Day 4: Kolfe...

This is what the boys ate 90 % of the week...

Injera, (a traditional Ethiopian thin crepe like flat bread)

and a very runny form of wat. (stew)

I say runny, because there is no meat in their watt,

like what you would find at a restaurant,

only (the best I could tell)

shnkurt (onion) and nech shenkurt (garlic).

There may have been something else in it, but it was

small enough not to register in any chunks.

Twice they had a macaroni noodle

with the same looking sauce.

Fruit is a rarity for these boys, but something that visitors

are beginning to bring to them more as of late.

A few of the moms from Phoenix had given me

money to buy fruit for the orphanage.

This was the first of two fruit purchases on Thursday.

The fruit in Ethiopia is very different from here.

First, I NEVER saw a arenguady muz

(green banana) they were always over ripe.

The bertukans (oranges) however were always green,

but were very sweet.  I have never liked orange juice,

but I could have had the Ethiopian orange juice all day long.

It was delicious!  Pom (apples) were expensive,

so we skipped those since we were buying so much.

So often when a boy would come up for fruit, the boys

with me would give me a status on the waiting boy..

 " He is a smart Kolfe boy, he scored a 3.8 his exams" or

 "He is very smart college student..."

 and then ask me to present the fruit to the boy.

 I love that about them, they are so proud of each other.

Many of these boys I already knew had done well

 on their exams, because the boys would bring me

each other's exam papers to show them off.

The younger boys have their own smaller dining room...

(Where Mezgebu eats)

I loved that the older boys held back the mango,

and took them to the little kids and served it.

They really do look out for the younger kids.

Meet the Ox...

Later that 2nd afternoon, the boys were walking

 me up into the multipurpose room. 

It seemed completely natural to them to say,

 "There's the ox..."  Um yeah...

not one of my more controlled moments...

there on the ground not very far away was the ox's head.

He was set to be a rare treat... MEAT... for the

Graduation Ceremony on Saturday.