ETHIOPIA

READ

One of my goals when I started this project was to learn something about different countries through their literature. In some cases, this hasn’t been possible, as the only books translated into English by authors in certain countries aren’t necessarily about those countries. For example, the only English translation of a novel by an Andorran author that I’m aware of is set in ancient Egypt.

The book I chose to read for Ethiopia, however, taught me a great deal about a sad era in that country’s history. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze, by Maaza Mengiste, takes place in the mid-1970s, and the legendary Emperor, Haile Selassie, is about to be deposed. He has enjoyed an almost god-like status in Ethiopia for decades, not only because of his claim to be a descendant of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, but because of his stature in the international community.

At the beginning of this book, though, many in Ethiopia have begun to turn on him, and a famine that has killed tens of thousands of people in the northeastern part of the country appears to be the tipping point that will lead to the end of his regime. The author tells the story through the experiences of an upper-middle class family in the capital city of Addis Ababa. The father, Hailu, is a respected doctor at Prince Mekonnen Hospital, where his wife Selam, the soul of the family, is dying of congestive heart failure. They have two adult sons, Yonas, who is married and has a young daughter, and Dawit, a law student who is involved in anti-government protests. Dawit’s childhood friend Mickey, who comes from a poor family, has joined the military because he has no other prospects. This will cause tension between him and Dawit when a group of military officers, collectively known as the Derg, assassinates the Emperor, his family, and officials from his administration, and takes control of the government.

The Derg embraces communism, and their takeover of the country brings drastic changes to the lives of Hailu and his family. They are forced to give up part of their housing to a man who will ensure that they and their neighbors follow the new way of doing things, and they live in fear of being denounced if they don’t obey all the directives of the new regime. Dawit becomes increasingly involved in anti-government activities, adding further intensity to the family's worries. The author does a superb job of making the reader feel the terror and anger that the characters are experiencing.

Moments of joy are very few and extremely far between in Beneath the Lion’s Gaze, but it held my interest and educated me to the horrors of that dark period in Ethiopia’s history. The author has a new book, The Shadow King, coming out this fall, and I’ll be sure to read that book too.

COOK

As most vegans probably know, Ethiopian cuisine is very vegan-friendly. So even though there were no particular dishes mentioned in Beneath the Lion’s Gaze that I wanted to make for this blog post, I had no trouble finding an abundance of recipes online for vegan or veganizable dishes.

The dish I decided to make was ingudai tibs, using a recipe from veggiebelly.com. This simple dish is basically a mushroom stir-fry mixed with tomatoes, onions, and bell pepper, and seasoned with an Ethiopian berbere spice mix. Ideally, it would be served with a spongy, fermented flatbread called injera, but I was afraid that trying to make injera would be outside the bounds of my culinary capabilities, so I just served the tibs over rice. Perfection!

GIVE

There are so many worthy Ethiopian projects listed on the GlobalGiving website that I had a terrible time choosing just one. After reading several project descriptions, the one that touched my heart the most was Retrak, which helps Ethiopian street children by providing them with “food, medicine, shelter, education and everything they need to build a new life away from the street.” Beyond taking care of their immediate needs, Retrak works to figure out how these children became homeless in the first place and helps to restore them to a safe family environment. More information about Retrak is available at https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/reaching-out-to-street-children-in-ethiopia/.

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