps their water almost at freezing temperatures. Heaven! As we finished our water, Brother Kassu, who really knows everyone, runs into the Minister of Culture and Tourism. He insists we have lunch with him…who can say no to that? The Minister is the former Ambassador to Zimbabwe, former Minister of Mines and an alumni of our school, Besrate Gabriel in Dire Dawa. He is in Awash with his team to do conflict resolution with the local tribes. Ambassador Mohammed Deril ordered for us and when the food comes, he arranges it on the tray of injera. He asks Brother Peter to bless the food, because the Ambassador is Muslim. He was a gracious and charming host. Lunch was delicious.  Peter said it was the "softest" chicken he had had in years. The Ambassador said it was between 43-45 degrees Celsius (between 108-113).

 

We finally arrived at Lake Metehara, where we had stopped before. It has a detergent like quality, so we stop to wash our hair and soak our feet. The water was probably 80 degrees, but was very refreshing compared to the air temperature. The van had stopped there earlier and everyone had a good hair washing! I drove the remainder of the way to Nazaret, where Kassu after a nap took over the wheel to drive through the maze of traffic to Debra Zeit. We caught up with the group at Babagayu.

 

Lake Babagayu is a beautiful volcanic lake surrounded by resort villas.  The Brothers have a retreat house there complete with individual rooms, a chapel, a kitchen, a dining room and sitting room and a spacious lawn that was well-maintained.  We had a chance to sit in chairs on the lawn overlooking the lake, swim and boat and enjoy the several varieties of ducks and cormorants who often dove into the water for fish.  We also got to "enjoy" the loud music that played at a resort around the bend.  We didn't notice it overnight, but it was at full-blast again at 9 a.m. on Sunday morning.

 

The night we arrived we went out to dinner at a nice restaurant. They served both Ethiopian and Western fare, so everyone was happy.  Every so often we will see "Westerners" in the places we stay.  At the restaurant a large group of Europeans sit at a table near us.  While the man I spoke with was British most of the group was Dutch.  They were all on scientific research grants studying water issues or wildlife.

 

For once we got to sleep in on Sunday morning. Again, everyone was happy. We walked to Mass at a different retreat center run by the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Our Lady, not far from the Brothers. (The priest-director told us that the government is trying to take their prime spot to turn it into a resort.) Today we celebrated the Feast of the Pentecost which marks the end of the Easter season and commemorates the story in the Acts of the Apostles when the Holy Spirit came in wind and fire on the disciples after Jesus had ascended to heaven. Under the power of the Spirit the disciples were enabled to speak in different tongues or languages and preach the Good News to all the foreigners who had gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish feast days.  Celebrating Pentecost was so appropriate for our gathering. One of the priests was from Malta, the other from Ethiopia. There were two Comboni Sisters there who work in Ethiopia, one was from Peru, the other Spain. They were there for a conference led by a Ugandan. There were also some from the Sudan. There were also Sisters there from Ethiopia. Mass was celebrated in the common language: English. Some of the songs were in Amheric. But the gifts of the Spirit were evident as we all gathered as one Church.

 

After Mass, we had lunch at the Sisters. They had prepared, goat, fried cauliflower, green beans and carrots, a lentil dish and rice. It was delicious. After lunch we walked back to the Brother's retreat for a swim. Because the lake is an old volcano, the water is deep, fed by cool subterranean springs.

 

We are now on our way to Meki, where I hope I can send this.

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