National Museum and Mt. Entoto

Monday, January 13, 2020

We are in a remarkable country.  The poverty here is as bad as we have seen anywhere in the world, but the country is growing economically, and the hope is that the Nobel-prize winning prime minister will be able to bring people into a secure life.  The population is growing rapidly, and the average age here is 19.

As our formal trip began at 1:30 PM, this morning Paul Goldberg, Joyce and I took a walk in the environs of our hotel.  The hotel itself is lovely, beautifully landscaped and luxurious:

There is significant construction here, much of which is financed by the Chinese:

As we got into the nearby streets, we were offered services.  This shoeshine boy didn’t seem to have anything much other than water to wash shoes with.  Paul tried to show him that his shoes couldn’t be polished:

We passed the automotive section.  Here’s the car wash:

The oil change shop and the tire shop:

Extreme poverty is demonstrated by these roadside homes:

We passed a tea shop and a café:

The butcher seemed to have no refrigeration:

The t-shirt shop had this Lion of Judah model:

We walked back to the hotel, had a light lunch, and met our group for our first excursion.  We are nine: the Goldbergs and the Poleshucks, another couple from Holland (their English is perfect as they lived in the USA for a number of years); a woman from Georgia, a man from Ottowa, and another woman who is delayed and has yet to arrive.  We went first to the National Museum of Ethiopia.  The artwork over the entrance has much symbolism which was explained to us:

We had an introductory talk on the makeup of Ethiopia both geopolitically and ethnically.  Currently the country is 55% Christian and 40% Muslim; the Muslim fraction is growing quickly.  We were told there are no religious conflicts, which, if true, is lovely and a model.  We will be spending most of our time in Abyssinia, the northern part of the country.  The great rift splits the country, running northeast to southwest.  18% of the land mass is in the rift, 53% is highland where we are now (7500 ft. above sea level) and the remainder is lowland. 

Because at the museum the focus is on the multiple UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the country, the collection is eclectic.  There are exhibits about the Queen of Sheba and Solomon, about textiles, about pre-Christian religion, about music, and so on.  And, of course, the highlight is Lucy, the 3.2 million year old skeleton who is believed to represent the first humans to walk erect.  I’ll show a couple of highlights: Here’s a David’s Harp or Begena, a 10-string instrument dating to biblical times:

The tuning must have been difficult:

Here’s a pre-Christian altar with a Sabean inscription, read, we were told, as if you were plowing—that is, back and forth.  The first line left to right, the next right to left, and alternating:

And here’s Lucy:

There were multiple exhibits around Lucy with explanations of the changes in anatomy which allowed for an erect posture and bipedal mobility.  It was nicely done.  Following the museum visit we drove up and up Mt. Entoto, to about 10,000 feet overlooking the city.  There were literally hundreds of dress shops all selling similar-looking white garments:

The most modest of houses had satellite dishes on top—we were told that once you have the equipment, the fees to access TV from the satellites are very very low:

The women on the mountain earn money by going up into the woodlands and gathering giant bundles of firewood which they bring down and sell.  This woman was bringing down her second bundle of the day, and our guide said she will sell if for about the equivalent of ten dollars. 

This man is climbing up to church, and is carrying a “prayer stick.”  We had seen similar wooden “sticks” being carried onto the airplane from Tel Aviv to Addis Ababa and had not known what they were.  Our guide said the church services last about three hours, and the congregation stands.  These are supports which can be used under the arm like a crutch or in front of you to lean on.

The traffic is horrendous, the crowds of people are enormous, and our driver was wonderful.  We went back to the hotel, washed up, and had a get-together cocktail party and then dinner.  Tomorrow we go to the Ethnological Museum in Haile Selassie’s former palace, and to a major market.  Can’t wait!