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| 08/31 /2001 |
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| Addis Abeba - Ethiopia |
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| 09°01 N
38°45 E |
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| + 263 |
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Tonight,
we slept in a Protestant Norvegian mission. We
haven't had dinner, but we managed to send the
Journal without any problems. What do you
think about the video ? It may be not so good
than during the round the world tour, but
we'll try to do our best for the next. Anyway,
you should have daily news and we hope to be
on chat as much as we can (hopefully from
Sunday night).mnjj
Yesterday
night, as we got off the plane, we were
surprised by this so typical African smell :
spices and burn. But this morning, we're
already used to it : our trip in Black Africa
can go on.
It's
raining today, not that much but constantly
and the humid temperature is about 15°C. It
is said that in Adis Abeba, between June and
September, it's raining every day. We're about
2400 m high and the air is quite heavy.
The
Norvegians just warned us about a walk in this
area : it is supposed to be quite dangerous.
But we go, and walk down a large avenue.
Dented cars keep on horning as old
motorbycicles zigzag along between the holes
of the old street. Here we are downtown ! In
Amaric (the Ethiopian language), Addis Abeba
means the New Flower. But we nearly can't
breathe under the awful smog. There seems to
be no tourists at all, only street kids
wandering around.
Less
than 3 million people live in the capital.
Most of them in terrible conditions, packed in
the mud, under small little sheet metal
barracks, with no water nor electricity. The
strangers aerea, where Embassies and big
international organizations are, is quite
small. A few villas from the beginning of the
century stand along luxurious boulevards.
But
we'll visit Addis next time, when we come back
from our mission.
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That's
it, we're our way to Meki, the
village where we'll start our
mission.
Right on the South West towards the lakes, we're on the
mythical road of the Rift Valley :
where used to live our latest
ancestors... Lucy, 3.2 million
years, Ardipithecus ramidus
kadabba, 5.5 million years. We'll
talk about it in another Journal
(we wait for your comments on the
Forum).
We have taken an old school
bus. Then, it's easier to
understand the African time notion
: the driver just told us the bus
would leave when it's full. One
hour later, the old engine
starts...
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We are stucked on old red
seats. Around us, people seem
quite curious about the laptop and
glance at it.
Once we're out of the chaotic
city, the road is quite empty and
the landscape levels down. there
are great green fields and corn
fields. A lot of people walk along
the road : shepherds, children,
women carrying bags. Then, the
traditional huts appear, with
cattle all around. Along the Zway
Lake, little hawkers show huge cat
fish they have just caught, as
pink pelicans and other birds fly
in the far.
It takes us 3 hours to drive
along the 135 km. As the bus
stops, we salute our first travel
companions before getting off.
Greg, Nicolas and Theo walk to
the Meki Catholic School, full of
luggage and material for the
mission.
Click on the picture and
watch the VIDEO
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The
Car@van must feel responsible of
the World's wonders.
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Ethiopia is a
great mosaic of populations. Its
74 different people speak about
200 different languages. Most of
these languages are Afro-Asian,
coming from the old relationship
between Africa and Asia. It would
be too long to give you the whole
list of them but it is possible to
divide them in 3 great families .
Couchitic,
spoken by the Afar, Oromo, Borono
and Konso. Omotic, by the Karo,
Bana, Ari and Dassanetch. Semitic,
by the Couragué and Tigrigna, the
which lay down Amharic as the
official language.
In the next
few days, we'll give you some
lessons of Amharic on the Journal.
Are you ready ?
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We
have
just met Sophie and Céline.
Franck will go back to Addis Abeba
to pick up Aurélie. And we'll be
all the seven for the week-end.
We'll try to know each other
better and will set up the
activities and lessons.
Sunday night, we'll try to come
on chat (8.30 pm GMT) to talk with
all of you... Please come, from
anywhere you are, that would be
great !!!
Cheers.
team@nomadcommunity.com
- loako@hotmail.com
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