WEEKender and ACHA (African Caribbean Heritage Alliance) are teaming up to offer a series of in-depth looks at the continent of Africa. St. Maarten is a fabric woven from threads of many colours and textures. Both strong and soft, the pattern is uniquely our own. Each person, each cultural group, brings their influences and contributes to the weave. But where does your thread come from? For many St. Maarteners, their threads are tied to Africa. Let’s learn more about this – the world’s second largest continent.
In this the third part of our series on Ethiopia, we will follow the advice of St. Maartener Nastasia Verheijen who has made three trips to the country, most recently just last month. Nastasia travelled there via Amsterdam with her boyfriend Robbert Schrijvers, for a short stay of one week before travelling on to Tanzania. Nastasia knows Ethiopia pretty well, having spent five months there doing a student internship in 2009, and visiting a second time in 2011 when she stayed for three weeks.
On this trip, Nastasia and Robbert stayed their entire time in Addis Ababa because their time was rather short and they hoped to touch base with some of Nastasia’s old friends, in particular a very good friend named Ahadu, a gym teacher she had met when she was an intern. Long story short, the two are planning to return as soon as possible to see more of the country together, she’s hoping to play tour guide to him, with enough time to really see the country.
Nastasia’s idea of the perfect trip to Ethiopia begins in Addis, the capital city, “Take in the sights, sounds, and smells of the city. It’s so vibrant and the people are so hospitable. They really look at you, especially if you are white. They want to know where you came from. They invite you into their homes, even.” Robbert found that the people were very easy to talk to, and he, being from The Friendly Island, was also easy to talk to; so walking around Addis Ababa was social to the extreme.
Nastasia recommends starting with the museums: “The National Museum is so interesting; it has all the history of the country. And if you go down to the basement, they have the bones of early humans; they have ‘Lucy’ down there! And you can see how humans evolved.”
Ethiopia is known as the Land of Origins, and rightly so. Biologists have traced the ancestry of all humans to this region of eastern Africa, thus the skeleton known as Lucy. This is the reason, according to Nastasia, that Ethiopians welcome everyone, from any race or nationality, with the sentiment of “Welcome Home.” “They truly believe that everyone is from there,” said the avid traveller.
A second museum is also worth visiting, although it’s a very sad place. Known as the Red Terror Museum, it documents much of the conflict in the late 70s that led to the deaths of between 500,000 and 2,000,000 Ethiopians. The genocide started as political campaign by Mengistu who lives to this day in Zimbabwe. He was charged and convicted in absentia in 2007 for the crime of genocide by an Ethiopian court. Ethiopians are still very affected by this “red terror.”
While in Addis Ababa, Nastasia and Robbert stayed at a Youth Hostel which she described as “amazing.” For about $30 a night, they had a private room with their own bath and a full breakfast in the mornings. “That’s when we met people who are also travelling through the country,” said Nastasia. “There was a man from South Korea, another from New Zealand, and we met a man from Martinique that we exchanged contact info with.”
They enjoyed visiting the market where traditional clothes are sold and eating street food from vendors. “For me, it is really about the food. I love the injera (flat bread made from teff flour) and everything is so cheap.” She explained that the Ethiopians have a lot of religious holidays and they fast on those days; they also fast every Friday, but their “fast” means no meat or animal products, so it’s like a vegan festival. Anyone that is vegetarian or vegan travelling to Ethiopia will not have any problems finding food they can eat.
Another Ethiopian food ritual that she explained is the social aspect of making and sharing coffee. “Actually, I only drink coffee when I’m in Africa. After all, this is where coffee comes from, and it’s not like the coffee here or in Europe. They start with green coffee beans, freshly harvested, and they roast them at their home. The beans are brought out to the guests and everyone smells the aroma, but only the most important person gets to decide when they are roasted just right. Then the beans are ground in a mortar and pestle and put into a pot with water and boiled. They serve it with popcorn! It sounds strange, but it goes well together. And there is a tradition that when you drink coffee with someone; after one cup, you are polite, two cups is more polite; but by the third cup, you are friends.”
Nastasia suggests anyone visiting this ancient land spend their first few days in Addis but then head north. “The Simian Mountains are amazing; they even have snow – just huge mountains everywhere. This is the source for most of the country’s water and their agriculture is there. And then go to Lalibela; I mean that place is so powerful, with the rock-hewn churches that Ras Bushman and Raisa went to; almost anyone who goes there will just immediately become religious. You have to see it for yourself, no photo or video can do it justice. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but not in this case. No picture, no words; just go there and see it for yourself.”
After Lalibela, she recommends going to Lake Tana and the Blue Falls: “This is the source of the Blue Nile and it’s very beautiful.” She hopes to show all this to Robbert on their next trip and hopes to see some of the southern regions where many tribes are living in close proximity together. Called the Southern Nationalities and People’s Region, it’s very different from most of the rest of the country.
With so many bonds forming between St. Maarten and Ethiopia, it seems a visit to this unique land is more possible than ever. Contact ACHA for more information go to: www.afrocaribbeanalliance.org or send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
