The Winning of Kwelanga- Part 1

Carly, one of the most awesome people I got to meet this summer. She brought these very cool puppets with her and a story that we put on for Big AHOPE'S awards ceremony. Carly let me take home the story as I plan to share it with my students.

Once, in a village deep in the heart of Africa, there lived the great chief Abebe and his kind and beautiful daughter, Kwelanga. She had come to the age where she was ready to marry. The chief announced that any suitor who could pass his test of strength could marry the kind Kwelanga. Young men traveled from far and wide- King's sons, prince's with land and riches came on horseback but each time left with their head hung low for not having successfully passed the king's challenge. Kwelanga quietly watched the suitors come and go and said not a word.

In a far, distant village there lived a boy who had heard of Kwelanga's good heart and beauty. He told his father he wished to go and try his luck at winning the hand of Kwelanga. But his father replied "Wah!- We have no land, we have no birr to offer, do not be a fool to think you could succeed." But Zamo listened to his heart and traveled 3 days and 3 nights to the village of Chief Abebe and Kwelanga.

When Zamo arrived in the village, he bowed low to the chief who asked, "Why do you come here, have you lost your way?"
"I have come from very far to accept your challenge, and I wish to marry your daughter, Kwelanga."
"Wah!" said the Chief "but you are a mere peasant, the others were sons of kings and still could not pass my tests."
"I wish to try" Zamo bravely replied.

At that moment, Kwelanga appeared. She was carrying her gourd for water down to the river and hummed a sweet tune as she walked along. She turned and saw Zamo and felt a smile cross her face and a happiness fill her heart that she had not known before. Kwelanga went back to her room and waited to see what would happen.

"Your first challenge will be to cut down this forest of trees with this ax. All must fall by nightfall or you will have failed."

Zamo immediately went to work chopping at the trees, but the ax was so dull! He looked out at the forest of trees and began to lose hope. Surely it was impossible to cut down all the trees with this dull ax. Just then he heard a strange and beautiful song:
"Tall tree, strong tree
Stay tall not too long tree
lay low for Zamo
Bow your heads low."

At that, with each swing of his ax, tree after tree fell and Zamo stacked them neatly outside Chief Abebe's home. And when the Chief saw what he had done, he said "Wah! Surely this test was too easy! I shall think of one harder than this. For now you may rest and I will see you at sunrise."

TO BE CONTINUED....

Yes... I still believe.....

So a couple of weeks ago, a very dear, old friend of mine was joking about why we were not going to end up together-- now there is of course the fact that he hunts animals, hates the city, and likes to spend days watching the Steelers. But the biggest drawback is that he refuses to leave the country.. despite attending a friend's out of country wedding a year ago(where by all accounts, he had a blast)--- he insists that he is never leaving again. So he asked me, "Are you seriously still holding out that someone will go on these trips with you?" and I said, "yes." His reply, "was how many years have you been looking for that...?"--- hmm... "you've been graduated for 12 years Tiff and still haven't found it." Okay... good point, but yes, I still want that... I want someone who will travel with me to experience all the cool and amazing things that come with international travel. Yes, I realize that they may not be able to go to all the places I can or have the same time off as me.. but hopefully can for some of it. And I'm willing to hold out for it.. and truthfully if I'm really honest, I'd love to find someone who would also be interested in global affairs and volunteer tourism--- maybe a stretch..... but yes dear friend, I still believe.

Outside Addis...

Could this little guy be any cuter?? He was one of the children I wrote about this summer when I wrote about Hossana and the trip with Abebe. I have a picture of the two of us(the only photo I got of me there) framed in my office. He makes me smile. I hope Abebe was able to get them some of these photos.

Good Luck Alicia!!

The girl on the right is my friend Alicia. She is a physician's assistant and is leaving today to go to the Dominican Republic to operate on quake victims from Haiti. I'm very proud of her and her skills and wish her well. Please keep her in your thoughts.

Oh and the reason she and our friend Patty are dressed like that is that it was Patty's 80's themed anniversary party and she surprised Alicia with birthday cupcakes.

Little A Classroom

This was the classroom at Little A-- After we made the folded spiders for Itzy, Bitzy Spider, the teacher at LA asked me if I could hang them in the little classroom there. This was a super big deal because we often felt that the nannies felt that many of our activities were strange or too difficult for some of the kids.. and they don't really hang things up in their classrooms in Ethiopia. I was able to take pictures in one of the government schools and the only thing hanging up is the chalkboard.

Storm and Thunder

At Little AHOPE, two of the first kids who I really felt I connected with were Storm and Thunder. Storm and Thunder are twins and about 4 years old. They are absolutely adorable and have very short hair that you can tell they must have had to have their heads shaved recently. They were probably the first kids who wanted to spend time with me and the other volunteers. They love to be held and spun around and put up on the wall outside or small wall next to the main the house where we would sit and watch the kids play. They really just wanted to sit next to you up high, but were too little to figure out how to get up there. But if Storm is sitting next to you then Thunder wants to sit next to you, but if you pick up Thunder and put her up there, then Storm is not happy with you. Very competitive like sisters but are almost always together... also like sisters. They made you feel useful though because they wanted you to help them color or play with playdoh or Legos. I took them on the Ferris Wheel at Vera's and they were daredevils, kept trying to get up to peer over the railing!!

One day about a month into our summer, we were spending the afternoon playing with play doh and I had been working with Storm- just flattening her play doh and then having her cut out animal shapes with cookie cutters. She had such a great attention span, we were doing this for quite a long time. Then it was just about time for us volunteers to go and for the kids to have dinner when suddenly it started raining. So we hung out in the living room, and Storm climbed up on my lap and we were playing patty cake. Then Thunder wanted on my lap, so I let her climb up behind Storm and normally she would have argued to get to be in front to play but then it really started storming and both girls jumped and both just laid down in my lap and hugged each other and me until the storm died down. It was so cute and also showed that they were willing to share when they needed to.

UPDATE: I got lucky and I got to meet Storm and Thunder's mother when she came to pick them up in late July-- and seeing the three of them together was amazing!! Wish I could share the pictures with you-- a beautiful family!!

Very cool giveaway!!!

Maya’s Mercato is holding a giveaway for one Amharic Tee! (of your choice) and a logo tote bag.

Free.

Like in – it costs nothing!

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Hurry - click on the link and add your comment for a chance to win one of these fantabulous tees and a tote bag!

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The giveaway ends January 20th!

Link

And let me tell you-- these are great tees!! I love mine and wear it all the time. Plus if you click on the link.. you will get to see two awfully cute models!!

Happy Ethiopian Christmas!!!

(This was one of the cards the kids made me at my going away party)

Today is Ethiopian Christmas... here is a link that gives you six steps to celebrate. It explains the holiday in Ethiopia and I wish I could share pictures of all the kids in their white outfits. They are very cute. Plus I love that when I look through the AHOPE website photos, how many of the kids I recognize.. though they are much older.

A New Year...

2009:
Fundraised and shared AHOPE and Ethiopia with all my friends and family.
Went on the trip of a lifetime.
Saw another beautiful country and culture.
Made so many lifelong friends.

2010:
So far in the two days, I've spent time with a dear friend from high school, who moved herself to teach Environmental Education in Costa Rica for a year or maybe two. Her pictures and stories are amazing and I'm so impressed that she is so fluent in Spanish-- clearly she paid better attention in Mr. Hayak's Spanish class or maybe it's the semester she spent studying Tapirs in CR back in college.
Then today, I met with one of the co-founders of Spark Ventures. This is the not for profit that I talked about in November.... it is so inspiring to talk with someone that passionate about partnering with friends across the globe-- that is their goal, a true partnership with the chosen organization in Zambia.

I guess it is just starting to make me think.. what is the next move.... I know I want to go back to Ethiopia-- I'm just not sure what my goal should be.

But to start off 2010-- I plan to try to be healthier-- eating, exercise and working on stress in better ways. And while I try to do that, I wish all of you PEACE in 2010!!!!