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Our Final Day in Gore
by Kay Heizer
Our final day in Gore was also market day and we wanted to experience the market and possibly purchase some Ethiopian products. We had been advised to take one of the older children from the Gore Children’s Home with us so they could help to interpret and bargain. Four white female “ferengis” , foreigners, can cause quite a stir in itself and would certainly bring extremely high prices of merchandise. Tariku and Misku, two of the older children, and three 10 year old boys, Bacha, Wondimu, and Sutxen were our excursion
Companions. Through the crowded streets we went, hand in hand, Bacha holding my hand and Tariku expertly explaining the way to bargain. This was exciting!
After we stopped for a while, I asked Tariku if I could purchase some
sugar cane for each of them. He seemed surprised that I wanted to do that
but went ahead and bought three long stalks that could be shared among our
youth shoppers. There were three coins left from the one birr I had given
him to purchase the sugar cane and I told Tariku to keep them. Again he looked
surprised but finally put the coins in his pocket. As we walked on, we came
upon a man who was blind, disabled and begging. Tariku turned and asked me
if he could give one of the coins to the beggar. As I had been warned that
giving to beggars was dangerous as it could bring on a rush of beggars, I
had not given any money to any beggar. Then here I am walking down the street
with a pocket full of money, buying this and that, and a child, with little
to nothing to call his own, gives what little he has away. God have mercy
on me.
As we continued on around the streets of Gore, I spotted a pastry shop and
suggested we take the children in for a pastry and soda to finish out our
morning of shopping. Well, what a stir we created. Here were three white
females and four young boys inside of an establishment that is normally frequented
just by men, (Allison and Misku had gone back to the Gore Home earlier in
the trip, but not matter, we were having a grand time. Drawing more attention
to ourselves, we put enough chairs around one of the small tables so we could
all sit together and enjoy each other’s company. If I could have frozen this
moment in time I would have. The look on the faces of these young boys was
priceless, smiles almost bigger than their mouths could accommodate and eyes
as wide as saucers. This was a totally new experience, not only for them
but for me as well. This was a great day, one of the best of the trip (1998/99,
youth trip to Ethiopia). Sharing this time with the children and feeling
such joy was overwhelming. Life was good and I felt truly blessed.
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