Ethiopia

By Mark C. Hale


HMA's Deputy Head of School, Tesfaye Kifle, was on hand to welcome me at the airport when I arrived in Addis Ababa on Thursday morning. We immediately went out for a bit of Ethiopian coffee and a cinnamon bun. Tesfaye is Ethiopian and comes from a family of 13 siblings. All of his family members are farmers living south and east of Addis. But, Tesfaye from a very early age wanted to go to school and learn. Through a tremendous amount of hard work and tenacity he put himself through high school and on through college, afterwards taking on several leadership roles in non-profit organizations. And, today, has about the most important job at HMA managing all of the construction, taking the lead on teacher and student recruitment. 

 Wow! I'm not in Italy anymore. Leaving Rome, where the temperatures were pushing the mid-nineties, and landing five hours later in Addis Ababa is not only a culture shock, but a temperature one as well.

 July - September are the rainy and cold months for Ethiopia. The average temperatures drop about ten degrees from the mid to upper seventies to the mid-to  lower sixties with almost daily thunderstorms and heavy showers. For my friends in the Northwest of the U.S., this doesn't seem so bad, but here, where it rarely rains any other time of the year, it's a major climate change.

The flight was about five hours and included a dinner and breakfast. I ordered the chicken, but couldn't cut through it, so they offered fish, which turned out to be pretty good!

 








On my first visit to HMA last May, customs stopped me because I had a pair of binoculars in my bag. This led to a couple hours of dealing with some pretty rigid folks, as they believe that binoculars are a security risk to the country. I eventually got them back, but not before I was leaving the country and paying duty on them. (It's a long story...) This visit could not have gone more smoothly. I zipped through customs and out the door. 

Below is a picture of impounded luggage at customs at Bole International Airport. The room is so filled and overflowing with bags that their stacking them outside the door!


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