January 19, 2011

A Film On The Way To Becoming

Posted by kriosconsulting under Art, Children, Coffee, Culture, Dancing, Jamaica Weston Lynne, James Weston Lynne, Music, Run Across Ethiopia, Schools
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POST BY JAMAICA LYNNE WESTON

Tuesday January 18th, 2011

While it is said that it takes a village to raise I child, we can now say it also takes a village to make a documentary. James and I went to Hase Gola this morning to finish an intricate part of the film; a day in the life of Teriqu, a student from Hase Gola. The energy was so powerful in this village with their kindness and curiosity, that I couldn’t have guessed the dire need for basics to survive.

We filmed Teriqu’s morning with his family of 7, 1 cow, 1 dog, and 4 sheep that lived in a homemade hut a few miles from school. Since we arrived at 7:00, Teriqu was already up so his family was kind enough to re-enact a morning scene. Although this morning was different from last, because it was water day. His mother has to walk 3 hours to get water and by the time she arrived back home it was time for Teriqu to go to school, without breakfast.

We followed Teriqu to school and he took us through a few miles of the reddest dirt, the rockiest road, and the luscious green grass I have ever seen. When we finally reached the school, we were the first to get there. BK, the greatest translator ever and a very good friend, told us that because of the holiday and runners coming later, the communities canceled school in preparation for the festivities. We watched the ox and sheep walk behind the school, knowing we’d see it later as a gift of dinner from the villages to the runners. This was our only chance to capture this school shot with Teriqu and we really wanted this shot as we had already done it with Timothy’s children in the states before we left, so people could see the differences and similarities. Now, we didn’t know if it was going to happen.

After awhile of sitting in the grass and watching limbs go from the back of the school to a classroom for preparation, kids started coming from every corner with their school papers. Soon we were surrounded with shining faces of curiosity and a million hand shakes to seal the deal, we really were going to re-create a school day. With the help of BK, a rising director, the Tesfa teachers and the talented new actors of Hase Gola, a film was on it’s way to being made. It was a powerful 2 hours to be apart of, but the kids were just as excited as we were to get out of their scrunched classrooms. While the new school was being built in the background and will be open in June, I looked around as I was surrounded by children and thought, the love that these children gave us today is not something that is taught in school, it is innate.

In more ways than one, the fertile soil here is so rich in nutrients but without water or other basics it will never fulfill its potential.

 

January 18, 2011

I’ve Taken You for a Loop

Posted by kriosconsulting under Coffee, Culture, Jacob Wheeler, Music, Poverty, Run Across Ethiopia, Running, Schools
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POST BY JACOB WHEELER

Tuesday January 18th, 2011

For the past nine days, my blogging has focused on running — that is, the 10 harriers running nearly 250 miles across southern Ethiopia. I’ve catalogued their aches and pains, daily mileage and terrain, and how the runners have interacted and boosted each other through this painstaking endeavor. In other words, I’ve been a sports reporter.

But I’ve got news for you. I’ve taken you for a loop. The running was never the true story here.

Today, Day 10 of the Run Across Ethiopia, after jogging a slight 12 miles through hilly coffee country, we met the true gravity of our purpose here — in the form of thousands of excited rural Ethiopians waiting for hours down a rutted dirt road for our arrival in Hase Gola — the hamlet where the first On the Ground Global school is already being built. Immediately upon disembarking from the bus around 1 p.m. today, our entourage was swarmed by an untold number of joyous local villagers, clapping their hands, singing in gospel choirs, dancing with sugar cain sticks, playing whatever instruments they had on the floor of their meager hut. The welcome was beautiful, intense, and seemed both triumphant and tragic at the same time. Imagine the kinds of crowds that turn out to greet the Beatles, or Obama. Now you have at leas

t an impression of what this felt like. I looked from face to face of our contingent — American and Ethiopian runners/journalists/musicians/interpreters, alike — and couldn’t spot a single dry eye. Many of us have traveled extensively to developing countries before; others have rarely left the Midwest. And no one — no one — had ever experienced anything like this before.

Our new friends numbering in the thousands mobbed us as we found our way to makeshift tables where Tadesse Meskala, head of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union, Chris Treter and others gave speeches about the importance of this new school for the community. Its construction is already underway. It will include four classrooms, which can hold 480 students (240, twice a day); it will reach 10 different rural communities, and ultimately change the lives of nearly 9,000 people whose sons, daughters, brothers and sisters will attend school here. Music took over after the speeches. Our interpreter Mamoosh danced like a jackrabbit along with the choir. Seth Bernard held hands and danced up and down with the pastor. Timothy and Connor Young joined Ethiopian youth in climbing a tree to take in the scene.

Our entourage was treated to a delicious meal afterwards in the new school, including a plate of fresh raw meat from this morning’s animal sacrifice. When offered a gift of luxury in an impoverished village, you never turn it down. so runner Matt Desmond, myself, Maureen Voss, Shauna Fite and Timothy Young tried the raw meat with berbere spice. Whether the cuisine will come back to haunt us is unclear. But what is clear is that today’s powerful visit to Hase Gola will remain lodged in the hearts and minds of our Run Across Ethiopia team. It’s clear now that the run, itself, is only a vehicle, a conductor. The school and the community is what the journey is really about.

To return to our website please click this link, www.runacrossethiopia.org

 

January 18, 2011

A New School and Hope for Hase Gola

Posted by kriosconsulting under Chris Treter, Coffee, Culture, Partners, Poverty, Run Across Ethiopia
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POST BY CHRIS TRETER - (Founder of On the Ground and owner of Higher Grounds Trading Company)

Tuesday January 18, 2011

Since the first time I stepped foot into the coffee growing communities of Yrgacheffe, Ethiopia I have been conflicted. I earn a living, in part, from a community of people that cannot send their children to school (as there is no school), where the average life expectancy is only 51 years (as there is no health care), and where life-threatening diseases arise from lack of access to clean drinking water.  I can sit in a nice cafe listening to music, leaning back in a comfortable chair, sipping on a latte, or breve’, or cappuccino, while I know, first hand, that the farmers who produced that coffee spend their days toiling away in fields, eating false banana (known as the famine buster for its ability to stay edible for a long period of time) and only having access to the food which they grow or kill.

Most coffee growers’ lives are bound by poverty, while the product they produce, some of the most sought after coffee in the world, is placed in the hands of the rich – the 20% of the world’s population that controls nearly 80% of the world’s wealth. That is, you and I, those in the United States, or Europe, whose entire population lies within the wealthiest segment of the population.

The Run Across Ethiopia was first conceived to help support the coffee growers of Yrgacheffe, knowing that although Higher Grounds, and many other coffee companies in Cooperative Coffees, pay above fair trade prices, a price will never be enough in a community so stricken by poverty. Fortunately the idea of the Run has taken off and many people in our global community have jumped in to combat poverty. (Editor’s note: Cooperative Coffees is the buying coop that Chris’ company Higher Grounds participates in to buy Fair-trade coffee in a large quantities from around the world, including Ethiopia.)

The Run Across Ethiopia is funding a four classroom block in Hase Gola that will serve 480 students a year coming from 8 feeder schools in 10 villages, thus benefiting a total population of over 8700. This project is in conjunction with the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union, the organization with which Higher Grounds has formed a long-term relationship.

Current School in Hase Gola

It will be constructed and furnished to the standard of Oromia Regional Government and handed over immediately after completion to the Government to administer the school. This is extremely important as in Ethiopia, 86.3 percent of the population lives in rural areas such as Hase Gola. They subsist on agriculture which accounts for 55 percent of the GDP and creates 80 percent of employment and 60 percent of exports.

According to international poverty line estimates, 46 percent of the Ethiopian population gets below $1 a day. In such a context, access to health services, modern transportation, clean drinking water, education, & other activities and services are beyond the reach of the majority of the population.

Data Source: UNICEF 2003 (For Reference Only)

The school project in Hase Gola is the first (of many) major successes in the Run Across Ethiopia. And while our runners today received a joyous and overwhelming reception from over 2000 people, it is just the first step toward a community reaching long term sustainability. Thanks to many of you who have contributed to helping the community of Hase Gola begin its walk down the path of sustainability. Your generosity will serve nearly 500 students who will now receive a secondary education!

If you would like to continute to support this work please visit

http://www.runacrossethiopia.org/

 

January 17, 2011

Music To Our Ears

Posted by kriosconsulting under Art, Children, Culture, Dancing, Jacob Wheeler, Music, Run Across Ethiopia, Seth & May | Tags: , , , , , , , |
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POST BY JACOB WHEELER – Glen Arbor Sun

Monday January 17th, 2011

Imagine that you’re a poor farmer in the Sidamo region of southern Ethiopia — an African herdsman — living in a mud hut by the side of the road. Imagine that you walk out your doorway into the sunlight one morning, and there at 7 a.m., a bunch of “ferenges” (“foreigners” in Amharic, probably derived from “Frenchies”) in skimpy running shorts are laying there on the grass, stretching. Imagine, too, that a couple white musicians are playing guitars and singing. You think, what on Earth! This scene has likely never happened before in such a remote part of East Africa.

But that’s just what form the Run Across Ethiopia took on Day 9. Earthworks musicians Seth Bernard and May Erlewine joined the team for today’s 16-mile run, which took us into the Yirgachefe coffee region, and a mere 36 miles from our ultimate destination on Thursday. At every water and food stop along the road, Seth and May lit up the crowds of villagers and children, who clapped, danced, and engaged in the sort of cross-cultural love and understanding that music knows best. At one point, RAE harrier Nigel Willerton requested a Beatles tune as he jogged by without stopping. Seth played “All we need is love”, and out of the crowd hobbled a weary old man carrying a massive rolled-up animal skin over his shoulder. He began hopping up and down and dancing to the song.

View videos below of Seth and May’s roadside performances, and other clips from Day 9 of the Run Across Ethiopia. 214 miles in the books. Just 36 to go!

The power of music in a village.

And even on a roadside during a short break Seth & May attract a crowd… and that leather peddler.  All you need is love… and a huge roll of leather.

To return to our website, click this link www.runacrossethiopia.org

 

January 17, 2011

Rediscovering Lost Values

Posted by kriosconsulting under Bill Palladino, Children, Culture, Poverty, Run Across Ethiopia, Values
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POST BY BILL PALLADINO

Monday January 17th, 2011

We begin to wonder if it is due to the fact that we don’t know enough.

Yesterday our team of runners, musicians, journalists, filmmakers and support personnel reached a turning point in the Run Across Ethiopia event.  It was as if the veil was lifted from the reality of the country they had been running through over the past week.  On Sunday, one after the other, posts came in reflecting a very different perspective.  The beauty of the the African continent and the aches and pains associated with running more than a marathon a day gave way to emotional pleas to help make sense of a world appearing more and more alien.

We knew going into this that our team would have a vast set of experiences while covering the 250+ miles from Addis Ababa to Yirgacheffe.  It’s difficult to predict, however, the emotional impact on each individual.  (If you haven’t already, I’d encourage you to visit our blog’s home page here.  http://onthegroundtc.org/ The blog posts over the past couple days are truly amazing.)

The main gist of the blogs is the common and repeating reference to poverty and the disparity the team members are feeling.  Seth Bernard in his post even says, “we don’t have enough accurate information about Ethiopia in America.”  Simply asked, is it that we don’t know enough?  That notion is one of the very reasons we at On The Ground are here.  We’re building schools, yes.  But the bigger job we have is in educating the world about the things we are privileged enough to see.

In the United States today we celebrate the life and accomplishments of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.  Among his many great speeches he is most often praised on this day for his ground breaking “I Have A Dream” address.  While I love quoting from that masterpiece, the events in Ethiopia being brought to life by our team draw my eyes to something he penned many years prior.  It is also one that stands out as it was given in Detroit, Michigan.

Dr. King gave this speech 57 years ago in Detroit’s Second Baptist Church.   This is an excerpt.  To see the full text of this and all of Dr. King’s speeches please visit this website.

http://www.mlkonline.net/

This particular text includes the congregation’s response in parenthesis.

February 28 1954

Rediscovering Lost Values

I’m not exactly a stranger in the city of Detroit, for I have been here several times before. And I remember back in about 1944 or 1945, somewhere back in there, that I came to Second Baptist Church for the first time—I think that was the year that the National Baptist Convention met here.

I want you to think with me this morning from the subject: rediscovering lost values.

Rediscovering lost values. There is something wrong with our world, something fundamentally and basically wrong. I don’t think we have to look too far to see that. I’m sure that most of you would agree with me in making that assertion. And when we stop to analyze the cause of our world’s ills, many things come to’mind.

We begin to wonder if it is due to the fact that we don’t know enough. But it can’t be that. Because in terms of accumulated knowledge we know more today than men have known in any period of human history. We have the facts at our disposal. We know more about mathematics, about science, about social science, and philosophy, than we’ve ever known in any period of the world’s history. So it can’t be because we don’t know enough.

And then we wonder if it is due to the fact that our scientific genius lags behind. That is, if we have not made enough progress scientifically. Well then, it can’t be that. For our scientific progress over the past years has been amaz- ing. Man through his scientific genius has been able to warp distance and place time in chains, so that today it’s possible to eat breakfast in New York City and supper in London, England. Back in about 1753 it took a letter three days to go from New York City to Washington, and today you can go from here to China in less time than that. It can’t be because man is stagnant in his scientific progress. Man’s scientific genius has been amazing. I think we have to look much deeper than that if we are to find the real cause of man’s problems and the real cause of the world’s ills today. If we are to really find it I think we will have to look in the hearts and souls of men.

[Congregation:](Lord help him)

The trouble isn’t so much that we don’t know enough, but it’s as if we aren’t good enough. The trouble isn’tso much that our scientificgenius lags behind, but our moral genius lags behind. (Well!) The great problem facing modern man is that, that the means by which we live, (Help him God) have outdistanced the spiritual ends for which we live. (That’s right) So we find ourselves caught in a messed-up world. (Well)

The problem is with man himself and man’s soul. We haven’t learned how to be just and honest and kind and true and loving. And that is the basis of our problem. The real problem is that through our scientific genius we’ve made of the world a neighborhood, but through our moral and spiritual genius we’ve failed to make ofit a brotherhood. (Lord have mercy) And the great danger facing us today is not so much the atomic bomb that was created by physical science. Not so much that atomic bomb that you can put in an aeroplane and drop on the heads ofhundreds and thousands of people-as dangerous as that is. But the real danger confronting civiliza- tion today is that atomic bomb which lies in the hearts and souls of men, (Lord have mercy)capable of exploding into the vilest of hate and into the most dam- aging selfishness. That’s the atomic bomb that we’ve got to fear today. (Lord help him) Problem is with the men. (Yes, Yes)Within the heart and the souls of men. (Lord)That is the real basis of our problem. (Well)

My friends, all I’m trying to say is that if we are to go forward today, we’ve got to go back and rediscover some mighty precious values that we’ve left behind. (Yes)That’s the only way that we would be able to make of our world a better world, and to make of this world what God wants it to be and the real purpose and meaning of it. The only way we can do it is to go back, (Yes) and rediscover some mighty precious values that we’ve left behind.

To return to our website please click this link, www.runacrossethiopia.org

 

January 16, 2011

Colobus Monkeys and a Laptop

Posted by kriosconsulting under Amalia Fernand, Art, Children, Coffee, Culture, Run Across Ethiopia, Uncategorized, Water | Tags: , , , , , |
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POST BY AMALIA FERNAND

Sunday January 16th, 2011

Sitting underneath a tree of black and white colobus monkeys, I wonder what they think of my computer.  Leaf eaters, they spend much of their day chilling, eating, and digesting.  Their behavior is much different than the other monkeys that we have encountered in Ethiopia, the Grivet monkeys.  After leaving the bustling capital, Addis Ababa, to wind our way south through farmlands, villages and the occasional camel herd, we arrived at a hotel with  thriving population of begger Grivet monkeys.  Savannah monkeys, they are usually dependent on Acacia seeds and flowers, but at this hotel they have become obsessed with human food.  They stole it off the tables and out of bags and rooms and they apparently have a thing for undergarments.  Mamas with babies perched behind us at breakfast and pattering feet ran across the roof in the morning.

The hotel was located on Lake Owassa, a volcanically formed lake in the Rift Valley.  There we met up with the Run Across Ethiopia team of both U.S. and Ethiopian runners, reporters, medical support, drivers, musicians, videographers, and translators.  Seth Bernard and May Erlewine played a concert that night at a local restaurant and local Ethiopian musicians finished off the show.

Early the next morning, the first rays of the rising sun fell over the lake as I greeted the day surrounded by water birds and grivet monkeys and was so grateful to be out of the city.  We took a small boat out on the lake to search for hippos and witnessed the immensity of the second largest land mammal in Africa, weighing up to 7,000 pounds at over 12 feet long!  Hippos are hairless and their sensitive skin burns easily, so they spend their days wallowing in shallow water, socializing and digesting and they spend nights on land eating grass,  Their territorial nature makes them one of the most dangerous animals in Africa.  A large adult make can have lower canines above the gum at 18″ and lower incisors at 10.”  The hippos looked at us, they snorted, and they went on with their wallowing, giant eyes full of power, resting just above the water,

The Awassa Children’s House is home to 45 children aged 6-16:  http://awassachildrenscenter.org/#/who-we-are/4539259833

They are orphans and street children whom are given a safe place to live and an education.  I brought my Nature Explorers suitcase and spent an afternoon with these loving children.  Armed with magnifying glasses and binoculars, we explored their campus as we collected leaves for leaf rubbing posters,  We created leopard and Gelada baboon masks and the children were extremely diligent and creative workers.  The joy, the smiles, the laughter, the appreciation, the excitement, I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

Today, I joined the run and was moved by the happiness that we brought to many hundreds of children merely by our presence.  The runners finished mile 198 today and I joined them in running through small villages and coffee plantations for a few of those miles.  I also traveled by the bus that stays close by the group and stops to supply water and food breaks.  On these occasions, the people came running to gather, to stare, watchfully, expectantly, curiously.  I blew bubbles for the children and to witness the universal reaction of a child to a bubble reminds me that everywhere, people are just people.  They jumped, they laughed, they chased, they loved, and I only wish that I could do so much more, bring them so much more, give them so much more.  And then I look around and I realize that I am.  This entire event is for them, for their education, to increase their standard of living, to give them a chance at a healthy life.  Most of them do not understand this right now, and they may never.  I only wish that we could spend more time with them instead of quickly moving through each village.  I wish that we could explain that the reason we are here is for them and that there are so many people out there who have donated time, money, and a piece of their hearts for this cause.

The last 2 nights we have stayed in the coffee growing region set amongst beautiful wooded hlllsides,  Each night, the second largest carnivore in Africa, the hyena,  came up to eat the food scraps and show herself.  Seth and May have been writing and tonight they shared some of their songs by the fire.  The moon reflects over the mountains and valleys of coffee plants in this region and I feel so thankful to be a part of this team and this amazing experience.

To return to our website click this link, www.runacrossethiopia.org

 

January 16, 2011

Ethiopia, the Water Tower of Africa

Posted by kriosconsulting under Art, Culture, Environment, Music, Poverty, Run Across Ethiopia, Seth & May
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POST BY SETH BERNARD & MAY ERLEWINE

Sunday January 16th, 2011

Sending love from Yirgalem! Wish you were here man. Here are three short brain droppings for you to use as you wish — you can stagger them or use them all at once. Thanks for everything you do – I’ve had a hard time with internet access, every time May hands the computer over to me, the internet craps out. I’m on Treter’s rig now. Hopefully I’ll have more words for you soon. The songs are flowing!! 8 so far, and lots of scraps to piece together when we get home. No shortage of inspiration, just a lot to take in. Awesome. Hope you are well. Yours, Seth

This adventure has been a Visionquest. We brought with us the intention to look deeply into ourselves and our world and to return home with music that honors the cultures of both Ethiopia and America. So far, everything has exceeded our expectations. It’s almost as if we are in a life-changing time capsule and every moment, every smile exchanged, is magnified. Challenging indeed to translate the experience, but music is, after all, the universal language of the heart.

We don’t have enough accurate information about Ethiopia in America. Hopefully our expedition will help with this in some small way with this. There is too much fear and pity and not enough respect and amazement toward Ethiopia in our collective American mind. We have so much to learn. I find myself in awe of an ancient culture that has remained largely intact. This is the birthplace of mankind and the only nation in Africa that has never been colonized by imperial European powers. People have been kind and gracious without exception. I feel safer in Addis Ababa than I do in American cities of comparable size, and although I am a country boy (thank God), I have spent many moons in many a metropolis.

For centuries, Christians and Muslims, dark-skinned and light-skinned folks have lived in peace, shared the same morning coffee ceremonies and celebrated their shared communities here in Ethiopia. When I have asked my new friends what their secret is and what Americans can learn from their culture of diversity and tolerance, they say that it has always been this way. They say that kindness is more important than anything. It’s at the heart of being human. They day that it’s obvious, isn’t it? Cruelty and intolerance go against the teachings of all the religions and we’re all neighbors. Ethiopia is another heartland and we have been welcomed as brothers and sisters here.  It’s going to be hard to leave, but we have a wealth of songs and stories to bring back to our people in the American heartland.”

Here we are in Yirgalem at a beautiful place out in the wilderness. Ethiopia feels more like home every day and our time here is going by so quickly. I am already anticipating feeling torn when we begin our travels home.

Ethiopia is the water tower of East Africa and we live in the Great Lakes. Ethiopian music in the Tezeta style strikes a chord in our hearts because the music feels like water flowing. Yesterday, we wrote a song together in that style called “Mother Tree of Life”. We usually write alone, but this experience has opened the door for sharing the channeling of music, which is a great gift to us in our partnership.

We have been processing so many feelings and transformations. I feel hesitant to even begin to describe what my mind and heart are going through, as it is all so new. So know we are stewing and brewing and soaking it all up and will report back in stories and songs!

Tomorrow we will ride along in the runners bus and play songs for the runners annd the community members during their breaks on the road. We are excited to be back with the full team. Everyone seems to be holding up quite well considering the incredible distance they have run. Chris Treter told me he’s up to 198 miles!

-Seth & May

To go back to our website, click this link www.runacrossethiopia.org

 

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