Lemlem and Fikru

One of the joys of living in Addis Ababa, is the new and old friends that are a part of our lives. Lemlem (pronounced LumLum) is a wonderful young lady, who, with her husband, visited us in Orlando last year. She and Barbara go out each week shopping and have lunch together. Her mother, Martha, invited us to her home last Sunday for lunch, and, along with a family friend, Meseret (who is a caterer), prepared the meal for us. It was a wonderful Ethiopian meal with many dishes and even French fries for me. Of course they cut way back on the spices for us wimpy Westerners! Lemlem’s sisters (Meselale, Hiwot, Theseat) all pitched in. Lemlem’s brother is getting married in several weeks in Awassa, and Martha modeled her dresses for the occasion.

    All of this was followed by the traditional coffee ceremony. The dishes were cleared from the table and a specially designed, low table was brought in with tiny coffee cups placed on top. One of Lemlem’s sisters brought in a brazier containing burning charcoal, placed it on the living room floor, and began the process of roasting the coffee beans. The green coffee beans were placed in a long handled pan with holes in the bottom. The young lady worked diligently to fan the coals, which generated much smoke.  At the same time she continuously shook the pan back and forth across the top of the brazier. The husks from the coffee began to fall onto the floor. This first part took about 30 minutes, and when the coffee beans had turned brown, she then walked around the room to show each of us the results of her labor and for us to catch the tantalizing aroma of the freshly roasted coffee. The beans were taken to the kitchen to be ground, and then the traditional pot of water was brought out and placed over the coals to reach the desired temperature. When the water was hot enough, some of the freshly ground coffee was put into the pot of water, and the coffee was then ready to be served.  Warm popcorn served in a large tray was brought in and passed to each of us. Popcorn is traditionally served at a coffee ceremony. Participating in this Ethiopian ritual made for a very special ending to a lovely afternoon.

Fikru is a young Ethiopian artist friend of Jeff (our son). Jeff introduced us several years ago, and we have one of his paintings in our family room in Orlando. His work is abstract, and he has been quite successful in Europe. We have acquired and are enjoying several more paintings for our apartment in Addis. His wife Josephine is French with a PhD in archeology. They live six months of the year in Paris and six months in Addis Ababa. We visited his Addis studio at his home where he grew up in the Sidesk Kilo area. His mom and dad are warm and sweet folks. We have discovered that  his dad is very photogenic. My photography doesn’t do him justice.
    Fikru is busy preparing to join Josephine at their home in Paris for the next six months. They are building their dream home here, so I suspect they may be back sooner than later! (See slideshow in sidebar.)

-- Don