On the day we hiked to see the waterfall in Bahir Dar, I had been fighting signs of the ferenge¹ sickness—the common food-borne illness suffered by foreign visitors. When we awoke the next day, I begged to skip out on our tour of the monastery-filled islands on Lake Tana … but my begging was not successful.

We crawled into a tiny three-wheeled taxi that took us along the rocky roads to the edge of town. From there we boarded a motor-boat that sloshed across the lake to the smattering of islands. According to legend, the Ark of the Covenant lived here for ages before it was transported inland, along the northern border of Ethiopia.

Vajaj – Our frequent three-wheeled form transportation around town

From island-to-island, we toured hut after hut—at least, the ones that allowed women on them. Mostly they looked the same, and this is where I learned the story about George slaying the dragon. The usual process involved men and women entering from opposite sides, where we removed our shoes and re-assembled from inside. Because we left the same way, it didn’t surprise me when I couldn’t find my husband, BK.

After a brief moment, he emerged from a nearby hut, explaining that we had both been invited to join the locals for the day’s celebration. Reluctantly, I entered.

I was welcomed with a plastic tumbler of a tela, or honey wine. There were a little more than a dozen of us, all sitting on the floor along the mud-walls of the hut. We were celebrating the feast of Medhane Alem², or that of the “Savior of the World.” Technically, it was the day before Ethiopian Orthodox Christmas, so it was likely the equivalent to Christmas Eve.

With permission, I captured the following photos:

With permission, I captured a few images of the inside of the hut where we celebrated the feast of Medhane Alem.

It was rather dark inside, so I had to use my flash to get this view. Once it came through, I realized that the woman on the left had been specially posing in profile.

I love this photo. The woman on the left has positioned herself in profile, while the young man holds his jar of tela as if he were at a college-party. The little girl sneaks her way into the photo, and the woman on the right simply smiles.

Once the others had moved outside, the leader of the group became comfortable enough to pose for his own picture.

A man and woman calmly agree to model.

The girls can’t wait to get more attention from the camera.

I tried my rough Amharic conversational skills on these two. They’re just regular young-adults, relaxing with friends on family on a holiday.

At the end, I found this woman waiting patiently outside to have a proper portrait taken. Betam konjono!

No explanation necessary.

[1] Ferenge is the Amharic word for “foreigner.”

[2] Alem is the Amharic word for “world,” which is also part of my name Alemayehu,  which means, “I saw the world.”