Marizanne: 9 June 2009

Last night I slept like someone who just finished a marathon. The
embarrassing thing is: we mostly stood and sat and waited the biggest
part of yesterday at the Sudanese embassy. Believe me, it can be
tiring ;)
At dinner last night Lodie, Anja and I decided that Addis Ababa should
only be visited in transit – a means to an end. Ethiopian Air is a
great airline and anyone who travels to Addis will have a pleasant
experience on the flight. It is just once you get here and you're not
on business or visiting friends the city does not offer a lot. I find
it rather sad. For tourists to come and visit Africa there needs to be
some things that can be visited. One can only pray and wish that in 10
years' time the situation will have changed for the better.
One thing that I've noticed here is that the poor helps out the poor.
This is something that one does not often find in Western countries.
After breakfast Lodie and I went to print the photo of Idi and me that
we took yesterday. Lodie also still has the photo of him and Idi that
he took last year on his motorcycle trip. We presented Idi with the
photos as a way to say thank you for his help (cough) and patience
(cough) yesterday.
For lunch we went to the Sheraton Hotel. We were even driven to the
entrance with a golf car! We had the Sheraton Addis Club Sandwich and
felt like African royalty. The high standard is something that the
whole of Addis can strive for. Places and investment like the Sheraton
will lift up this community.
At 15:00 we had to be at the Sudanese embassy again to hopefully
receive our visas. I am glad to say that they opened at 15:00 and we
got our visas in less than 5 minutes. It is my great honour to
announce that Idi (the main man) gave as Colgate smile as we gave him
the photos. I think he got all warm in fuzzy…on the inside � Addis
treated us well today.
After three days in Addis I want to mention some universal phenomena
that I came across:
#Everywhere in the world you'll find some kind of traffic jam.
#Poverty is in every corner of the globe.
#Friendship and friendliness can be found if you open yourself to it.
It starts with you.
#A smile and respect goes a long way.
#We stereotype people and do not give them a chance to prove
themselves as individuals.
I think we tend to forget that in the end all people are merely
people. We all want to love and be loved in return. The African
people are carrying burdens because of wars and colonization. It is
time for us to open ourselves to this continent and experience Africa
without preconceived ideas.
We weren't hungry tonight seeing that we had a big lunch. Lodie and I
couldn't resist not eating so we each had a fruit salad. Anja was not
hungry at all.
Tomorrow we will be leaving Addis and driving up north. We are looking
forward to cleaner air and less noise. The internet will be even more
sacred and scarce up there so the blogs and photos may arrive in drips
and drabs. Greetings from Addis for the last time!