Well, after having spent nearly a week in Addis, I can now say that I have seen more of the city than the hospital and my apartment. The parts of the city that I have been seeing are the streets of Addis (which I will talk about shortly and refers to the title of the post) and the Institute of Ethiopian Studies at Addis Ababa University. The Institute is a pretty cool place that I haven't even begun to explore yet. The entire building is former Emperor Haile Sallasse's palace which he donated to be converted to a university. It is a pretty cool, very large compound. The building housing the Institute is the former home of the Emperor and has a museum devoted to HIM (proper rasta spelling ;) as well as an art gallery of icons and Ethiopian culture. As far as manuscripts getting digitized, I am finally up to speed. Yesterday was spent photographing several gigantic books about the lives of the Ethiopian Saints (24" x 18", these things were huge). Today I photographed 9 manuscripts and I am exhausted. I am finally over my cold, but my energy level is still lower than normal. However, the Institute's normal photographer can shoot one manuscript a day, so it was pretty fun to let them know that we can get a lot done for them very quickly. All in all, everything is going well work-wise.
As I alluded to earlier, getting through the streets of Addis can be an overwhelming experience. As soon as leaving the apartment building, I typically quickly find myself surrounded by beggars. I have prided myself as being a good, conscientious Portlander who cares about the homeless, but this is an entirely new ball game. Here I am awoken by a beggar that sits below my window and is loud enough that I hear her clearly 5 stories up. As I fall asleep at night, I can hear beggars singing and talking on the street below. This is a constant part of life in Addis. It is overwhelming. You can't help everybody because there are a hundred people asking for money on every block, each looking very much in need. I can't believe the number of people missing limbs, blind and being led by friends, or with limbs so twisted that they no longer function. I find myself unable to process such need and often find myself wandering into apathy. If I saw a starving child in Newberg, I would know who to call to get the kid some help. Here I am surrounded by kids under 10 that live on the streets and beg for a living and there is nothing that I can do. It is unlike an experience of human need that I have ever had and I am unsure what to do with it. This post is a part of my processing and I thank you for reading it. Overall, this has been quite the experience and I am just trying to take it in and deal with it later. Hope that you are all well.
~Jeremy
2 comments:
I don't know what I would begin to do if I were in your shoes... that sounds indescribably hard. I guess at the end of the day all you can do for them is pray.
Sounds like your going to bring back a lot more than just pictures of manuscripts. I hope you continue to face your discomfort, and I am very interesting to hear how this trip shapes your idea of the homeless
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