The desperation in the eyes of a child as he holds out his hand to beg reflects upon all of us. Ripped and dirty clothing lay tattered across his shoulders, bare feet stand amidst rocks and burrs, flies gather at the corners of his eyes and below his nostrils where snot and sleep have accumulated, but there is no water to clean it off.
A Young Child on an Ethiopian Roadway
“You, you, you!” he cries, pointing at my sunglasses, belt, water bottle. “One birr!” (1/16th of a dollar) he yells while pushing his hand close to my face. And I never give him anything more than a smile and a “Salam” (a greeting meaning peace) because if I did, it would cause mobs and misunderstandings and serve merely to perpetuate the situation . We are giving in a bigger way, but for people whose lives are based on moment-to-moment survival, that is hard to understand.
Extreme poverty is defined by the World Bank as those living on $1.25 or less a day. 21% of this world, or about 1.4 billion people live in extreme poverty. When coming from the perspective of a country that holds 80% of the world’s wealth, we rarely stop to think about how lucky we truly are. Even the poorest person in the United States is better off than the average Ethiopian. There are no welfare or unemployment programs, it is every man, child and woman for themselves. Since 1990 Ethiopia’s population has risen to 80 million from 52 million and the per capita annual income is $180, one of the lowest in the world. Rates of deforestation in coffee growing areas are estimated at 25,000 acres per year.
In Ethiopia, the birthplace of wild coffee, farmers get as little as $110 off an entire crop. Well-paid workers at coffee plantations receive 66 cents per day, the average is 55 cents per day, which is not enough to provide a decent standard of living for a family, even in Ethiopia. Starbucks sells Ethiopia Sidamo whole bean coffee for $10.45 a pound, yet maybe a penny or two of that goes to the actual farmer. Brochures state that Starbucks protects topical forests and enhances the lives of farmers by building schools and clinics. In some places in Latin America, Starbucks does do these things, but not in Africa. Starbucks opens an average of 25 new stores a week in the United States alone, where we have 5% of the world’s people, that drink 20% of the world’s coffee. We have a responsibility to make sure that the farmers that grow our coffee are not starving. You can not look into the desperate eyes of those begging children and ever be the same again. For more information about Starbucks and coffee growing in Ethiopia, please read the article: ”Starbucks calls its coffee worker-friendly, but in Ethiopia, a day’s pay is a dollar” by Tom Knudson in the Sacramento Bee at:
After Chris Treter of Higher Grounds in Traverse City had spent years visiting poor coffee growing regions around the world, he came up with the concept of “Beyond fair trade” and started the non-profit On The Ground that works to improve standards of living in coffee growing regions. He works directly with the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union that has about 100,000 Ethiopian farmers as members, receiving fair trade prices for their coffee. But, yet, is it really fair? They receive pennies and the middlemen get rich. There is so much more that needs to be done and so much more help to give. As the Run Across Ethiopia finished it’s final day, joined by coffee buyers from around the world, we arrived in a village in the coffee growing region of Yergacheffe. We were once again greeted by thousands of smiling faces and an outpouring of generosity, love and thanks. Each runner was given a gift of traditional clothing and dressed for the crowd. The people spoke of what the money from the Run would do for them and what they still needed.
This is only the beginning, a jumpstart into the aid that is needed in Southern Ethiopia. Do we build 3 schools, or 2 schools complete with bathrooms and furniture? Which will help more? Can we continue to get donations and do it all? Will this work ever really be done? Can we give the people the tools and the responsibility they need to improve their own quality of life? That is the goal: involve the community, provide hope, structure, stability, and education. Without education, the problem is systemic, a wheel of poverty and suffering, rolling through the generations, never understanding that there can be a different way. There is nothing we can do that is more important than to educate that begging child, to teach him how he can make a better life for himself, without relying on hand-outs. Soon, we will have a community of educated children, working to improve their own quality of living. Why the Run? You might ask, what could possibly be the point? Raising $175,000 to build 2 schools in a matter of months with few corporate sponsors is an incredibly difficult task. Involve 10 separate runners, working towards the smaller goal of $15,000 each and suddenly it becomes possible. To excite and involve the community, both in the States and in Ethiopia, to involve the media, raise awareness, give people hope, bring understanding to the world, and bring a team of people that have seen that desperation first hand and whom will never forget.
McLain poses a question to her Ethiopian counterparts
In a cultural exchange of questions between children from two northern Michigan schools, (the Pathfinder School and the Children’s House) and children from the village, the dichotomy of our two worlds became shockingly evident. The Ethiopian children watched the American children on a computer screen, then they asked their own questions. Young girls asked things like: “What age do your parents force you to marry?” and “What age do you have to quit school to take care of your family?” while young boys asked about what crops U.S. children care for, what jobs they have to do after school, and how far they have to walk to get water. This touching video should be able to be viewed in the documentary that Traverse City filmmakers, James and Jamaica Weston are creating about the entire RAE experience, hopefully to be released in May. James and Jamaica have only a few days left on their kickstarter for the documentary. Buy an advance DVD today and help them to create this much needed film! http://kck.st/eu9TUc
My last few days in Ethiopia provided me with an experience that helped me to feel closer to the people. After days of being so sick that food or water was impossible to keep down, my body was going into dehydration and starvation mode, my vision was swirling and flashing colors, and in this state, I entered the emergency room of a hospital in Addis Ababa. Scared of the prospect of an African hospital, but more scared of whatever parasite was lurking inside of me, I laid on the thin hospital bed to gaze through blurred vision at the simplicity around me. Accustomed to the long waits of bustling ER’s in the States, I was surprised to be greeted quickly and immediately assessed to need an IV and glucose. I asked them to open the packages of the needles in front of me and with tears streaming down my face, I gripped my interpreter and friend Betty’s hand. The nurse put the IV in and then stood at the end of my bed to stare at me and pick his nose while the Doctor told me that he suspected either Malaria or Typhoid. The nurse donned gloves and drew blood for testing. Waiting for those test results felt like the scariest half hour of my life. Negative, the Dr. said, and I cried in relief. More tests revealed that I had “an amoeba,” or amoebic dysentery. Little amoeba’s were waging war in my intestine, eating away at the wall and expelling anything else that entered as my stomach reeled in pain.
After some anti-nausea and anti-stomach cramping meds through my IV the Dr. thought about keeping me overnight but decided I could go as he wrote me a prescription for 3 days of medication to get rid of the amoeba. The hospital bill totaled about $35, nothing compared to what we would expect in the U.S., but months worth of income for an Ethiopian. I was lucky, I could receive care, but what about those who can’t? What about the millions of people whom do not even live close to a clinic, much less a hospital? Amoeba’s are common for Ethiopians. For a brief time, I felt their suffering, I saw the world through their eyes. I was sad and afraid and helpless. Imagine a lifetime of feeling like that and please remember that no matter how little extra you think you have, it can mean the world of difference to an Ethiopian.
Everywhere, people. Smiles, always smiles. A beautiful people, with a warm and welcoming charisma. It took me no time at all to come to admire the Ethiopian people in so many ways. I wouldn’t care to live their lives, and I don’t want to romanticize that they have a good life.
Mamoosh, our team medic.
Look up the facts and you’ll learn otherwise. Still through all of this, these are wonderful people and I can’t remember ever feeling so welcome no matter where I was. I would have liked to have been able to visit a national park and seen the animals that we associate with Africa. They are there, but I saw little of them on this trip. What I take away from this is the experience of the people. It is just what I needed, and at just the right time. My faith renewed in the potential of man. We all felt it, the others on the trip made a wonderful crew and I feel fortunate to have been able to spend this time with them. I did not know any of my compatriots on this trip beforehand. Now I have a whole new set of friends, and I am glad for them. I hope to have contact with them in the future.
Claire, celebrating with the crowds in Hase Gola.
The people of Ethiopia have made the true, and lasting impression on me. I and the others felt absolutely overwhelmed at the out-pouring for us during the first big celebration. People by the thousands, most having trekked for two to three hours. All coming over the paths from their own villages to celebrate and thank us with such joy and fervor. This was an experience of being dropped into the middle of a 3D National Geographic documentary, feeling the heat, excitement, and intense joy that they gave so freely. I felt small, crushed by the enormity bearing down on me. I felt reborn as we then celebrated it together. All of us were overwhelmed, none of us felt worthy of their outpouring. I had regularly enjoyed Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee prior to this trip. I’m glad that I had bought it in fair-trade form and often it was from Higher Grounds Coffee. Now though, it will never be the same. Every time I have a cup, I will see the growers, the smiles, the wonderment in the eyes, feel the handshakes and embraces. I’ll remember the dancing with the choir while in the center of a huge crowd, and I’ll never forget Mamoosh in his ecstasy.
Mamoosh being greeted in Hase Gola
Dan finally getting to run with the team.
Each of us takes away a different experience. For me the personal growth came from the healing that I experienced. I left home with a void, I have returned with a renewed hope. I have never before experienced the caring that these people demonstrate for each other. I regularly profess it in my method of coaching, now I have experienced it, felt the caring and love… for me. Beyond what I have known before, and coming from these people whom only new me for a matter of days. I have never felt so embraced. The intensity of it in the end was difficult to endure as we had to say our goodbyes and thank yous, knowing that we likely would never see each other again. I promised never to forget them and they were truly sad to see us go.
I felt a sense of urgency in leaving. I was conflicted, still not fully recovered from the illness and ten pounds lighter. I wanted to get on that plane and be gone. I had loved the experience. I cannot thank Chris Treter enough for allowing me the experience, as well as following through on his dream. Few people will accomplish this sort of thing in their lifetime. I count myself as fortunate to have been able to play a part in it and to help it to its completion in any way that I was able. I thank Timothy Young for his patience and guidance, and both he and Bill Palladino for bringing me on board. I thank Hans Voss for lighting a fire. I thank Kristin for reassuring, and inspiring me, without which I may have missed this opportunity. To all of the rest on this trip; I thank you for being friends, I’ve valued this time with all of you. I wish that there had been more time to spend saying our goodbyes at the airport.
Norm Plumstead feeling good.
After finally finding the ticket numbers that seemed to be lost in the computer, (and watching the rest of you who were flying KLM zip through, as I stood in the long line for Ethiopian Airlines) I had a ticket. Special thanks go out to Norm Plumstead for being so gracious and agreeable as to trade places with me in the customs line. Norm was in the front as I was in the back, and the line was a 30 to 40 minute wait at least. So Norm did the wait, twice; and I made my flight- with five minutes to spare.
So glad to be going home, and almost feeling guilty about it. Feeling like I had just finished a marathon, knowing that I might change my http://www.runacrossethiopia.org about ever returning to this country; once I recover. I had a very good talk with the originator of the Tesfa foundation on the last day. I learned what his dreams are for the “team Tesfa”. This is the team that provided the runners who accompanied us all along the way. The runners who by the second day began to call me “coach.” It is them that I find that I have the greatest interest in, and it is because of my interest and efforts as a coach and athlete myself, that I understand their struggle. The dream is attainable, and as I continued to run it through my mind in the countless hours of travel home, I began a plan. I have the seed for putting together an effort that may well help that dream become a reality. In the process; helping these runners that have made such an impression upon my soul, to have a greater opportunity in life. More hope, better education, greater potential. I now have a new mission in attempting to help fulfill another’s efforts. On the journey home and before I landed in Detroit, I already knew that this may not be the last time that I would visit Ethiopia, and once again I may be able to see my friends.
This is a Wordle.net image of the word frequency (featuring the top 300 words), from all of our blogs posts over the past three weeks. Click the image to see it up close on the Wordle.net site.
POST BY DAN ZEMPER (Team Trainer, Coach, And Owner of Zemper Restorative Therapy in Traverse City, Michigan.)
PART ONE OF TWO PARTS
Tuesday January 25, 2011
Well, it’s time for me to attempt stating my impressions from this trip that has just been completed. I knew this time would come, and at the halfway point of the journey, I knew that I would never likely be able to convey what it has meant to me. Still, here in the comfort of my own living room and before I get back to the everyday routine, I’ll try to make my one attempt to recap my experiences.
Forty hours is a long time, and I’ve never traveled that far to one destination in one sitting. I never take the direct route though, so I shouldn’t be too surprised at having to play hop-scotch across Europe on my way to Ethiopia. Once I made it, I found that I had missed an event that I wish I could have been part of. The Entoto mountains above Addis Ababa are where the top runners of the country come to perform long training runs. I regret missing the opportunity to experience running there with the team. Following a troop of baboons would have been fun as well. Something famously experienced by out team that day.
The short-comings were short lived though. I was thrown into the whirlwind the next day, as I expected. We began the run and I assumed the role of coach / therapist for our combined team of American and Ethiopian runners. This also included running the crew aboard the support bus. This part of my duties was to make certain that the runners had what they needed at any time, providing the water stops and food stops on the “regular” agreed upon schedule, as best we could. Plus, keeping an eye on them for their safety, as we were usually their only escort along some very busy roads.
The team makes their way southward.
By the second day of the run, my routine fell into waking up between 4 and 5 am, helping with breakfast, then loading the bus, making sure we had the supplies that were needed for each day. We’d then see the runners off for the day, and perform the duties as required throughout the days’ test. All while taking in the scenery as best I could from the windows of the bus. Occasionally I could get out and run as well, and that was a welcome change to be in the open, running in Africa.
After the run was over for the day with temperatures reaching well above what we are used to, we’d reach our hotel. Timothy Young, who so aptly and efficiently ran all of the logistics for the whole program, would find us the best available and affordable. Sometimes that meant a reasonably nice place that would rank on the lowest end of the scale in the states. Other times, well I’ve stayed in some absolute pits in the US, but this was, an experience. I soon learned that coffee and beer are a good combination. The alcohol would calm me after the rush of the day – so far. The coffee would keep me on my feet for the work yet ahead. Before or after dinner I would begin working on those runners that needed help with injuries and aggravations. I’d also oversee and advise on first aid for blisters, etc, that would crop up each day. It’s interesting to think back to those days of working on the runners on motel beds, patios and park benches. I still have to wonder what the people watching might have thought. At the time I wasn’t too concerned. When I could, I would find a place to help the others someplace where I had a view, so that I could take in more of the fine country. Usually by 8 or 9 pm my workday would end, and I would prepare for the next day.
Dan tends to Mary Moore's blisters along a roadside.
So that is how my days went on a regular basis. It was very busy, a literal whirlwind. Challenging, and even though trying at times, I knew all the while that it was rewarding. Unfortunately I became ill the last two days of the run and was unable to be with the team. I felt as though it alienated me, as I was physically unable to do anything, and this was a very physical undertaking. Unfortunately it was at the climactic finale of the whole event and I watched from the sidelines, sick. Fortunately it was at the end and this didn’t happen in the middle of the whole affair when my services and specialties were truly in demand.
When we started out on this escapade; I found myself working against an Ethiopian norm. A laid back outlook on life, where “now” means maybe in the next hour. Anyone who has been coached by me, knows what I think now means. This presented a real challenge from the bus driver to the helpers on the bus, (translator, Ethiopian runners not running that day, driver and his helper). We soon established a rapport, and because they are such a gracious people as a whole, they tolerated me and what I insisted needed to be done, and when. They learned quickly, and to their credit came to understand me better than I likely did them. They learned how to make peanut butter sandwiches, lots of ‘em. We cut up pineapple and oranges on plastic plates balanced on our laps while bouncing and careening along on a moving bus, dodging donkey carts, cattle, goats and people.
Each day the run started with a team member leading a prayer.
At first, the Ethiopians were relatively timid around us, a bit scared they later admitted. Soon we became very good friends with mutual respect for each other. Those on the bus became so proficient that when I went out to join the run the day before I came down with the bug, they would not let anyone else help out in running the operation. They had it, and they knew how to do it. That was so good to see. They had come around to understand the necessity of the timing, the safety concerns, the preparations, and they ran it like clockwork. Made me feel a bit useless in the end as I sat in a hotel room, the self proclaimed “ringmaster of the flying circus”. I worked to recover while they ran the show and did so admirably. I am proud of them, and that isn’t even something that I went there to accomplish. They, being young and inexperienced in this sort of thing, and in many aspects of life in general, stepped up and got the job done when they were needed most. Egga, Finet, Bizuayehu, Meroan, Zinashe, Said; they all did so well, and I wasn’t able to thank them enough for it.
I also want to express thanks to Ann Stanton and Jacob Wheeler. Both journalists who were along to document the whole affair, they jumped right in with helping me on the bus when things were really crazy in the first days. I don’t know if I could have made it through without their very willing help as we worked out the routine early on.
This brings me to my impressions of the trip as a whole. (no really, I haven’t even gotten there yet) The scenery was as expected, dramatic. The countryside is incredibly diverse, and we only saw central and southern Ethiopia. Mountains rising up from flat dusty plains. expansive lakes stretching on for miles and miles, surrounded by seemingly dry landscape. Rolling hills with vistas that would draw you in if you weren’t constantly on the move. Steep hills, twisting narrow roads, false banana, real banana, and coffee plants. A resort on a mountain top, with circular huts / rooms made of bamboo. Absolutely beautiful, and the most luxurious place that we had the pleasure of staying. (two nights, thankfully!) Watching the hyenas come in to feed at sunset, and learning that you can’t leave anything outside because they will eat it. Even your shoes!
My first concert experience with Seth and May was at the campfire at that same resort. (it won’t be the last time that I see them play!) Lush green countryside in the southern realm of mountains. The heat of the Great Rift Valley and all of its’ grandeur. Circular huts all along the way with thatched roofs and stick and mud walls. Block and mud walled buildings with tin roofs as the new upgrades. Livestock highways, sand, bright red soil. Driving – as a whole new adventure. Dodging all of the obstacles, and learning respect of the drivers and their abilities. Watching the local people enjoying music at support stops, seeing the children chasing soap bubbles while squealing with joy over this new experience. Timothy Young aptly put it that he “measures his days in Ethiopia by the number of near-death experiences he has had.” It is very true.
The runners involved in this venture surprised me. Possibly more than anyone, I knew what they were up against. The mileage was formidable, but that was just the beginning. Compound that with the fact that it’s summer time in Ethiopia. Hot can be an understatement. In addition all runs were at between 4ooo and 8500 feet of elevation, the sun is incredibly intense. I didn’t even want to admit what I thought the temperature was. When asked, I low-balled my response, knowing it was likely ten degrees more. The runners went through sun block almost as much as they did water. Then add the terrain and many other factors, and it’s enough to scare off most any intelligent coach type. Of course, that’s no issue here for these hearty folks.
These ten American runners all had differing levels of fitness and experience. There were those who had never run a marathon distance before, let alone run consecutive thirty-mile days. What I found was that each had prepared themselves in their own way for the task at hand. Each had come to this event knowing that the real emphasis was already completed in having raised the money to build the schools, while attempting to raise the living standard for many people who would be affected by this. Beyond this, they had created for themselves a steely resolve to complete the venture, not even knowing what was in store for them. To create something more for people back home or elsewhere, to follow and learn from. Every mile was unknown, every obstacle a new challenge. All handled with great aplomb. I am very proud for them. I had very real concerns for them at the beginning, and they came through with flying colors, demonstrating what can be done by the individual, and what more can be accomplished as a unified group or team.
Come back tomorrow for Part Two of Dan’s recollection.
Monday January 24th, 2011 Our Final Post… for a while.
“Hear me, four quarters of the world – a relative I am! Give me the strength to walk the soft earth, a relative to all that is! Give me the eyes to see and the strength to understand, that I may be like you. With your power only can I face the winds.”
– Black Elk, (1863-1950)
The Flaw of Odysseus
We are at the closing point of this journey. A year in the making, it is now time to turn our ships homeward. I want to bring you back to an idea I mentioned last week. It was in reference to heroes and specifically regarding Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series, which I’ve been reading over time to my eight year-old friend Sam. That series, and many of the characters within it, is derived directly from Greek mythology and more precisely Homer’s Odyssey. Homer’s nearly perfect protagonist, Odysseus, is sent on an incredible adventure spanning years. One after the other he first seems to seek battles with gods, monsters, and mortals, managing to defeat or outwit them.
Only once does Odysseus falter from his state of grace. After escaping many villainous characters, and spending seven years imprisoned on an island, he tricks the great Polyphemus by first blinding his one eye then telling the cyclops his name is “Noman.” The cyclops is bereft as he tells his supporters that he was blinded by “no man.” Odysseus, as he sails away from Polyphemus’s island, triumphantly shouts back to the giant that “no one can defeat the great Odysseus,” thereby ruining his original illusion. The result of which was the cyclops’ plea to his father Poseidon to help him, whereby the great god of the sea sentences Odysseus to years of turmoil wandering the oceans.
I tell you this because the one bad trait Odysseus is credited with is “hubris”, that is arrogance and pride. It would be very easy for us, On The Ground and the Run Across Ethiopia team, to fall victim to this same device. To look back on our work in Ethiopia and say, “look at us, look at what we’ve done.” We have taken great pains from the earliest planning of the Run Across Ethiopia journey to avoid such pitfalls of ego. While we are not without fault, we have taken care to honor the people in Ethiopia first and last. It is their dreams of education for children we’re trying to make a reality.
There was some worry early on that frankly this might look like a phalanx of white do-gooders running through Africa so they could throw down a big fat check. We addressed this through comprehensive conversations and partnerships with the organizations, communities, and people this project would impact. From the Tesfa Foundation taking our own team through hours of cultural immersion, to their Team Tesfa runners being an active component of the event itself, every grueling step of the way. To Tedesse Meskela’s close relationship with his 800,000 coffee farming families through the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union. Our team of runners didn’t run a protected ribbon of highway through Ethiopia, they ran through and with living communities of the very people we were there to serve. The team was sent with a mission to be stewards of the trust that our 700 plus donors gifted to them. As our team left the U.S. en route to Ethiopia in early January they were asked simply to “be well, travel safe, and come home changed in some way.”
Homer himself would ask no more from his heroes. It is assumed that the Odyssey was not intended to be read, rather scholars seem to agree it was likely designed to be spoken from memory by the bards of the day. Even here we strike some resemblance to Homer’s classic in sending our own modern day bards Seth Bernard and May Erlewine along on the trip. They, along with our filmmakers & journalists, were asked to experience, catalog, and record the journey so that it might live on beyond the event itself. We hope in the coming months to bring you this odyssey, the Run Across Ethiopia quest, so that you might experience, learn from, and allow yourself to be changed in some way too.
And last night most of our team made it home safely to airports and homes around the U.S. Many of them returned to Traverse City. We’re very happy they have made it back home to their families and loved ones. Two of the last to arrive were filmmakers James and Jamaica. And that reminds me that they are still seeking funding to allow them to complete their documentary of this journey. Please click this image or the following link to view their Kickstarter project online. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/weston/run-across-ethiopia-feature-film
We find ourselves conflicted now, pushed home by the winds of our own circumstance, having to leave behind the many friends and relationships we’ve made along the way. I thank you for spending this past three weeks with us exploring this place half a world away. Sometime later in 2011 On The Ground will likely launch another ambitious endeavor. If you’d like to be part of that, and hear more as new plans develop, please stay subscribed to this newsletter. If your quota for vicarious adventure is filled, feel free to unsubscribe using the link at the bottom of this page.
Here’s a final quote from Norman Cousins - “The new education must be less concerned with sophistication than compassion. It must recognize the hazards of tribalism. It must teach man the most difficult lesson of all—to look at someone anywhere in the world and be able to see the image of himself. The old emphasis upon superficial differences that separate peoples must give way to education for citizenship in the human community. With such an education and with such self-understanding, it is possible that some nation or people may come forward with the vital inspiration that men need no less than food. Leadership on this higher level does not require mountains of gold or thundering propaganda. It is concerned with human destiny. Human destiny is the issue. People will respond.”
To read full-length stories posted by our RAE Team members please visit our blog pages athttp://www.onthegroundtc.org
Remember too that you can follow us on Facebook and on Twitter where we post frequent, if short, snippets about the adventure.
If you want to see our stream of photos as they arrive you can go to the website (see below) or go right to our Flickr Photostream using the link below. http://www.flickr.com/photos/57872575@N05/
This should be the last of our email updates for a while.
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With sincere and continuing gratitude,
Bill Palladino
Executive Director – On The Ground
Our Mission “On The Ground works directly with communities around the globe helping them gain sustainable access to fresh water, education, and quality healthcare.”
Bizuayehu, or Mamoosh, as he is known to his friends was born in the town of Nekempte 24 years and 2 months ago. Following his father’s untimely death of an illness not fully revealed to him when he was 10 years old, Bizuayehu had to find work to support himself and his Mom, brother, and sister. Working on the streets as a shoe shiner and porter in a town of 85,000 he quickly became known as “Mamoosh,” or “little boy,” a name that he uses today.
Mamoosh, ever ready with our needs.
He used the money earned as a shoe shiner to pay for his school materials and uniform through secondary school. In high school, a neighbor, who did not have any children, sponsored him to complete his education. He then went on to get his nursing certificate. He is a natural born caregiver. That’s a very good trait to have in his family as his Mom is in late stages of AIDS, his brother is paralyzed and with severe seizures, and his sister is sick with asthma. Before his job interpreting and acting as run support and nurse for the support bus on the Run Across Ethiopia, Mamoosh, last had a paying job nearly 4 years ago as a guard for 30 pigs in his hometown. He would sleep in a dirt shack that acted as the guard house and would feed the pigs each day. For the service, he was paid an equivalent of $30 for the month.
Sitting back under a tent as the rain gently fell and lightening danced on the horizon last night on the eve of our departure from Ethiopia, Bizuayehu spent some time reflecting on the Run Across Ethiopia and the next steps. With a bible in his hand, Bizuayehu explained, “You have to treat visions as if they are a finish line in a long race. Don’t stop in the middle of the run to talk to people. Don’t let them entice you with a banana. You will have many bananas when you arrive at the finish line.”
Mamoosh in the middle of the Hase Gola celebration.
Today Shauna, Bizuayehu, our driver Absolom, and I are careening through the Rift Valley swerving around cows, goats, and donkey carts filled with people and yellow water jugs on our return to Addis Ababa. This afternoon we’ll have a series of meetings to discuss future plans for school construction and other proposed projects from a few different Ethiopia organizations before we hop on a plane for a much needed break.
Mamoosh will be with us until we part ways at the airport. He’ll be staying with a friend in Addis while he looks for his next paying gig. He’s told his Mom he has a new job and says he can’t return home until he finds more work. We’ve assured him that upon our next journey to Ethiopia we’ll be looking him up to help us get to the finish line.
These comments on Chris’s tribute to Mamoosh were added by RAE teammates Anne Stanton and Nigel Willerton.
From Nigel: “Mamoosh is the man! He is featured on the home page of the Wholesome Sweeteners website grooving it with the choir in Hase Gola! “
From Anne: “Chris, What a wonderful tribute to Bizuayehu, with whom I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time. His name, “sees all things,” really fits him as he could really anticipate what you needed … water bottle, bandaid, you name it! And what a smile!”
Sitting at our favorite eatery, ironicly named Chicago, the smell of Addis fills my nose as the traditional music constantly sings in the background. I’ll miss the flavor of the buna (coffee) and especially the appreciation of the time it takes for it to arrive at our table; I suppose I’ll miss the laid back time schedule then as well.
It’s funny how quickly it is for a human to adapt to a completely new sourrounding, but how hard it is to leave. Although we have been there from the 6 am PB&J’s to the 11 pm St. George sessions, I don’t feel like I have completley experienced everything that we’ve seen, I’ve only reacted to it. Through the lens it is easy to capture, but not easy to fully be in every moment.
Injera Colorful Staple of Ethiopia
This makes the journey home hard as I treasure the moments I did spend immersed in experience and experience only. The connections I had with people and the friends I made along the way provided those opportunities to take, in gulps, the culture I had been witnessing. Now all that remains are the remnants of Western shock in which I didn’t really find myself missing; well, occasionally it http://www.runacrossethiopia.org missed when I forgot to bring toilet paper with me. I suppose I feel overwhelmed with the fact that I have a closet full of clothes or a home with more than 1 room, but more than anything, what I think I’ll take with me is not at all what I expected. Sure I am more appreciative about the opportunities and freedom back home, which I assumed would be the overall moral of my trip, yet what I really learned in the womb of Mother Africa was myself. To go somewhere foreign and learn to survive in a different way shook my core and made me question one thing in particular: happiness. What is it that makes one happy? I saw many children in the most impoverished situations with the brightest spirits and biggest smiles that I have never seen. So you could say I was shaken by my own core and am now on a new trip, to find the key to the city center of my own happiness.
POST BY SHAUNA FITE (Staff Member of Michigan Land Use Institute)
Sunday January 23, 2011
It was pretty quiet after the team headed out of town the day before last. What a journey. Our last day together was spent running 10k to Afursa Waro where another huge celebration was held. There must have been 5,000 people there to greet us, along with music, singing, and dancing. The team was presented and dressed with beautiful traditional clothing. It was certainly a moment of accomplishment for the blood, sweat, and tears put in by each and every runner. Chris Treter was asked to say a few words and was clear that building a school is really just the first step when he said, “this is not the first time we have visited Afurso Waro, and it will not be the last.”
We are making our way north back to Addis Ababa with the Coop Coffee folks. Yesterday we visited more schools and a birthing and family planning clinic. We also sat with a family in their home as they shared stories and struggles. We were miles away from the main road. The clearest, most dire problem in these communities is certainly the lack of access to water. It’s amazing how many aspects of life are affected by water. It’s not just about drinking water, it’s about kids not having enough time to study because they have to walk two hours each way to get water. It’s about not having dietary options because there is no water to cook with or not having irrigation to sustain food crops, or coffee.
As I sat in the Coop Sol annual meeting, this was only reiterated by each and every farmer that explained the challenges associated with growing coffee. Top three needs – water, roads, electricity. I tried to relate this to my own life, working for an environmental advocacy organization and something became very clear. Our list is not much different, except the title of our list is consumption of water, roads (driving and oil use), and electricity (energy of all forms).
So as Chris said, this is really just the first step. But, there is defintiley something to celebrate when that first step is hundreds of thousands of footsteps across Ethiopia!
We all said goodbye and safe travels to all the support team and runners last night at a nice mexican place. Almost everybody got on a plane last night at about midnight after amazing mexican food, so everybody got on a plane except Amalia because she was not feeling well so she is still postponing her flight to Uganda.
(Editor’s note: Amalia Fernand, an environmental art educator from northern Michigan was heading off on another adventure on her own after the RAE. She, like many on the trip, suffered from some sort of food borne illness that stopped her from flying to her next destination. We’re all hoping she’s feeling better.) Last night when we were saying goodbye to the runners there were a lot of hugs and goodbyes to be said.
Claire Everhart finishing the Run in Afursa Waru with Zinash & Meheron
Claire was giving piggybacks to Connor and Lucy and was holding them upside down it was really funny. Right now I really miss all of them but am looking forward to Amsterdam and the food and being able to see most of them back home in Michigan. So now I am still in Addis Ababa and tomorrow get on a long flight to Amsterdam. And thank you to all the support staff and runners for being awesome.
Saturday January 22nd, 2011 - On his way home from Africa
We have finished our principle photography! The drive from back from Yerga Cheffe to Addis was humbling. Everyone was in a state of jaw-dropping disbelief that the ten runners had slogged all that way just days before. Seeing the expansive landscape and many village scenes condensed down into one long travel day cemented in me the true grandeur of the expedition and cause.
What an incredible journey! I am so excited about our dozens of hours of HD video capturing the event’s drama, love, and sincere passion for taking a stand towards helping out our global community in need. This film will help the cause live on forever. We are so excited to come home and edit!
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James and Jamaica are our filmmakers for the Run Across Ethiopia. They volunteered for this expedition, leaving behind their lives in Michigan to drag their own equipment half way around the world to record this event. They are seeking funding to help produce the documentary once back home in Traverse City. Click the image below or this link to find out how you can assist them. http://kck.st/eu9TUc
“On The Ground works directly with communities around the globe helping them gain sustainable access to fresh water, education, and quality healthcare.”
Run Across Ethiopia
The Run Across Ethiopia is an On the Ground project designed to raise funds and awareness for education needs in Ethiopian coffee growing communities.
Between January 7th - 22nd, 2011 a team of ten ultra-endurance athletes from around the U.S. will run over 250 in the course of 12 days from Addis Ababa to Yirgacheffe.
The goal is to raise $175,000 to build three schools.
You may follow the run at the RAE LIVE website:
http://runacrossethiopia.org
Only once does Odysseus falter from his state of grace. After escaping many villainous characters, and spending seven years imprisoned on an island, he tricks the great Polyphemus by first blinding his one eye then telling the cyclops his name is “Noman.” The cyclops is bereft as he tells his supporters that he was blinded by “no man.” Odysseus, as he sails away from Polyphemus’s island, triumphantly shouts back to the giant that “no one can defeat the great Odysseus,” thereby ruining his original illusion. The result of which was the cyclops’ plea to his father Poseidon to help him, whereby the great god of the sea sentences Odysseus to years of turmoil wandering the oceans.
There was some worry early on that frankly this might look like a phalanx of white do-gooders running through Africa so they could throw down a big fat check. We addressed this through comprehensive conversations and partnerships with the organizations, communities, and people this project would impact. From the Tesfa Foundation taking our own team through hours of cultural immersion, to their Team Tesfa runners being an active component of the event itself, every grueling step of the way. To Tedesse Meskela’s close relationship with his 800,000 coffee farming families through the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union. Our team of runners didn’t run a protected ribbon of highway through Ethiopia, they ran through and with living communities of the very people we were there to serve. The team was sent with a mission to be stewards of the trust that our 700 plus donors gifted to them. As our team left the U.S. en route to Ethiopia in early January they were asked simply to “be well, travel safe, and come home changed in some way.”
