In case you didn't know, Ethiopia is considered the birthplace of coffee and it is it's leading export. And in case you want to increase your Amharic vocab, Kenenisa taught us the word "boo-nah". And yes, he wants to drink it each morning, and seems to enjoy it. So I'm assuming that it was not a new taste for him. Though I try to keep his decaf since he doesn't seem to need more energy.
Anyway, back to Ethiopia, we left early for a tour of the Robera's coffee factory. It was fascinating to see all the work that goes into preparing the beans. This company supplies beans to Starbucks. We were able to buy coffee to bring home, as well. We never did get to participate in our much anticipated coffee ceremony that I had heard so much about. Maybe next time ... :-) Here are some pics from our visit that morning.
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| Very yummy bunna |
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| Hundreds of women sorting beans After the factory tour, we went and had lunch out one last time. We ate at The Blue Top restaurant which is right across the street from Lucy's where we had eaten previously. Since we still were unsure what Kenen would eat, we stuck with Ethiopian. Problem was we had him order, and he ordered "wot" which is Ethiopian stew, usually made with chicken. When they brought it out, it was definitely not what he wanted. So I described what it looked like when he had it at Lucy's, and we learned it was Shiro ... a dish made of ground chickpeas. This is still his favorite! We headed back to the Guest House, and had everyone shower and pack up ... thinking that we had plenty of time before we had to leave for the airport. We were even hoping to get some dinner before leaving. However, at the last minute, our driver, David, realized that a big storm was coming in, and since all of the luggage is carried on top of the van, it was important to get moving as quickly as possible. So our departure from the Yebsabi Guest House was quick with very few good-byes to the people we had spent the week with. |
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| We wanted a good-bye pic with Ashenafi, but Kenenisa was upset about something (obviously) so this was as good as we could get. |
I was more than a little saddened at the realization that we were taking Kenenisa away from the only life he had every known. And even though, this new life would be filled with blessings ... for him, at this point, we were just strangers taking him away. I wondered if he had any idea what an airplane was, and had they told him that we were getting on one, and was he scared ... all questions that I could not ask him. So I hurriedly asked the driver (standing outside in the rain), "Does he know what's about to happen?" So he bent down and told him we were getting on an airplane and going to America ... and the driver said Kenenisa already knew that and was excited. And then we walked into the airport ... away from all that was familiar.
I hope that some day he will understand why he had to leave, and even more so, hope that he will still love Ethiopia and will have a desire to help the country that gave birth to him.
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