Totally Unauthorized

Two a.m. Friday and I’m awake.  Not really surprising with all the time change.  Or maybe it’s the bed.  I’ve moved into the “double” room, which is considerably larger than the one I started in, with a table and two chairs.  But the bed is a very thin mattress on too few slats, so sleeping isn’t quite like it is at home.  I think I’m paying an extra $2 a day for the upgraded room, bringing the nightly tab to $11.

Drive around a third world city at rush hour, and you’ll never gripe about having to smog your car again.  No smog checks here in Addis, and the air is horrid.  Cars and trucks just belch black smoke.  Little Chinese motorcycles whizz between cars. People take their lives in their hands crossing the streets—no lights, no crosswalks, no apparent traffic laws at all.

This is a very crowded city—they claim 8 million persons, I think, but how can they possible count the throngs who live on the sidewalks, shining shoes or selling trinkets?  The thousands of children begging at stoplights, running up to the car with the white people and miming eating; begging  for food or pennies. We gave out bananas until we ran out.  At night the streets are crowded with prostitutes, the ones who aren’t lucky or young or pretty enough to get to work in a bar.

Today we went to AHOPE, an orphanage for HIV positive children. Because they are well funded, all the children are able to take retroviral medicine.  It’s a happy place, with about 40 kids between 5 and 15 I’d say.  They live in a compound with high, razor wire topped walls, but that’s to keep the city out, not the kids in.  Erik and Charlotte have this down to a system—some easy things to get the kids moving, then more complex projects.  The big hit was bringing out 12 kilos of clay.  Every kid knows what to do with clay, and they had a blast.

The children also showed some astounding creativity—there was a model car with working wheels, a complete coffee ceremony set (cups, saucers, coffee pot), a remarkably realistic elephant.

I was photographing like crazy, and had my own group who were fascinated by the camera.  I could take their picture and let them see it on the screen.  I let some of them use it to shoot each other—and there’s even a good shot of me taken by a 10 year old.  Little Surphee, a 6 or 7 year old boy, became my assistant, holding the strobe light off to the side.  I could use him at home.

This being Africa, things move at their own pace.  Our driver was supposed to return in 2 hours, but it was more like 3.  Then he dropped us off at the Hilton so I could hit the ATM, and disappeared for 40 minutes.  Yes, the Hilton—ATM’s are very rare here, you can’t just go to any gas station or grocery store.

Dinner at a Chinese restaurant.  The chicken and corn soup was very good, the fried beef and onions was a poor echo of Mongolian beef.  For some reason I even had 2 beers, I can’t imagine why that what I wanted.