Our friend JN picked us up after breakfast and we headed out, all six of us piled into her little red car (only in Ethiopia - or at least never in Canada!). She had a free day and wanted to take us to see some of the NGOs and humanitarian projects she's worked on in Addis. Her husband is an employee with the UN and while he's about his official work, she finds things to do - paid or volunteer, or a combination of both, I'm not sure - with whatever NGOs are in need and that she has a skill to work with.
Our first stop was a pottery studio, located (as were most of today's visitations) in one of the poorer areas of Addis. The potters are all women, and I believe many of them are either HIV+ or have husbands or family who have died of AIDS.
The studio was very dark. We met two women hard at work building some wares and watched them work in the dim light. Another woman was examining the finished products for workmanship.
We examined some of the unfinished pieces, then went into the sales room and picked out a half dozen items or so to buy. It is not hard-baked, so still rather fragile, but I've managed to bring even brittler stuff home from Mexico without incident, so I think with proper packing these should survive too.
Our next stop was just at the top of the same hill - a small weaving studio. Here the weavers were men. Again, we examined the wares and bought several shawls, scarves, and a tablecloth, all at a very good price for very fine workmanship.
From there we proceeded to another, larger, weavers studio: a spacious room with twenty or so looms set up in rows, both men and women operating them, making cloth for traditional clothing.
We stopped in a nearby shop to look at some of the outfits, and I bought a traditional dress for Giggles and outfit for Poppet. These will be reserved for special occasions, as the cloth is so fine any rough wear at all will wear right through it.
Next we visited an artist JN had gotten to know, in his studio. He is a very well-known artist whose paintings sell for quite a bit. He didn't have any work available at the moment (and I'm not sure whether we'd have been able to purchase any if he did!) but we looked around his small space at the samples on the walls. He was currently working on a bust of a young woman who had died; her family had requested the piece in her memory.
After that it was lunch time. JN took us up Mount Entoto to a hilltop restaurant where we enjoyed the view over the city as well as a fine meal. The restaurant had a garden with a playground, so while the grownups talked, Giggles and Poppet went and played. There was even a person to watch over the children!
After lunch we went to a rug-weaving studio. This place employs handicapped people to weave woolen rugs. Some of them were blind, even! Imagine weaving a patterned rug without vision! But they managed to do so, with some assitance. Others were missing limbs or had other disabilities that made them hard to employ otherwise. Here, I bought one small and one fairly large rug, while Laolao and Laoye purchased a medium-sized one. These will be a bit of a challenge to cart home, but seeing as we are down seven suitcases it should be manageable!!
Our final stop of the day was Selam Children's Village, where there is a school, a restaurant where older children and their parents can learn baking and cooking, a greenhouse (I think) and a few other things that help to provide both employment and education. Unfortunately it was mostly closed, but we stopped in and bought some ice cream and a few buns or sweets at the restaruant.
From there JN took us home, tired but very pleased with our day's excursion and all that we had seen (and purchased!). Frankly, I'd rather buy things from places like this, where you know it is going to support very needy people, than at the touristy shops.
(Continue to 5 January: Meserete Kristos College)
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