Articles by Doug Nienhuis
I am a Canadian, and I am currently traveling through Asia with a touring bicycle. These are stories and pictures from my trip.
026 – The Swarm Gang
I met Allen the day I had my wallet stolen.
I’d ridden my bike to the Piazza to get some pictures developed and on the way back I followed a road that curved high above Addis. Below me was the massive complex of the new Sheraton Hotel and on impulse I turned down a steeply winding access road that would bring me past the front gates. …
025 – “You Like Fucking Priest”
I woke up early again to the banging-crashing-radio blaring-shouting-floor sweeping waking up sounds of the hotel and family. Of all the sounds it is the sweeping that I’ll associate with this place. The sweeping went on eternal, harsh straw against old wood. Endless. It never seemed to move, but stayed in one place till I imagined they would grind a hole right through the floor.
It …
024 – Asa Belobelo – Eat Fish
Zebachew invited me to go with him to an azmari beat or traditional Ethiopian music house. I knew even before I came to Ethiopia that one night would find me at an azmari beat. It’s one of those traditional things that is mentioned in every book. For that reason I wasn’t exactly excited about it. I suspected that it might be at one extreme a …
023 – That First Exuberant Profanity
My third attempt at cycling in Addis was as difficult as the first. I hadn’t gone more than a half kilometre from the Tiru Gondar when a boy ran out into the street in front of me. He waited till I was right on top of him, took careful aim and hit me on the chest with a sticky smelly banana peel. I hit the …
022 – The Bunna Enfelal Take 2
I was sitting outside on the back steps the next afternoon. The family was going about their day. One woman was washing clothes over by the water tank. Another was spreading out red peppers to dry in the sun. The brown and white cat sauntered past and I called out to it. “Demet demet demet,” I crooned, demet being Amharic for cat. My first few …
021 – Bira effellegallo
Most nights I was extremely tired and not good for much so I went to bed early. I liked the early nights. It meant I got a good night’s sleep and I was woken gently by the sun peeping through the cracks of the shutters, shutters which, again for reasons unclear, Zebachew insisted I close tightly each night. I never knew if these things on …
020 – Giving and Accepting
I’d taken all the photographs assuming that I’d give them to the family, but now that it came down to it I didn’t know how to go about distributing them. There were pictures of two or three people together so to whom should I give it? There were pictures of adults with children. Should the picture be given to the adult or the mother of …
019 – The Bunna Enfelal
Standing at the front door watching one of the last cloudbursts of the rainy season, Getachew asked me if I’d like to join them for their daily coffee ceremony.
One of the younger girls of the household, Sifrash, was seated on the ground in the main part of the restaurant. In front of her was a small low table with several tiny coffee cups. The coffee …