Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony

I had read about this and wondered if I would be able to experience it, which, to my great delight was arranged for me by Al on Monday afternoon. Almez had prepared the little customery table laid with cups, spoons and coffee pot and placed it on the floor. Beside the tiny table, a small hibachi heating coals with frankincense, giving off that familiar smell reminding me of the incense in church. She sat on a tiny stool and took a small, flat pan and began to roast the green coffee beans over the coals. Once the beans were sufficiently roasted and we could smell their rich, dark, smokey odour, she took them off the heat and put them into a mortar and ground them with the stone pestle into a rich, black dust. She spooned it delicately into the narrow spout of the clay coffee pot and added hot water. We drank two tiny cups each, without sugar or milk. It was so thick and full of flavour, nothing like what I drink at home. Coffee is one of the major exports in Ethiopia, the arabica bean being the most widely known. Al told me that when you share coffee in this traditional way, you would go to the home of one of your neighbours and everyone would sit on the floor, talking and sharing the gossip and stories of the week. Popcorn is served with the coffee, a strange combination, but one that works quite well, I thought.

Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa is a busy, bustling city where beggars, tuk tuks, and street children clamour for your attention - I felt as I have felt in other places in Africa, overwhelmed with the sight of ragged dirty children, polio cripples, and people relieving themselves in public. Despite all this, I never felt any threat to my personal safety other than being a passenger in a vehicle...the driving is crazy!

Alemu spent the past couple of days taking me to the museums and art galleries in Addis. We first went to the National Museum where the skeletal remains of Lucy, a hominid woman who lived about 3.2million years ago are kept. Ethiopians refer to her as "Dinquinesh", meaning "thou art wonderful". Although not the oldest skeleton ever found, the finding was significant in that it proved that humans were walking upright 2.5 million years earlier than previously thought. I found it all so fascinating.

We visited the university which was once the palace of the Emperor Haile Selasi. Inside, the museum does a wonderful job of showing the life and history of the Ethiopian people describing the rituals of birth, marriage and death as well as what happens when young boys and girls come of age. Colourful artwork from the 16th and 17th century depicting religious stories from the bible, painted with natural inks that were once vibrant and rich. In another area there were vestments and jewels once worn by the deacons and high priests of the orthodox church. They were kept in dusty glass cases, a mere padlock keeping them safe.  I couldn't help compare these "riches" with the ostentatious blatancy of the crown jewels and the many priceless accoutrements with their high and technical security. The contrast was profound.