I had the pleasure of spending this past week in Addis Ababa for work. Ethiopia is an enchanting country, filled with lovely landscapes and beautiful people. The job that took me to Africa was photographing schools for an organization called Edify (www.edify.org). After finishing up at one of the schools on the last day of work, I asked our bajaj (a blue 3-wheeled taxi) driver to take me to a good place to take pictures of Ethiopians in town. I wanted to get more images of adults since I had mostly been taking pictures of children in school.
Mesfin, whose name means "prince" in Amharic, took us to his own family's home. There, I got to meet his sister, niece, and stepmother. They were so hospitable and kind. Even though I didn't have time to stay for it, they invited me to a coffee ceremony.
I even got to meet their priest. He was so generous to let me take his picture, and when I tried to show him the picture on the back of my camera, they let me know that he has trouble with his sight. [I've sent the images to one of my new Ethiopian friends to have him print these pictures for Mesfin as well as the priest. They say he will be able to see the printed image.] Despite his failing sight, he gave me a blessing and placed his cross right on my forehead and lips with no problems.
Mesfin's family home was on this charming street, and on the way there, I took one of my favorite pictures I've ever taken :)
It was just a really great day. Thanks, Mesfin!
Stay tuned for more pictures after I edit and give the final images to Edify... and maybe images from my market experience.