A Night on the Street in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - part 3

"No place to lay my head"
ethiopia journal, feb 19 part 3

As Andrew and I began to sit down, a boy who was probably 14 or 15 jumped up and gave me a piece of the cardboard he was sitting on, so that I didn’t have to sit on the dirt. He gave the other piece he had to Andrew, which left him with nothing left to sit on. It left me in awe! This little gesture was so amazing to me. The thought process that had to go through this boys mind that said I will give whatever I have to make a stranger just a little more comfortable – even if it means going without. As I looked around I realized that this was a place that several people stayed not only at night but during the day as well. There was trash, paper and junk everywhere, so having something to sit on was something of value. I felt bad about taking the cardboard, but it was one of those situations where I didn’t feel like I could reject it. I took the cardboard and sat down on it.

One of the men had a little fire going and he had made some sort of tea, which he quickly offered to us. This man seemed to be the voice for the group. We quickly refused the tea with thankfulness. It really did amaze me that within thirty seconds of approaching the group we had been offered cardboard and something to drink. The generosity of those that have so little was stunning to me and I started to think that this place might not be so bad to spend the night in.

It was now that I finally got a good look at the three boys who were with us. The oldest had a red hooded sweatshirt on and was much taller than the other two. His face was plain and stoic, but he didn’t seem sad. The second boy was animated. You could tell that he thought it was cool to be on a different kind of adventure with Ephraim, Andrew and me. The third boy didn’t look very good and as they sat down he quickly laid down. The next time I glanced over he had laid his head in the lap of the second boy, and the second boy was patting his head as he slept. It was amazing care for each other. I was stunned by the heart he had for his friend.

After being offered some chote (the local drug of choice) the conversation began to get louder and I could tell something wasn’t right. The main leader and Ephraim were talking and it seemed a little tense – but everything seems a little tense when you are displacing yourself. Long story short, the spokesman for the group seemed to want us to leave. The conversation died down a bit, but then two of the guys who had been following us both sat down separately with the group. Soon two more guys who seemed to be a part of the regular group sat down and began talking. The spokesman then said that he did not want us here because we were there to laugh at them. Ephraim assured them that this was not our intention, which worked for a while but then the talking began to get really tense. I think the idea of two foreigners (who have almost a god-like status in Ethiopia – or at least a rock star status) actually wanting to experience what these boys experience was something that was impossible for them to grasp. Our presence with them just made them very uncomfortable. They kept questioning “why and would not accept any of our answers. Finally the two that joined the group late said that we might actually be putting them in danger by staying with them because others around might not like that we are there and treat them badly because we were with them. Finally we decided to leave. As I got up to leave I really wanted to keep the piece of cardboard that had been given to me so that I could remember the night and this incredibly kind gift. But I could never actually walk away – keeping something that the boy would use. I gave him both pieces of cardboard and thanked him.

At that time Ephraim decided that we needed to go to his house so that anyone following us would leave us alone. After a while we would then look for another place to sleep. The second boy woke the third boy up from his sleep and the six of us began traveling to Ephraim’s house.