The Stories of the Storytellers

It is impossible to take a picture of just one kid in a town in Ethiopia. Our site visit in the photo-hungry, kid-heavy village of Gonda Boya a few weeks ago made that clear.

We spent July 14^th trough 21^st in the Harar area in Ethiopia’s dry Eastern region. Harar itself is an impressive city with an impressive history to match; it’s an ancient city with 99 mosques and a distinct language packed into the confines of the old walls. But our work did not bring us within those walls—we had two topics of focus in the area nearby: the work of the Hararghe Catholic Secretariat (HCS) and the water situation in Gonda Boya. I’ll get to HCS in another blog post, because it was really Gonda Boya that brought out the kids in force. The village of 2,000 rubs up against the walls of Haramaya University, one of Ethiopia’s major universities, and has very limited water access.

Around mid-July, Katie and I made it out there and were shown around the village by a community leader. While walking around, we were almost constantly surrounded by children. There would be a long line behind us on the tighter paths, and a wide formation to our sides when we were in the open areas. Taking a picture of just one was not an option; as soon as one of us brought up our camera, they would all crowd around whoever or whatever was our intended target. Then they would all want to see the picture of themselves on our camera of course. Some would wander with us far from their home, and our host would occasionally scold them and scare them back. Some were very shy, but most were not. Some were carrying jerry cans of water.

Here they are:

Photobomb

Two at Sunset

Serious One

Pinkest Shirt

Out for a Stroll