Day 2 – Kayla Does the Orthodox Church scene

That’s right… I went to church and it was the craziest thing I have ever experienced. The church was made of wood and metal sheets and we all piled into the building for what would turn out to be a 5-hour ordeal! I sat there near the front with a translator who tried to explain to me what was going on. He was absolutely hilarious. The poor guy was a student at Addis University, and his English was very limited, but he tried his best. I didn’t really need a translator for what was about to happen though.

It started off with singing, which turned into a full on concert with a raging mosh pit of elderly religious folk. Grown men were bent over swinging their arms and dancing. The pastor was jumping around on stage like a rock star. I loved it. Then we sat down for some more serious business… ridding people of demons. I kid you not it was insane. The pastor would say things in Amharic and women would literally faint in the crowd. They would collapse and scream and yell and the pastor would come over and yell “BAH! BAH!” and they would collapse on the floor. Men were carrying their wilted bodies to the front of the church where they were covered in blue blankets.

So I’m obviously sitting there in sheer amazement and skepticism until the miracle portion begins. A woman explains how she was once HIV positive, (side note: they say HIV positive/negative in English instead of Amharic which I thought was kind of interesting) but after praying for 3 months she was HIV negative. So that was kinda cool. But what really got me was a man I had seen being carried into the church before anyone was really there. He was placed in a chair with a pillow behind him. Apparently he was paralyzed from the waist down. The pastor went over to him and starting yelling things in Amharic and the whole crowd got involved. And then I saw the man stand up and start slowly walking around the room. I have no idea if he was actually paralyzed or if anything had really happened but the look on his face almost brought me to tears.

At the end of the session there was a wedding. I felt really lucky to see a traditional Ethiopian wedding. Abiti’s mom knew the people who were getting married. Afterwards we went to the wedding ceremony where I was obligated to eat more food. It was really difficult considering Abiti’s mom had already fed me lunch. I sat their just putting food in my mouth wishing people would stop piling the food on my plate. Eventually I couldn’t eat anymore even if my life depended on it, and they were happy. It was a bit awkward talking to the clergymen about religion since I don’t find myself to be overly religious. But they were still nice about it.

Everyone has been so kind to me here in Ethiopia. Abitit and his family said that I should stay with them in their house while I’m in Addis. It was the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me. They said that I was family now. It has been really difficult being a white young female in Addis. You are always obscure and strange no matter what you do. But Abiti has made my stay wonderful. His friends are so funny. We went to play pool after we were done with church. I really like being able to joke around with people my own age. I told them that one of the clergymen asked what my name meant and I didn’t know what to tell him. I told Abiti that Kayla means in banana in Hindu but that’s the only meaning I know of for my name. He thought that was hilarious so now I’m called banana. I wasn’t about to be the only one with absurd fruit nickname so I told Abiti his name was going to be Mango. And we decided that his other friend’s name was going to be cabbage because he was smaller than Abiti. It was so funny. Apparently Kayla is the word for a checkpoint in Amharic. I like banana better though.

Notes for today: I’ve seen Teletubies drawn on several different walls throughout the city. It’s kind of creepy. I’ve also tried to learn Amharic, which is challenging but the family thinks its funny when I try so I’ll keep at it.

Tagged as: Addis Ababa