Climb Mount Fury!

No, this is not the codeword to be used to attack the Ethiopian Navy at anchor; Ethiopia is a landlocked country, after all, and has no ships, although it does apparently still have a naval service. Rather, “Climb Mount Fury” was what a group of us spent our Sunday afternoon doing. Four Canadians and one Austrian lawyer, in case of litigation or edelweiss, hiked up the mountain reaching the summit where a picnic lunch was eaten beside the microwave towers. Of course as soon as we arrived near a village at the base of the trail up the hill, the kids come out. We gained five escorts of about 8 to 10 years old. They address you as “You!” or “Ferenji,” the Amharic word for foreigner (yes that is probably where Star Trek: Deep Space Nine got it from) and ran around us excitedly as we hiked, showing us their paths up the hill. One custom that takes some getting used to is the practice of holding hands. The kids, all boys there were no girls to be seen, will walk beside you and quite innocently hold your hand, as they would with their friends. For a North American this can be a little off-putting but they are so keen to talk to you in their surprisingly good English (much better than my Amharic!) that you accept it for what it is: a getsure of friendship. They started asking us questions and were fascinated to be told the time. That involved a little math as Ethiopia has its own clock and calendar, the result of not being colonized. 6:00 AM is zero hour and every hour after that is counted, so 7:00 AM is 1 o’clock, 11:00 AM is 5 o’clock. They also have thirteen months, but as we were only there for the afternoon, that wasn’t an issue. They taught us the words for donkeys, goats, cats and dogs, and how to count to ten. The also, as any 10 yr-old boy would, probably got us to repeat rude words as some of their language lessons produced howls of laughter. I am sure I said the Amharic version of “poopyhead” a few times.

It took about two hours to climb to the top. When we reached the top we discovered that one of the boys, Ichibo, had stood on a stick the wrong way and ripped off a toe nail…ouch! We noticed him limping a bit and so we got out our first aid kit (always be prepared!), cleaned and dressed the toe (see the picture) and he was soon back running around as if nothing had happened. I tried to think what would have happened if a Canadian adult, let alone a kid, had had the same experience. There would have been tears, the hike would have been over, and 911 dialed, I have no doubt. Your perspective changes when you see things like that. This 10-year-old boy was one tough cookie, as were his brothers and friends. At the summit we shared our food with the boys; the salami and cheese were not popular at all, while the raisins and peanut butter cookies were.

We hiked down the mountain in about and hour and half led by our ever-increasing band of guides. We passed a man moving his herd of cows and were taken a little aback when we noticed he was carrying a sub-machine gun slung on his back. Rustlers beware! When we got back to the road we brought out our last surprise….a soccer ball. The boys dove at it and we left them starting a pick up game on the dusty road to their village - all in all a good day. The scenery was spectacular and it was good to get out of the city and see some of the real Ethiopia.