Adventures of Tom Sako and Damien Waterford

the pilgrimage

Heeey mun. Take it easy mun. Don't worry mun. Don't worry about a thing cause every little thing is gonna be alright...

So here we are high on a plateau in Addis Ababa , Ethiopia for Bob Marley's tribute concert. He'd have been 60 years old if he was still alive today. Rastafarians mainly from Jamaica believe Ethiopia is their holy land and there's lots of them living here as the last emperor of Ethiopia Haile Salassie gave them some land, so they said "hey mun" and called him their living god. Some locals here are very critical of him saying he was just another politician, with one person saying "Jamaicans (Rastafarians) love Ethiopia more than the Ethiopians do" but the Rastas worship him.

Our 2500 kilometre pilgrimage here started from Dar Es Salaam and on the first day we had a bit of a hiccup when about 300 kilometres out, we came across a situation. Damien thought a car parked on the other side of the road with its headlights on was moving towards us. He dipped the lights and kept going. After a few seconds a recently collapsed tree came into view. We had nowhere to go and our bullbar which had scared off many animals and humans previously, took the main impact, saving the cabin from getting crushed in. Luckily we were both wearing seatbelts. The tree must have collapsed only up to a few minutes earlier judging by the amount of traffic on the road. I said to Damien later that "he couldn't have picked a better country to drive into a tree" as the total amount quoted for the damages came to $240. We can also get some use out of the cracked drivers side mirror we are still carrying around. So we left the van there to get fixed and caught buses to Nairobi in Kenya . We had made up some rules for the pilgrimage but as it is with Damien and rules, he broke them. I said that the Rastafarian comb police would sniff out the hair shampoo in his hair. He said he was sorry but would make up for it in Rastafarian sacraments.

Nairobi is a big bustling city with some mod ern buildings and a reputation of having a high crime rate. Taxi drivers here go to the petrol station after taking a ride to put only enough fuel in for the fare in fear of being car jacked. This way the thieves can only drive a short distance away or have to dig into their own pockets for fuel. It must be a strange feeling to live in a society where theft is an accepted practice. Another name for Nairobi is Nirobbery. Damien got stung by a conman with the old I've trusted you, you trust me routine. There are a lot of people on the streets with disabilities begging for money. One guy told us he walked over 1000 kilometres from Sudan to escape the war and was heading to Wangaratta , Victoria in March and then he said he needed some money for food. Yeah right!

In the short time we spent there, it was hard to ignore that the Kenyans are not happy with their corrupt government which could be said for many of the other African countries. Anyway we ended up flying to Ethiopia from Nairobi on Ethiopian Airlines which made me think of what sort of airline food, if any, they'd be serving up. It ended up being ok but the economy seats were very narrow and with Damien, myself and an Argentinean guy sitting next to each other, our combined shoulder spans protruded into the aisle. Arrived into the capital, Addis Ababa on a cool evening and found out the cost of a

motel room depends on your nationality. For Australians it was $40 for a double. I started laughing and said what about $30 and he said ok. Ethiopians are very easy to get along with but they'll take you as far as they can. Their country has never been colonised so they have no influences of the Portuguese, the French or the British. They have about a 50/50 split of Christian Orthodox and Muslin religion but get on well.

In Addis Ababa there are many, many more beggars and entrepreneurial children around on the streets wanting to shine your shoes (even if your not wearing any) or sell you tissues or just simply asking for some money. There's people that walk groups of goats through the city selling them. Damien got offered one but thought the hotel m ana ger wouldn't appreciate us having it in our room. Ethiopian multi storey construction is spooky with unsawn timber for scaffolding and ramps many floors up. There's no wasted money on safety nets or rails.

Ethiopians follow the Julian calendar which has 12 thirty day months and 1 of only five days with every fourth year having six. The current year here is 1997 because Christianity didn't come to Ethiopia until seven years after Christ. They're preparing for their millennium celebrations and hopefully won't fall for the Y2K hoax. Their time of day is different too, with their cloak starting at our 6am which means 7am is 1am in their time. We are always recalculating the time when we ask a simple question like what time is the bus coming?

Most of Ethiopia is part of the Great Rift Valley which is the birthplace of humanity. The oldest human bones were found here. Outside of Addis Ababa there are many lakes and lush green valleys. Sitting around some of these large lakes we see an abundant wildlife of birds, fish and reptiles with great scenery and in some places while listening to beautiful music. Its not what we thought we would be doing in Ethiopia . This place is so beautiful, it encourages life. Its easy to see why human life may have started here.

Rastafarians are a treasure of the human race. Their message of one with nature and peace, love and respect for all other beings has to be respected in itself. Their religious beliefs are a bit hard to swallow, especially the part where one of their kings visited Mary after the birth of Jesus and gave presents of gold before the three wise men got there. It made me think of the scene in the movie Life of Brian. "Why didn't you say so?..... "Well, what star sign is he then?" and how many presents did Mary really get and what about a Rastafarian version of the movie?

The main concert took place in the centre of town in a place called Meskel Square . There were between 50000 and 100000 people and it went from midday to 10.30pm while being broadcast live on television. It was a great and memorable day. Bob Marley's words like "One love, one heart, lets get together and feel alright","These songs of freedom.","Is this love." express his message so clearly and how we can all live together and have a good time while we're at it.