On a photographical safari with children

I should be preparing the next trip to Africa but got somehow caught up in cleaning up my photo archives and so this blog will unfortunately have to make a slight geographical detour far north of the arctic circle.  I started uploading on 500 px some of my last year’s Greenland photographs mainly in the street/photojournalism category to document the life of the inuit hunters. To my surprise the shot “Blue” below made it on June 21 to being selected by the editors. That one of my photographs has made it to Editors Choice is in itself a big surprise but that it is a color shot even more so as most of the time I see the world in monochrome.

By playing around a bit on google I found that this photo got reblogged already a few times also on tumblr. Thank you very much for liking it and for giving me the opportunity to discover through this your great blogs on tumblr .

The recent trip to Ethiopia is still fresh in our minds and the next African trip is already approaching fast.

The trip to Zambia and Botswana is becoming a real logistics challenge. Ethiopian Airlines has changed their flight schedule and has cancelled their Friday flights from Brussels. We will now be leaving from Paris. When I look at the itinerary I get more and more grey hairs.

Paris - Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) - Lubumbashi (Congo) to Lilongwe (Malawi) and from there in a small plane to Mfue (Zambia). On the way back from Maun (Botswana) -Johannesburg (South-Africa)-Addis Ababa over Milan to Brussels. 

If we are going to arrive with all our luggage at the right destination it will be a big success ! 

Ethiopian Air was by far the cheapest option and I should have no reason to complain as our flight to Addis Ababa in April was excellent.

26/04/2012 - www.finado.be

Nog nooit was de vraag voor meters en peters vanuit Ethiopië zo groot als vandaag. Zeker 15 kinderen en studenten wachten op een familie in België die hun meter of peter wil worden.

Ongeveer 275 kinderen, zowel in gezinnen als in weeshuizen worden reeds door Belgische families gepsonsord in Ethiopië. Finado legt één verplichting op aan de gezinnen: de kinderen moeten naar school. Dit is de enige manier om uit de armoede te geraken. Met het geld kan natuurlijk ook gezorgd worden voor de primaire behoeften zoals voeding, kleding en huisvesting. De kinderen en hun families komen bij de Ethiopische medewerkers ook terecht wanneer er uitzonderlijke medische kosten zijn, geld voor een schooluniform nodig is enz.

Today is our last day in Ethiopia. Due to an error in our itinerary we do not have the extra day needed to drive the 800 km from Lalibela back to Addis. At the Lalibela airport we say goodbye to Liben, our guide and driver who has been with us during the last two weeks. 

In Addis we have still an afternoon to visit the National Museum and to see Lucy. In the national museum there are two paintings hanging of Afewerk Tekle, the famous Ethiopian artist that had passed away two days earlier and whose state funeral ceremony at that moment ongoing in the nearby Holy Trinity cathedral.

My photographic mind wants to see a glimpse of the ceremony, not thinking we would be able to get anywhere near it. In Ethiopia funeral ceremonies are not held inside the church but in front of the church. To our surprise we were allowed to visit the cathedral during the ceremony. From inside the cathedral we had the best view on the patriarch of the orthodox church, the media and all the politicians present. 

After a great diner in the fantastic Indian restaurant in the Dreamliner hotel we leave to the airport for our midnight flight back to Brussels. 

We will certainly coming back to Ethiopia again.  

The funeral ceremony of the renowned Ethiopian painter, the Most Honorable Maitre Artiste World Laureate Afewerk Tekle was conducted at the cemetery of the Holy Trinity Cathedral on Saturday.

Prior to the funeral ceremony, his family members, friends, senior government officials, diplomats and hundred thousands of fans accompanied his body from his resident Villa Alpha to the cemetery of the Holy Trinity Cathedral.

The farewell ceremony was also accompanied with a military march.

President Girma Woldegiorigs, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, the House of People’s Representatives, ministries, African Union and embassies laid wreaths at the artiste’s grave through their representatives.

In a message sent to the artiste’s family, Prime Minster Meles Zenawi, on behalf of the people of Ethiopia and on his own behalf, expressed deep sorrow over the death of the artiste.

He said efforts of the late Afewerk to promote Ethiopia to the rest of the world were matchless, adding the late artiste is among the most prominent Ethiopian personalities the nation is proud of.

President Girma Woldegiorgis for his part said artiste Afewerk was one of the leading personalities who have been working relentlessly to realize the renaissance of Ethiopia.

The President in his message called on the present-day generation to follow the examples of the matchless artiste. He also wished comfort to the artiste’s family.

Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, His Holiness Abuse Paulos said: “Today is a very sad day for Ethiopia. Yet, Afewerk remains with us through his unforgettable works which continue to inspire others to follow suit.”

Speaker of the House of People’s Representatives Abadulla Gemeda, Mayor of Addis Ababa City, Kuma Demekessa, ministers, ambassadors, renowned personalities as well as hundreds of thousands of the late artiste’s funs attended the funeral procession.

According to an obituary read out at the funeral ceremony, the late Afewerk was born on 22 October 1932 E.C. in the town of Ankober from his mother Felekech Yematawerk and his father Tekle Mano.

The Ethiopian Radio and Television broadcast the funeral procession live from the cemetery of the Holy Trinity Cathedral.

Source: http://www.ertagov.com/erta/erta-news-archive/38-erta-tv-hot-news-addis-ababa-ethiopia/1611-body-of-the-late-maitre-artiste-world-laureate-afewerk-tekle-laid-to-rest.html