Saturday, September 12, 2009

Educating About Ethiopia

I believe very strongly that Jacob has the right to know as much as possible about Ethiopia. I know I can't teach him about Ethiopian culture the same way an Ethiopian can but I do what I can from our mid-west home. Yesterday was a great opportunity to teach Jacob to have pride in his birth culture as well as teaching some area children about Ethiopia as well.

Jacob had a great time at school yesterday. His teacher talked to the children about Ethiopian New Year and Jacob proudly told his classmates about the holiday. They shared a special treat in the afternoon.

Last night we took our friend, P, to an Ethiopian restaurant. This was the first time that P had ever had Ethiopian food. She enjoyed the mamoosa as well as the different dishes we had purchased and shared. Jacob was very happy to see the owner of the restaurant and tell him that he was born in Ethiopia. He told the owner he liked doro wat in Ethiopia but did not like injera. This is a story that Jacob has heard many times in the past couple of years and he always follows it up with how much he likes injera now.

It was a lot of fun to watch Jacob learning more about his birth culture and beginning to be able to teach his friends about it. I also enjoyed seeing the pride in his face as he told people stories about his life in Ethiopia. We don't have many stories but we do have a few that I make sure he hears whenever we discuss his life in Ethiopia and his birth family (which we discuss often).

No comments: