Life in an RV
Ethiopia in an RV
Ethiopian Spiced Cottage Cheese
This week groceries cost $19.24 so just 76 cents went into the Beach Bag. The total after week 21: $126.61.
This blog is dedicated to my friend, Liz Hill...she has been through a lot with me and she had suggested this country a while back so she deserves this dedication. FYI...the food was DELICIOUS!
Ethiopia is a landlocked state in the Horn of Africa. It's capital is Addis Ababa. It's the second most populous nation in Africa. It's bordered by Djibouti and Somalia to the east, Kenya to the south, Sudan to the west and Eritrea to teh north. Although most African nations are, in their modern form, less than a century old, Ethiopia has been an independent state since ancient times, being one of the oldest countries in the world. It's a land of natural contrasts, with magnificent waterfalls and volcanic hot springs. Ethiopia is home to some of Africa's highest mountains, as well as some of the world's lowest points below sea level. Africa's largest cave is located at Sof Omar and Ethiopia's northernmost area at Dallol is one of the hottest places year-round on Earth. The biggest export commodity is coffeebeans. It is tenth in the world for producing livestock and other main commodities are: khat, gold, leather products and oilseeds.
The people of Ethiopia migrate to urban areas motivated by the hope of better living conditions. In peasant associations, daily life is a struggle to survive. About 16% of the population is living on less than $1 (US) per day (2008 study). Only 65% of the households consume the World Health Organization's (WHO) minimum standard of food per day (2200 kilocalories), with 42% of children under 5 being underweight. 75% of poor families share their sleeping quarters with livestock and 40% of children sleep on the floor. The average family size is 6-7 people, living in a 30 square meter mud and thatch hut with less than two hectacres of land to cultivate. Since landholdings are so small, farmers cannot let the land lie fallow, which reduces soil fertility. This land degradation reduces the amount of fodder needed for livestock, which causes low milk yields. Since the community burns manure for fuel, rather than plowing it back into the ground for fertilizer, crop production is reduced. Low productivity of agriculture leads to inadequate incomes for farmers, therefore, hunger, malnutrition and diseases run rampant. When the farmers are unhealthy, they have a hard time working the land and productivity drops even more. It's a vicious circle of life for these Ethiopians.
Although conditions are drastically better in the cities, all of Ethiopia suffers from poverty and poor sanitation. In Addis Ababa, 55% of the population lives in slums. Although there are some wealthy neighborhoods with mansions, most people make their homes with whatever materials are available with walls made of mud or wood. Only 12% of homes have cement or tile floors. Ethiopia sorely lacks in waste treatment facilities, and this is the major contributor to the spread of illness-through the water supply.
Ethiopian cuisine usually consists of spicy vegetables and meat dishes, usually in the form of wat, a thick stew, served atop of injera, a large piece of sourdough flatbread, which is about 20 inches in diameter and made from fermented teff flour. Ethiopians eat with their right hands (the left is used for bathroom purposes), using pieces of injera to pick up bites of entrees and side dishes. No utensils are used. Traditional cuisine uses no pork of any kind, as most of the population are Orthodox Christians, Muslims or Jews and they are, thus, prohibited from eating pork.
Coffee (buna) originates from Ethiopia and is a central part of Ethiopian beverages. Equally important is the ceremony that goes along with the serving of coffee, which is sometimes served from a jebena, a clay coffee pot in which the coffee has been boiled. In most homes there is a dedicated coffee area surrounded by fresh grass with special furniture for the coffee maker. A complete ceremony has 3 rounds of coffee accompanied by the burning of frankincense.
A mesob is a table top on which food is usually served. A mesob is usually woven from straw. It has a lid that is kept on until it is time to eat. Just before the food is ready, a basin of water and soap is brought out for hand washing. When the food is ready, the top is taken off the mesob and the food is placed inside. When the meal is finished, the basin of water and soap is brought back out for the hands to be washed again.
This was the first week I decided to mention a charity to consider donating to. I chose Charity Water for the simple fact that they say for a $20 donation, you can help one person in an African country have clean drinking water for a lifetime. The website is www.charitywater.org and the toll free phone number is 888-707-6466.
