White Threads

Yesterday being Saturday, we had a free day to do things. We decided to go back to Sabahar, as we really wanted to search for a particular gift. Though I had already been there, I wanted to share it with my family as well.

With yesterday being a sunny day, we did the washing in the morning and put it out in the sun to dry. Then we headed out of the compound to see if there was a taxi in the laneway that might be able to take us to Sabahar.

There was. But the driver wasn’t there. One of the fellows hanging round the gate said wait 3 minutes and he’d get the driver. Shortly afterwards, he came back with the driver, who seemed to have a strong likeness to him – brothers, I think. The first brother spoke English pretty well, and communicated to his brother where we wanted to go, and the fact that we wanted him to wait an hour for us, and then bring us back. We agreed on a price and hopped in.

We could see almost immediately that this was not a taxi of creature comforts. Most taxis here are a little beaten up, but this was by far the worst we had seen… He drove us out onto the main road, and then the car proceeded to stall.

And it did not start again.

The driver apologised profusely and said that we would have to find someone else to go with. No worries. The road we were on is very busy, and taxis go past all the time.

We crossed to the other side of the road, which was heading the direction we wanted to go, and waited to hail a taxi. A few went past, but they were already occupied. Then we saw our ex-driver coming down the road with some sort of container, perhaps off to find petrol (gas) or oil for his car. As he got near us, he hailed an oncoming taxi, and arranged with the driver (in Amharic) to take us where he hadn’t been able. We tipped him for his trouble.

So, into the new taxi we got, this one was much more plush and it seemed that it would have a better chance of taking us where we wanted to go.

The driver took us on what seemed a very circuitous route. Maybe he was avoiding traffic? We had to go to Mekanisa, which is pretty much on the other side of the city. Once we got to Mekanisa, we were relying on my memory to get us there, as there was no way that the driver would know where Sabahar was, and as I’ve explained before, no-one knows any street names etc. You just go by landmarks.

So eventually we saw something that I recognised from my previous journey there: Prime, which is a shop selling ham, bacon etc – rather a treat in Ethiopia. I now knew that we were getting close.

From studying the map, and going from my memory, I knew that we veered around towards the right. Eventually there would be a very lush, green area in front of us, which is some sort of foreign compound, and there we would turn right. We found the right road, and I was pleased to see that I still recognised the surroundings. We drove further up the road. I knew that at some point, it was off an even smaller road to the right.

But where…? The driver kept asking “further?” Yes. But I was becoming less sure. Then we saw the Salam Nurses College up ahead. Somewhere I had read that it was behind that! And sure enough, just after the college sign, there was a small sign saying “Sabahar” in both English and Amharic. The driver visibly relaxed (and so did I!!). He could now see that we were actually going somewhere that existed!

He dropped us off, and we knocked on the gate. Most properties have a large wall around them, with a wide car gate, and a smaller gate within that for people to go through. A guard opened the gate for us and in we went.

The grounds are delightful. Beautiful lush, green gardens, with fabric hanging to dry on ropes stretched across verdant spaces. There were also silk cocoons hanging, that had obviously been washed and left to dry.

We made our way down to the showroom, and began the delights of choosing our special gift. The girls found a basket of flowers made from dyed cocoons. They each chose one. We don’t know whether Australian customs and quarantine (which is extremely strict) will let them back in the country, but they can enjoy them here, at least. The sales girl also showed the girls some silkworms that they had sitting munching on some leaves. I asked if the leaves were mulberry leaves, but she said that they don’t have mulberry here; they were castor leaves.

After some time, Kathy, the owner of the business arrived, and I was able to arrange with her to go back one day this week to interview her for a magazine that I write for. I’m really looking forward to doing that.

I took some photos for the article, of some even fatter silkworms that they had downstairs, and some hanks of yarn that had been dyed and were drying in the sun.

We then called the taxi driver who came back and picked us up and took us back home on a much more direct route through the city, rather than south of it.

I was so pleased that the excursion worked out, and that I was able to remember where it was. I had spent some time the night before rewinding my memory to try to find out what the environs looked like, so that I would recognise it as we got closer. I was happy that I had paid enough attention the first time I went with Jacqui, even though we had been chatting as we drove.

In the afternoon I expanded my Addis cooking repertoire to include snickerdoodles (recipe here, but I only made a half quantity). They turned out very flat (we’ll blame that on the altitude – good excuse!) but very yummy. I think I’ll be making them again while here, as they are much less crumbly than the other recipe I had been using here. And we are all suckers for cinnamon in this family, so they are very popular!