Houston Amharic Class

Ethiopians are truly amazing! Debbie, our Houston-area planner, put together monthly gatherings for families with Ethiopian children. I missed the first event last month because I was in Addis Ababa picking up my children, so there was no way the fever I had the night before was going to keep me from February's gathering! I left the children home with Daddy because he had baseball tryouts (hehehe), and I cruised on over to the DSM Ethiopian Orthodox Church for an Amharic language class given by Dr. Mammo Woldie. He is a professor at Texas Southern University that teaches statistics. What an awesome and patient man! Well, it seems his wife and several others had prepared a fabulous lunch for us too. We dined on yesiga wat, gomen, yemisir alich'a, iab, and injera, of course. The Ethiopian saying is that a woman worth her salt values her cooking, and Dr. Woldie's wife is truly his crown! I even had a doggy bag prepared for me, and boy did Maritu and Mamush devour the contents.

So what did I learn in the class? Well, I learned that Amharic is crazy hard! Okay, well I already knew that! Still... I did learn that even though Ethiopians may have lived in the US for many years, they hold on to their traditions and value their culture. We felt welcomed, and there was concern that our families are given the means to help instill the Ethiopian culture into our children's lives. Once again I have evidence that I chose the right country!