Within the coming few sentences, I will try to express at least a part of an experience which is absolutely beyond words. Let me first introducing my character by saying that I am a quite reserved person who struggles to show feelings, and I prefer not to share personal matters with everyone. However, in such case, I want to try to make an exception as I believe that the deepest meaning of this experience is in the emotions that I felt which keeps my mind lost in the fog of Milan’s delirious life until today.
Even though I have been in several sites around the African continent for quite some time, my first day in Ethiopia felt like my first day in Africa.
There is no office experience that can be compared to one month of intense practical life in contact with the local people; in such case, you do not find yourself talking to a person from the other side of a table, but you are sitting in the same hut sharing food, water, essence, smiles, words and sensations.
The warm relationships established allowed me to immerse myself in the Ethiopian culture and essence, which never happened anywhere else. This concludes that this feeling of intimacy is the biggest gift I have got from this Country.
Day after day, a new discovery and a new reflection came.
Experiencing the school practically and physically has been without any doubt gratifying and interesting that is far beyond my expectations.
Approaching children from the other side of the world may seem difficult from the point of view of instructing and communicating ; however, I am not afraid of sounding banal when I say that since the first day, we were greeted like we are family.
Teaching and playing with those kids has been like having hundreds of little joyous and loving brothers and sisters. There is something in these children that I cannot define. Something that at the first glance breaks down every barrier between me and them, and I think that not even the richest language can count enough words to describe the emotions that I perceived every day for their little gestures, for their eyes that don’t hide joy and disappointments, for their smiles, sincere as anyone else in this world.
After all it would be unfair to reduce to some words such an immense sensation, and for this reason, I suggest to anyone who is reading those few words to live a real physical experience in order to understand what I am trying to explain.
Other than school activity, we had the chance to taste the real Ethiopia in walking with the kids to their villages, eating at their houses, and meeting their families. Visiting villages means experiencing the poverty of people; not with the look of pity of a curious visitor, but with the eyes of someone who is going at a friend’s place and notices that he lives in a different world, and yet, feels close to him. With no electricity, no running water, no sanitation, only the luckiest ones have mud walls, while some others just take cover with a metal sheet or some tatters, and yet they welcomed us as in a castle.
With some amazements, observing these people in their houses abstained me from thinking even for a moment that with a very paltry expense, they could live in better houses, or maybe just more similar to ours.
My first thought was that maybe they don’t need our houses, or they don’t need to be like us, and probably the ones who are in good health, have a safe and dry place to sleep, something to eat and a good education for their children, do not have such an unsatisfactory life, not even in a mud hut.
In spite of the problems of any nature which affect the Ethiopian society, it is encouraging to see how these people fight with pride, and stand barefooted with the same dignity of a prince.
At this point I was strongly convinced of the fact that quality of life is actually priceless; the ones who do not feel solidarity about themselves do not sleep well even at a Grand Hotel, while some richness in the soul is enough to sleep happily on the ground.
When people ask me what I got from this trip, I never know how to answer. Every single moment I lived is imprinted in my heart and a whole day would not be enough to tell it.
One month in Bole had more value than a year spent dealing with the daily tasks, and I can say I experienced it not as a trip, but as a piece of my life.
I would love to end those few words with a quote of the photographer Chester Higgins which says “We are not Africans because we are born in Africa, we are Africans because Africa is born in us”.
I believe Africa was born in me in early March in Ethiopia.
