The other side of Ethiopia

The inevitable delema of being white and living in Ethiopia for any time is mentally balancing the disparity between wealth and poverty .  When you live like a resident in Ethiopia you will eventually find that you gravitate toward people who speak English well. And often this means -that you will rub elbows with the "richer" echelon of society.  No matter how much you try to make friends with the common population your experience will be jaded in it's depth due to your lack of ability to carry on a deep and meaningful conversation.

As a white person with local friends-you are often invited to the most amazing locations-and when weekends role around-it is sometimes difficult to balance the rich experiences with the more poorer main populace experiences.   Although there is much poverty in Ethiopia- one of the overlooked items is that there is also much wealth.  So if you are going to live there for any length of time- you best bring some nice clothes along with your comfortable walking shoes.

As an example, I was most humbly invited to a delightful and intimate party at the following location.
(I chose not to use my personal photos here because they have lots of people in them -and this blog is public).

The second location many of you will recognize.