Ethiopian Art

I remember before we brought LB home I was at the house of a fellow Ethiopia adoptive mom. Several of us were gathered there for a shower for a mom who was about to travel to Ethiopia to adopt her son. The hostess's daughter was there and she was about 3 or 4 years old at the time. We were sitting at the dinner table chatting. Her mom had an Ethiopian flag hanging in the window as part of the decorations for the shower. I'll never forget how her daughter pointed at the flag and said proudly, "That's the Ethiopian flag. I was born in Ethiopia." It was very matter of fact but also, like I said, filled with some pride. At that moment, I made a mental note to myself that I wanted my future child to have that knowledge of his/her birth country from a young age. I wasn't exactly sure how I would go about achieving that goal but I knew it would be important.

I'm happy to say that LB knows he was born in Ethiopia, he can identify it on a world map and he can recognize the Ethiopian flag. He knows the shape of Africa very well and often sees it in things that I don't. A few weeks ago I had a "boo boo" on my ankle and LB told me it was "like Africa." I never would have thought that but he was right. When LB is playing with his airplanes they are either flying to Tulsa or Ethiopia. (Which destination would you choose?) I think we've accomplished this in part by the things that we purchased in Ethiopia to display in our home. I never would have thought that art would be one of the main ways that I helped LB learn about his birth country but I'm pleasantly surprised that it worked out that way.

When I think back to our first trip to Ethiopia I remember very clearly the day that D and I set out to buy a piece of art for our home. We told our driver we wanted to buy a painting and I think he had a lot of fun touring us around to various galleries and he was very in the know about some of the more obscure places. We wanted something that would remind us of our time there. After visiting a handful of places we landed on buying something from one of the more well known art galleries in Addis. I would have loved to buy something from one of the lesser known artists but we had to go with our favorite piece.

The artist's name is Abraham and we love it. The painting is stretched on canvas and is in our living room. Every time I look at it I think about being in Addis and the craziness of all the cars and the blue taxis that were all over the place, or the "blue devils" as our driver called them. When we were in Addis we also bought a lot of table linens, scarves and jewelry. I wish we had bought more. I think we were pinching our pennies a bit because we had just spent so much to travel to Ethiopia but we should have thought more long term and just gone for it. How often do you get to go to Ethiopia?

Thankfully, we've attended a silent auction the past two years that benefits Ethiopian Orphan Relief and both years they've had several items from Ethiopia as part of the auction. I made it a point to bid on them and we lucked out and won a few. One of the baskets we won and an Ethiopian drum are on our sofa table in the living room. LB plays with the drum and knows the basket is from Ethiopia as well. (Let's forget that he often pretends the basket is a sweeper and pushes it around the house.) 

It makes me happy that we've incorporated these items into our home and they are just a part of the scenery. 

My goal for 2013 is to do a better job incorporating Ethiopian holidays into our lives. We need some traditions and I'm open to advice.