Today's theme is kindness

Today is market day in my town. Market day is always a little overwhelming, there are more people in town than on any other day and I have to sort of gear up mentally before I leave the house, not knowing how much attention I'm going to get. More than nine times out of ten the attention I get is friendly attention, not bad at all, but it can be overwhelming none the less. I watch the local women as they go about their business, no one paying them any attention but me, and I envy them. Only when I return to the US will I be able to move about my daily life unnoticed. Here I know what it feels like to be a celebrity, except no one is taking pictures and selling them to the tabloids, thank heavens!

I stopped at my neighborhood suk on the way to the market, the one I always go to for things like matches, rice, spaghetti, laundry soap, and mobile cards (phone minutes), etc.  When I first moved to town I got a good vibe from this particular suk and the shop owner so I like to give them my business. While I was buying a kilo of rice and a mobile card, a woman also came up to the suk to buy something. I've never met her before but I greeted her and she asked me if I was going to the market. I said I was and she very kindly said in Afaan Oromo that we should go together. The market is on the other end of town so I was happy to have someone to walk with. I was thinking that once we got to the market we would probably part ways as we might be interested in buying different things. But instead she asked me what I wanted to buy and went with me to be sure I found what I was looking for. She would ask in Amharic if there were other things I needed - she stuck with me until I had everything! After she finished helping me then we parted ways and she went on to buy the things she needed. The kindness of strangers. But now we're not strangers anymore.

A new neighbor moved into our compound a few weeks ago. She also happens to be a new employee at the health center and is a very sweet young woman. Her parents had come to visit from their hometown today and this afternoon she invited me over to meet them. Her father was interested to learn about me and I tried to explain myself as best as I could with my limited language. After only chatting for a few minutes he basically welcomed into their family, saying that I should come and visit them and when I do they would treat me as their daughter. It is that Ethiopian generosity and hospitality that I've come to expect but I think he also recognized that I'm far away from my family and was offering to be a surrogate of sorts. His was a heart cracked wide open, something to aspire to. Again, such kindness.

Makta, the five year old neighbor boy, likes to stop into my room every so often. Sometimes he'll be watching cartoons next door and when he gets bored with that he'll come over or he'll be running around, playing outside and when he needs a break he'll stop in. He comes in, rolls around on the floor a little bit, calls my name as he points out things he finds interesting, before too long he's bored, and he's off to the next thing. Today as he stepped out of my room, he turned right back around and called my name as he handed me the tiniest flower that he had just found amongst the weeds near my doorstep. In a flash he was off playing in the yard, as I'm left standing in the doorway holding this tiny flower, marveling at the sweetness of such a simple gesture. 

What a day - so many acts of kindness. I'm feeling thankful for all the kind people in my life and feeling inspired to spread more kindness too.  

Love from Ethiopia!