Saturday was our day to visit and shop in Addis Ababa.
We really did all things that any foriengi could desire to do.
We visited some very amazing fair trade shops. Most notably a scarf and woven goods shop called Sabahra or something on that order. They have village women raise silk worms and breed them and all and harvest the silk and than they buy it from them and spin and weave it on site with local female labor. What a blessing this sort of thing is to the poorest here in Ethiopia.
Another notable shop was Salem's where I could have spent a small fortune had I been able to haul everything home with me. Salem is the proprieter and she hires local craft women and provide space for them to create and weave. They have beautiful woven scarfs, shawls and gabbi's (not sure of the spelling on that but it is a larger thin blanket like item. They also have lots of baskets of very fine quality and a good selection of jewelry and journals and cards and such.
We also went to the Churchill area which is shop after shop that is small and dark, staffed with locals more than willing to bargain to make the sale. Some of the items are Ethiopian craftsmanship some from other African countries esp. Kenya. Some probably as authentic as you could find at a bazaar at home (not African)
Another highlight of the day was Sichu's restaurant where we at lunch. I have been here 7 weeks now and the novelty of injera and wat has worn off. This is an American style hamburger place. Oh man does a home style hamburger taste good when you have eaten mostly injera and wat for 7 weeks. It was also a very cool place that would rival some college area burger joints in big cities. Definite industrial flavor and eclectic.
A full day of shopping and walking around unfamiliar places left us Foreingi gals pretty exhausted, but happy too
We really did all things that any foriengi could desire to do.
We visited some very amazing fair trade shops. Most notably a scarf and woven goods shop called Sabahra or something on that order. They have village women raise silk worms and breed them and all and harvest the silk and than they buy it from them and spin and weave it on site with local female labor. What a blessing this sort of thing is to the poorest here in Ethiopia.
Another notable shop was Salem's where I could have spent a small fortune had I been able to haul everything home with me. Salem is the proprieter and she hires local craft women and provide space for them to create and weave. They have beautiful woven scarfs, shawls and gabbi's (not sure of the spelling on that but it is a larger thin blanket like item. They also have lots of baskets of very fine quality and a good selection of jewelry and journals and cards and such.
We also went to the Churchill area which is shop after shop that is small and dark, staffed with locals more than willing to bargain to make the sale. Some of the items are Ethiopian craftsmanship some from other African countries esp. Kenya. Some probably as authentic as you could find at a bazaar at home (not African)
Another highlight of the day was Sichu's restaurant where we at lunch. I have been here 7 weeks now and the novelty of injera and wat has worn off. This is an American style hamburger place. Oh man does a home style hamburger taste good when you have eaten mostly injera and wat for 7 weeks. It was also a very cool place that would rival some college area burger joints in big cities. Definite industrial flavor and eclectic.
A full day of shopping and walking around unfamiliar places left us Foreingi gals pretty exhausted, but happy too
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