Ethiopia: Tuesday

Hopefully this note will make it into the blog. Ethiopia is both a sad and amazing place. Today we met with the President. It was interesting and more of a publicity op for him than anything. ETV covered the meeting... he didn't say much. Just a brief thank you for our efforts here. Press photos only but one of the official photographer had photos for us to purchase. Today was a free day (no clinic). We were lucky to have a woman as our tour guide and she owns a textile factory. Her factory produces textiles under fair trade conditions and she hires local women and men who have difficulties obtaining jobs. One worker making hand-loomed carpets was struck with polio! She then took us around to different areas of town, one area filled with Somalian refuges. There are many women in the group so we had no difficulty supporting the local commerce!
This evening we went to the home of another affluent business woman for traditional ethiopian dinner. It turns out that they fast from meat two days a week so have a large selection of vegetarian dishes. It was a nice experience.
I am exhausted and we have early clinic tomorrow.
See you all soon!
Michelle