Harar

July 29, 2011

Today was the last day of teaching and being a Friday, there were quizzes. In general the students were better today. Having a holiday in the middle of the week is never good for teachers.

After lunch the cook’s assistant, Fanu, prepared coffee in the traditional manner, bringing the charcoal right into the living room. It is a slow process, starting with roasting the beans. After the ceremony we presented Fanu and Aojete, the cook, with pictures of them with Yared, Aojete’s son.

Late in the afternoon, we headed for Harar which was about an hour away. Harar is an ancient walled city, whose history is rather clouded in lore. At any rate the city is at least 1000 years old, if not 1500. The wall that surrounds the city was built in the mid-1500s. Only a few of the street are wide enough to allow for motorized traffic.

The first thing we did was head for the brewery. We all had to don lab technician coats, so we were a sight! However, they didn’t allow photos, because this would have been a good one.

After the tour we were taken to the beer garden where we could sample the beer. Don’t worry, the students had Sofy…the non-alcoholic version. We ordered dinner and then realized how late it was getting. We made haste…because it was feeding town for the hyenas.

I guess no trip to Harar would be complete without a trip to the hyena man. I tried to find out the beginnings of that tradition, but there seem to be several different theories. It has been going on for about 60 years and there are, in fact, two different hyena men…one at one gate of the city and the other one then next gate down. We went to a different one than last time. Fewer hyenas, but he was a bigger show off! Not only did the kids feed hyenas meat hanging from sticks they would put in their mouths, but the hyena man had them bend down and the hyenas would put their from legs on their back in order to reach the meat the hyena man would hold over them. There should have been a sign reading: Do not attempt at home.

We went back to the brewery to finish our dinner. Brother Daniel provided entertainment by dancing for us. Getachew told a couple of the jokes only he understands, but everyone laughs at the fact that they crack him up.

On the way back we passed through a town, whose name I don’t know, but it was a night chat market. There were people everywhere carrying huge bundles of chat. The area around Harar is known as the primary chat exporting area in the country. Unfortunately, chat takes up fields where coffee and other agricultural products once grew.