Gondar

A few weekends ago myself and some fellow expat friends escaped the city for some much needed adventure and relaxation. First stop was Gondar. It only took a short one hour plane ride from Addis to arrive somewhere completely different. The sun was shining and the air warm, the surrounding hillsides lush and green, and the air noticeably easier to breathe.

Our lovely guest house's 'welcome' coffee, bread and local honey was exactly what was needed after the 5am wake-up call to catch our plane.

Photo Cred: Michelle Ferng

The Manager told us that when they were building the guest house, they decided to hire all their staff from the day labourers who had come from the surrounding villages. Rather than hiring family and friends, as is often the norm in Ethiopia, the owners paid attention to which individuals had the best work ethic, and then offered them jobs. They are now working to provide everyone with English lessons and customer service training. It's always so nice to stumble across someone doing what they can to build up their own community.

And why were we in Gondar? It's called the Camelot of Ethiopia.

Photo Cred: Michelle Ferng

Photo Cred: Michelle Ferng

Next, we navigated our way through the streets of Gondar to find the most peaceful place I have visited in Ethiopia: Fasil's Bath.

Photo Cred: Michelle Ferng

Photo Cred: Michelle Ferng

Apparently for Timkat (Ethiopian Christmas), they refill the bath, the water is blessed, and then there is the equivalent of a massive pool party. But during the rest of the year it is simply a quiet, slightly overgrown, oasis.

And between the sightseeing we wandered into a chance encounter that I know will be a highlight of my time to Ethiopia. It was a frank reminder of the incredible hospitality of Ethiopians, the need to drop my hard-earned 'foreign woman in a new country' defences, and how much I still have to learn about this country.

Needing directions and seeking a reprieve from the hustle of the street, we tucked into a local shop and met Emmanuel. A member of the large Ethiopian diaspora, Emmanuel had returned home in recent years after over thirty years in Miami. One thing led to another and later that evening we found ourselves in his home being served traditional coffee and delicious Ethiopian food. Emmanuel spent the evening telling us stories about his family, the struggles of being a small business owner in Ethiopia, and an incredible personal account of his involvement in the underground resistance during the Derg regime. Michelle has started recording a much more detailed and eloquent account here.

It is the type of story with so many twists, chance encounters, moments of pure cunning genius, and incredible luck, fate, or what have you,  that it feels like it has to be written down in a book or turned into a movie. Emmanuel simply shrugged his shoulders and said that when a country lives through a period like Ethiopia did, everyone has these stories - at least all the ones who survived do.

Ethiopians don't like to talk about politics - at least not openly. It's no wonder considering the brutal repression experienced not so long ago (the regime fell in 1991). It really makes you wonder about what everyone else is carrying around with them.

It was an incredible evening. I learned so much about Ethiopia, how much it is changing, its ongoing challenges, and the incredible tale of one man.

Emmanuel's shop, with his cousin behind the counter (Photo Cred: Michelle Ferng)