Leg 3

–

Things have been going good since I returned from holiday and other than the widely publicized racist attack by three white men on a Black man here, I haven’t been angry.

The weather is okay, work is good though Mr. Belgium (co-worker) and I are about to start on another killer project, and there’s a bunch of new software I have to learn how to use in one week, beginning Monday.

My friends are good, Thabiso has received yet another promotion and though he’s been in the stratosphere at work for quite some time, he’s now headed into the super-stratosphere. I am very happy for him.

After our ex-Christian meet-ups ended this past Spring, he was supposed to figure out something new for us to get into. My only request was that it be an ‘outside’ activity. So, we are thinking about joining a fishing club, of all things. What I really wanted was to take some automotive repair classes, but there weren’t any close by. I really want to learn how to fix a car.

–

Other than that, my brother sent me a nice hilarious email today. They are all back home now and my poor sis-in-law is really suffering from her morning sickness.

Here’s what my bro had to say about Nairobi:

“…full of hookers”

About Addis:

“…full of hookers-in-disguise”.

(I will blog about my take on this East African hooker phenomenon someday soon…)    

–

My brother is a very good-looking guy with a great physique, great personality, and he was a terror with women when younger. Women of all creeds have always been drawn to him in droves. My God, the things he did when we were younger…

If there’s one person who really has had a shipload of women and sown his oats comprehensively, it’s my brother K.

When he and I were doing our first degrees in the U.S. and living together, all kinds of girls would call the apartment at all hours, incessantly…, haranguing me after his whereabouts. He was a legend in our circles in every country we ever lived in and my poor mother lived in agony fearing that any day, some girl (or girls) was going to land at our house pregnant, or deposit some kid on our doorstep.

My dad on the other hand, though he pretended to be horrified at my brother’s exploits, I know was secretly very proud of the fact that his son was such a Casanova.

As for me, I always prayed never to end up with a man like my brother, as he was then.

But now, he’s the sweetest husband and nicest dad. Even more good-looking, maniacally confident, and a good man.

–

We are very close, he and I.

When we were kids, my bro used to pull me around in a little cart he had and always brought me crayons and things from his school when I was still at crèche. And he has the kindest most giving heart. My mom always said she’d never seen a child like him who would give his clothes, shoes, toys, food, sweets to anyone he felt needed them more than him. And he’s still that way.

My sis was the standoffish one, and I was the one who fought. 

–

Whereas my sister is like our ‘junior mother’, K. and I are at par. He trusts my instinct one hundred percent. My bro cannot make a business decision without asking me what I think or feel about it which is why my phone rings at the oddest hours, usually deep at night when he’s brainstorming and comes up with new ideas.

And whenever I was dating someone who stepped out of line (or stalked me), K. was always there to swing his fists.

Anyway, I’m just glad that he’s settled now and married to the nicest girl in the world.

–

But I better write about Leg 3 of my holiday even though there isn’t that much to report.

Anyway, so we were staying at a hotel in Addis and my dad had decided we should go to Gonder, which we all did.

The nicest thing about Ethiopian Airlines is that they have very good in-country service. They are a very good airline and would be better if they just improved a little bit on their fleet repairs.

I mean that sometimes, your seat will be broken, or the air vent’s blasting at full power over your head and they can’t lessen the flow, or the toilet door handle won’t jiggle right…, that sort of thing. But all in all, they are the best African Airline I have every flown – even better than SAA because with SAA, you sometimes get attitude from the cabin crew.

Anyway, the flight is really short. We got there and were picked up by our tour guide and driven to our hotel Goha which was very pretty, friendly service etc. I shared a room with my aunt, and the twins as usual, wanted to sleep with me which meant I left them in my bed and got into my aunt’s sometime in the night because they were strangling me.

Gondar is old, old, old… the castles there rival many ruins in Europe and the Debrebirhan Church was amazing. I am not a Christian and unmoved by the religion, but the frescos on the ceilings were astounding. Why Jesus is depicted as a white man on them though, I will never know.

My mom got mad when I asked loudly why Jesus was white and my dad said “don’t annoy your mother”… though I know he was wondering the same thing too  

The preist said the Archangel Michael protected the church once but I don’t know about all that…

–

Anyway, so day one was tours and the Fasilides pool, day two we drove down to the lake and ate at an excellent local restaurant, day three everybody rested and my bro, bro-in-law and I went off to do some more sightseeing at Gorgora’s Debre Sina Mariam church and it’s when I was going down some steps that I twisted my ankle and was put out of commission.

It hurt like hell, and since there’s no Nairobi Hospital in Gorgora, we had to wait till the next day to fly back to the city to get it checked.

–

Ethiopia, once you get outside the chaos of Addis, is a very beautiful country. People are calmer and nicer than they are in the city…

But Kenya is way, way more advanced than Ethiopia, even with all our chaos and drama. Plus, there are too many poor people everywhere in Ethiopia. I mean hard-core poor. When you go there, you’ll know why so many Ethiopians leave their country.

Also, Ethiopia for the most part (at least for me), lacks a certain ’spark’, a zing or zest that Kenya has with abundance. My mom calls it “aliveness”…

What I like about Ethiopia though, is the vast stretches of open land and the lack of choking rubbish (plastic bags etc) on the wayside once you get out of the bigger cities. And, the countryside is very beautiful.

–

Anyway, so that was that.

We saw the sights, saw where my mother grew up with the Italians her parents worked for (the house is in ruins – an earthquake), met a man who played with my uncle as a kid, and wondered how the hell my mom ever made it out of there and what on earth my grandmother was thinking as a girl moving in the late thirties to Gondar with her young husband who was working for an Italian military man there.

It was amazing.

My mom got very emotional at times remembering her life, especially the horrific treatment her family underwent at the hands of the locals (the usual tribal issues…). My auntie was crying too… (what a holiday)…

But it was also cathartic for them.

It’s funny, we were standing at the pool at the castle and my mom was telling me how she used to go up there when she was a girl…, and I was looking at her trying to imagine it.

—

It’s amazing, our personal histories as Africans…

We cling so much to these weird abstract ‘identities’, when in reality, our histories are so much more intricate than we know. Or maybe want to know…

I remember my mom telling me that her maternal family lore said that they were from Chad. Now just think about that.

What then, does being Kenyan mean? Or Ethiopian?

How can I claim a narrow tribal identity, and if so, whose?

My dad was born in the Rift Valley but his parents were from elsewhere internally. And they too migrated from someplace else…

What is a tribe, at the end of the day?

–

Then it was back to Addis and the doctor where I was bandaged and propped atop crutches…, and my bro, bro-in-law and I went off to a neighboring country for the weekend to check on one of my brother’s cryptic enterprises there.

–

There was also a Leg 4 to my holiday (before Marseille), which I won’t write about.

We had a splendid time and laughed and ate and kissed and hugged and shone as a family.

–

My wonderful dad was at peace…, he acted like an old elephant, loving and protecting us from our foes.

My mom made peace with her past, my auntie cluck-clucked like a little hen sorting out her sister’s new life in Ethiopia… My bro-in-law and sis-in-law saw a whole new side of what makes us up…

And my siblings and I were just happy. We’ve travelled in and know other parts of Ethiopia and the region well, but it was important for us to go to the town where our dear mom was born.

–

I had a really nice time, and can’t wait for December.

–

So, my dear people…, or is it ‘peeps’ these days? (I can never keep up…)…

Time for bed.

Be good, be strong, and don’t forget to lock your doors and latch your windows!  

God alone knows what’s in store for me tomorrow.