Friday Friend or Family Feature...

will return next week? I sure hope so.

Here is something from someone far more eloquent. As I mentioned there was an online chat with Rebecca Haile on Monday. She is an amazing woman. I had a little trouble with the actual chat itself. When the moderator asked for questions, I panicked because I thought no one was participating. I quickly typed in a question. It wasn't that people weren't asking questions, they were asking excellent questions. They just weren't showing up on the screen yet. Here is my lame question, (Did I think I was the host of the Miss America pageant? Not my best moment.)

ME:If you had to describe Ethiopia in just a few words, what would they be? Would these be the same words you would use to describe the Ethiopia of your childhood?

Rebecca Haile: I've been putting off answering this question because it is so hard to distill. Ethiopia has so much history and beauty and culture,and yet all of that is undermined by the natural forces and political actors that have ravaged the country and its people.It is home for me, so I feel the connection to family and place that leaves me feeling uplifted after a visit.And yet I worry about the future - it is a country at a crossroads.
I did not appreciate all this complexity as a child.



Also, unrelated to this, I found out something sweet about Ethiopia in a webinar on rituals and ceremonies that my adoption agency presented. They believe in the tooth fairy in Ethiopia. Instead of the under the pillow/get cash/capitalistic American ritual, in Ethiopia they throw the tooth up onto the roof. The tooth fairy takes it and 'leaves' a new tooth. Nice huh? I like it. You will definitely see me in a couple of years, outside, standing in the grass, chucking a small Ethiopian tooth onto the roof. (Thereby solidifying my standing as mayor of Crazytown.)