A Night in Ethiopia

(This is the revised edition.)

For the students lucky enough to attend The Taste of Ethiopia’s 3rd Annual Celebration at West Virginia State University, it was a memory they will always have and cherish. The night was filled with music, education, culture, and custom, and all around fun.

According to the students of ESA, there are about 80 tribes in Ethiopia, and each of these tribes have their own music, dancing, language, and food—and even fashion. The Amharic Dance was incredible. It involved a heavy concentration on the rhythm and towards the end of the music/dance; half the audience were at least tapping their foot to the beat.

Next was the Guargena Dance, which focused on rhythm and enticed the audience into joining the dancers on stage. At one point, Jack Morgan, a physics professor here at WVSU, was taken onstage by one of the performers of the evening to dance with them.

“It was great," Morgan told me. "I knew a lot about the food because my family and I have been attending this event since it started years ago but I learned a lot about the traditions and the dances as well as the culture of the people that brought us the incredible food."

Throughout the show, there were drawings with prizes for the audience to take home. One of the winners got a Blackwood candle stand to take home. I learned from the students that the candle-stand is very expensive.

The second winner got a drinking cup made from a very beautiful wood. It was said to be available in almost every home in Ethiopia and was expensive. It was also very pretty.

The third prize had me wishing I had won it. It was a silk scarf—very expensive looking—that can go with just about any outfit.

After the drawing, there was a fashion show during which the Ethiopian students explained to the audience that each of the tribes’ clothing is characterized by the length of the skirt, the accessory that goes with them, and many others. Some of the women wear braids in their hair whilst others just let their hair down.

I understood that they are very diverse and one could tell where someone is from by their way of dressing. I realized that during dancing, the women mostly put their hands behind their backs and I wondered if that was a symbol of humbleness.

During the last song, students, faculty were invited onstage to participate in a dance picked by the audience. After the events, I had the pleasure of interviewing Mrs. Ann Johnson, a woman who had just moved to the area with her newborn daughter Azalech.

“We are very excited to be here," Johnson said. "My daughter was born in Ethiopia and we just moved to West Virginia, so I was very happy to participate in this to show my daughter our appreciation for her culture."

Haley, a student I met during the event, called the night “incredible!"
"This was one of the most energy filled events that I have ever attended," she continued. "It was exciting, fun, and all around enjoyable. I recommend that everyone should come next year.”

One of the other students I met was Enda Smith. According to Enda, the event helped her know more about Ethiopia and appreciate the diversity here on campus as well as better understand her Ethiopian classmates.

I was pleased to learn that once people take part in this event their experiences does not end there. Many develop interests in learning more about the culture and even the continent of Africa.

One of the guests who had been coming for a couple of years stated that, after their first attendance, they also researched and found out about an Ethiopian camp in Virginia that teaches people about the cultures and customs of Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian students here on campus have formed close relationships with each other that worked well when it came to preparing for this event. They mentioned that they couldn’t have put anything together if they didn’t have each other.

Looking at their interactions with each other on- and off-stage, it is clear to see that they have become more than friends: they are a family. They want to show people about their traditions and customs and they did an incredible job of that.

Like most of the people who attended this program, I felt honored to be able to share such an incredible event with everyone that was present. Almost everyone couldn’t wait for next year so they can attend this event again.

At first, I was a little jealous and wished there was enough students here at WVSU from Ghana to be able to show people what our culture is about; but then I realized that regardless of what part of Africa the show was about, it was a representation of our people, and that I should be proud. That was exactly how I felt by the end of the program.

“It was awesome," Salem Mengetsu said. "Thank you for everyone who participated in the event. Amazingly, we had non-Ethiopian guests here on stage dancing; our cultural dance. This is what we call a mission accomplished!”