You could say my life didn’t start off on the right foot. They told me that I was a bastard child. They called me useless like it was my name. They said evil spirits were inside my body. I am the shadow of the devil. I am an unholy creation. All my life, they told [...]
Archive | Addis Abeba RSS feed for this section
The Gay Arab in Africa
When the Ethiopian Orthodox Pope actually left his mansion to meet with reporters and gripe about the homosexuals coming to Addis Ababa, I thought the most important man in Ethiopia was surely going to give another sound reason on why there’s no possible way to allow a seminar on Men Having Sex with Men at a [...]
Nancy & The Clay Chickens
During her three years in Ethiopia, Nancy Russell achieved celebrity status in Addis Ababa’s farenji world. Her ex-pat, aid worker stats made her out to be nothing less than typical: a single, mature woman with more rings than fingers and a pint-sized dog that yapped at strangers. However, Nancy Russell was anything but typical. She [...]
Cousin Kosovo, the Crown Prince & the Deaf Rapper
Para leer esta historia en español, hazle clic aqui Ilir is my cousin. He told me the first time we met. He’s from Kosovo which makes him Albanian, so he’s got a lot of cousins. He called me at 9am in morning and told me today was his birthday. I decided to forego the office [...]
Mino’s Tails: Great Ethiopian Run
Yesterday Nico took me for the strangest walk I’ve ever been on. He usually takes me to the mountains, and I chase birds through the brush. Sometimes he leads me across glaciers, and sometimes we run over desert sandstone. Sometimes he takes me into the jungle and hairy, human-like monkeys try to pee on me. [...]
Buhe: Sing Noisily and Carry a Big Stick
Buying a chibo takes time. You have to visit at least three different chibo dealers before you find a good value and decide that this bundle of branches will best burn when the equatorial sun suddenly disappears. Some chibo dealers make very scanty chibos, while other dealers -the very sneaky ones- try to sell you recently trimmed branches with leaves and twigs still hanging from the branch. Even the children themselves know that green does not burn, thanks to so many years of chibo blazing.
Chat Chaw
Saturday afternoons present a perfect opportunity to chew chat. And when the World Cup is beamed to every television in Africa, many East Africans see few options outweighing a good chat session and fútbol.
