The Glen Arbor Sun chronicled On the Ground’s Run Across Ethiopia this past January, as editor Jacob Wheeler joined a team of runners who traversed 250 miles across rural Ethiopia to raise money for fair-trade coffee farmers. Now “When We Run”, videographer James Weston’s documentary about Run Across Ethiopia, will premier this Saturday at 8 p.m. at the State Theatre as part of the Great Lakes Bioneers Conference. The trip, with support from Higher Grounds Trading Company, raised awareness and money for the development of schools in Ethiopian coffee farming communities. The Earthwork Collective’s Seth Bernard and May Erlewine performed the original soundtrack. After the film you’ll be able to meet members of the cast and production crew for an informal Q & A session.
This GlenArbor.com story was sponsored by Art’s, Glen Arbor’s iconic tavern and restaurant, located at the corner of M-22 and Lake Street.
On Jan. 20, a team of American runners with northern Michigan roots arrived in a coffee-growing village near Yirgachefe after running 250 miles over 12 days through Ethiopia’s ancient Rift Valley. Glen Arbor Sun editor Jacob Wheeler joined the Run Across Ethiopia and submitted reports, photos and videos from the trail.
Late this morning Ethiopian time (eight hours later than in Michigan), the Run Across Ethiopia reached the rural hamlet of Afursa Waru, which is six miles from the coffee-rich town of Yirgachefe. A joyous, but meticulously planned celebration unfolded among local dignitaries, village elders and perhaps thousands of residents — who greeted the 10 American runners and six Ethiopian harriers who had completed a 250-mile jog over 12 days from Addis Ababa. Here are videos from the happy day.
Seth Bernard kicks off the final day of the Run Across Ethiopia with beautiful music, including Neil Young’s “Long may you run”:
Here are the runners’ opening words before the final day of the run:
A video narrative of today’s final leg of the Run Across Ethiopia:
The Run reaches the finish line, to clapping and cheers from Yirgachefe coffee growers:
Check out the song, dance — and Ethiopian crowd control — that followed our arrival to conclude the Run Across Ethiopia:
Following our arrival in Afursa Waru to conclude the Run Across Ethiopia, our harriers were ceremonially dressed in traditional garb … Hans Voss discusses the significance of this honor.
Today — Day 11 of the Run Across Ethiopia, which has now taken us to the southern, coffee-growing town of Yirgachefe — Northern Express journalist Anne Stanton and I visited Hase Gola, the scene of yesterday’s raucous welcome celebration and the site of the first school that On the Ground Global will build here. Hase Gola is desperately poor and largely cut off from the outside world. The purpose of our visit was to meet local coffee farmers and learn about their daily life and needs, and how a school will help improve life in the village.
The first video below is taken inside a coffee farmer’s meager hut. Notice the smoke, the sun shining through cracks, the cracked mud ground, and the meager sleeping space. I’ll post more videos throughout the day:
Here’s the local “tej” bar in Hase Gola, where locals drinking fermented mead for 1 Birr (about 7 cents) a glass:
Anne and I presented schoolchildren with notebooks, pencils, crayons and other school supplies donated by a school in Ohio (and carried here by runner Claire Everhart). School wasn’t in session today though on account of the Epiphany holiday.
For the past nine days, my blogging has focused on running — that is, the 10 harriers running nearly 250 miles across southern Ethiopia. I’ve cataloged their aches and pains, daily mileage and terrain, and how the runners have interacted and boosted each other through this painstaking endeavor. In other words, I’ve been a sports reporter.
But I’ve got news for you. I’ve taken you for a loop. The running was never the true story here.
Today, Day 10 of the Run Across Ethiopia, after jogging a slight 12 miles through hilly coffee country, we met the true gravity of our purpose here — in the form of thousands of excited rural Ethiopians waiting for hours down a rutted dirt road for our arrival in Hase Gola — the hamlet where the first On the Ground Global school is already being built. Immediately upon disembarking from the bus around 1 p.m. today, our entourage was swarmed by an untold number of joyous local villagers, clapping their hands, singing in choirs, dancing with sugarcain sticks, playing whatever instruments they had on the floor of their meager hut. The welcome was beautiful, intense, and seemed both triumphant and tragic at the same time. Imagine the kinds of crowds that turn out to greet the Beatles, or Obama. Now you have at least an impression of what this felt like. I looked from face to face of our contingent — American and Ethiopian runners/journalists/musicians/interpreters, alike — and couldn’t spot a single dry eye. Many of us have traveled extensively to developing countries before; others have rarely left the Midwest. And no one — no one — had ever experienced anything like this before.
Our new friends numbering in the thousands mobbed us as we found our way to makeshift tables where Tadesse Mekala, head of the Oromia Fair Trade Cooperative, Chris Treter and others gave speeches about the importance of this new school for the community. Its construction is already underway. It will include four classrooms, which can hold 480 students (240, twice a day); it will reach 10 different rural communities, and ultimately change the lives of nearly 9,000 people whose sons, daughters, brothers and sisters will attend school here. Music took over after the speeches. Our interpreter Mamoosh danced like a jackrabbit along with the choir. Seth Bernard held hands and danced up and down with the pastor. Timothy and Connor Young joined Ethiopian youth in climbing a tree to take in the scene.
Our entourage was treated to a delicious meal afterward in the new school, including a plate of fresh raw meat from this morning’s animal sacrifice. When offered a gift of luxury in an impoverished village, you never turn it down. so runner Matt Desmond, myself, Maureen Voss, Shauna Fite and Timothy Young tried the raw meat with berbere spice. Whether the cuisine will come back to haunt us is unclear. But what is clear is that today’s powerful visit to Hase Gola will remain lodged in the hearts and minds of our Run Across Ethiopia team. It’s clear now that the run, itself, is only a vehicle, a conductor. The school and the community is what the journey is really about.
Here are a couple videos from the running portion of Day 10:
The enthusiastic choir that performed for us, following speeches, in Hase Gola:
Seth Bernard fires up the runners with his rendition of “Eye of a tiger”
Nigel leads a karaoke tune while running
Hans Voss is hurting, and has been ever since rolling his ankle on Day 3. But he said that the pain in his right leg and matches the pain in his left, creating a sort of equilibrium:
Chris Treter runs like a bowling ball!
Following the 12-mile run, Chris Girrbach analyzes the changing landscapes that we’ve seen throughout this journey. Today we came across pine trees that resembled woods in northern Michigan.
Here are a few videos that I’ve taken during the Run Across Ethiopia over the past week, which feature some of the best Ethiopia has to offer — and how to consume them.
First is a video of a woman outside the Aragesh Lodge roasting coffee beans over an open fire before serving us strong and delicious “black gold”.
Next, one of our interpreters, Sue Rafael (I’ve surely misspelled his name) teaches me how to prepare and then chew “khat”, the East African energy drug.
The entire world is no stranger to sugar, but have you ever chewed a stalk of fresh sugarcane? Interpreter Egga teaches us how.
Speaking of Egga, during Day 9 of the Run Across Ethiopia, we came across a commercial being filmed by the side of the road, featuring an Ethiopian model named Judy whose looks could send a lot of jaws dropping to the floor. Sure enough, Egga got out of the van, walked over and gave her a hug. Turns out, they were high school classmates.
Imagine that you’re a poor farmer in the Sidamo region of southern Ethiopia — an African herdsman — living in a mud hut by the side of the road. Imagine that you walk out your doorway into the sunlight one morning, and there at 7 a.m., a bunch of “ferenges” (“foreigners” in Amharic, probably derived from “Frenchies”) in skimpy running shorts are laying there on the grass, stretching. Imagine, too, that a couple white musicians are playing guitars and singing. You think, what on Earth! This scene has likely never happened before in such a remote part of East Africa.
But that’s just what form the Run Across Ethiopia took on Day 9. Earthworks musicians Seth Bernard and May Erlewine joined the team for today’s 16-mile run, which took us into the Yirgachefe coffee region, and a mere 36 miles from our ultimate destination on Thursday. At every water and food stop along the road, Seth and May lit up the crowds of villagers and children, who clapped, danced, and engaged in the sort of cross-cultural love and understanding that music knows best. At one point, RAE harrier Nigel Willerton requested a Beatles tune as he jogged by without stopping. Seth played “All we need is love”, and out of the crowd hobbled a weary old man carrying a massive rolled-up animal skin over his shoulder. He began hopping up and down and dancing to the song.
View videos below of Seth and May’s roadside performances, and other clips from Day 9 of the Run Across Ethiopia. 214 miles in the books. Just 36 to go!
Seth Bernard and May Erlewine jam by a roadside hut this morning:
Playing the blues in Ethiopia. Later on, the aforementioned leather bearer feels inspired by Seth and May’s rendition of the Beatles’ “All we need is love”.
Our talented and lovely interpreter Betty, and Timothy Young’s son Connor, join the run on Day 9.
Nigel the Brit decides to stay in the pack on Day 9, provided that he’ll be allowed to run extra miles at the conclusion of today’s leg.
The Run Across Ethiopia expanded today, with Timothy Young’s daughter Stella, and Hans Voss’ wife Maureen and daughters joining us on Day 8. Filmmakers James and Jamaica Weston have returned to us after spending much of the past week in Addis Ababa. And even our local support crew — nurse Mamoosh and interpreter Egga — donned sneakers and left the van to leg out a few turns in the road. As such, the team that ascended 15 miles into the Sidamo coffee-rich region was nearly 20 people strong. We’ve become accustomed to villagers, and children in particular, swarming the runners whenever they pass along the road, but we got lucky today because Sunday meant that many were attending church. Fifteen miles completed today, which puts us at 198 since leaving Addis last Sunday. Only 52 more to go before the victory jog into Yirgachefe on Thursday.
The past two nights we’ve stayed at the stunningly beautiful Aragesh mountain lodge near the remote village of Yirgalem. We’ve slept and dined in a series of round bamboo woven huts that are constructed entirely of local materials and held up by one post in the center of the room. Such architecture reminded me of indigenous earth lodges and was a welcome departure from the urban grit of previous towns. Since Thursday, we’ve traded diesel exhaust, bass music thumping until the wee hours, heinous smells and old condoms found under a hotel room bed, for serenity, long walks into the green valley, locally grown (and sterilized) vegetables, a bonfire pit …. and wildlife. Around dusk at the Aragesh lodge a groundskeeper throws food scraps down a nearby hillside, which immediately attracts giant vultures and hyenas — more wolf than dog, and the primary reason why Ethiopian runners never train along and before sunrise.
Tonight, northern Michigan musicians Seth Bernard and Mae Erlewine rejoined our crew, and played an after-dinner performance around the campfire. One could almost imagine the hyenas listening curiously from the forest below as the duo offered new songs they had written in Ethiopia, as well as the Johnny Cash favorite “Ring of fire”. Suddenly we looked through the smoke, and in a clearing on the other side of the fire pit, filmmakers James and Jamaica had begun to dance — they had become nymphs from the deep forest, their feet moving so rapidly and effortlessly that they hardly touched the ground. As graceful as Ethiopian marathon runners, I thought, whose bodies move forward always, instead of bounding up and down. Watching this was poetry.
Here are videos from Day 8:
Chris Treter narrates as the Run Across Ethiopia traverses the Sidamo coffee growing region on Day 8.
A panoramic view of the Aragesh Lodge in southern Ethiopia
On Day 8, I captured footage of the Run Across Ethiopia from the roof of our van.
Maureen Voss joins the Run Across Ethiopia on Day 8.
Ethiopia children in the Sidamo show they’re capable of rooting for both Notre Dame and the Michigan Wolverines.
Run Across Ethiopia nurse Mamoosh explains to locals in the Sidamo region why a dozen white runners are passing by.
Tadesse Meskala, head of the Oromia fair-trade coffee cooperative and star of the movie “Black Gold,” meets Chris Treter and the Run Across Ethiopia team on the road in Sidamo.
Local children follow Jeffrey Metzler’s lead as he stretches and dances following Day 8 of the Run Across Ethiopia.
With four consecutive 30-mile days in the rearview mirror, and the distance between Addis Ababa and Yirgachefe now 67 percent complete, the Run Across Ethiopia harriers took it relatively easy today. They slept in (until 7 a.m.) and enjoyed a restaurant sit-down breakfast, before legging 15 miles (24 kilometers) through hilly but beautiful, jungle-like terrain south of Hawassa. This journalist’s left knee felt recovered enough to join the team for seven miles. Tonight and tomorrow night we’ll stay in the gorgeous Agadash lodge, which overlooks miles of lush green foliage, and where we can literally feed wild hyenas (there’s so much food in this valley that the animals won’t hurt humans).
Best of all, the team is once again at full strength. Hans Voss’ ankle issues are seemingly a thing of the past; Mary Moore returned to the trail today after a half-day breather on Day 6; and Dena Piecuch, the police officer from Charleston, South Carolina, was back on the beat after a couple days of rest.
Here are videos from Day 7, including a scene from Lake Nagano where we stayed last night, and footage from Seth Bernard and Daisy Mae’s concert Friday night in Hawassa:
Dena rejoins the Run Across Ethiopia on Day 7 and offers words of encouragement before the harriers set off on a moderate 15-mile jog. She also asks the team to run this one for our nurse Mamoosh’s sister who was hospitalized yesterday.
Run Across Ethiopia harrier Matt Desmond — a proud Irish-American and Notre Dame graduate — fires up the local kids by playing off the word “negus”, which means “king” in Amharic, and is also the name of a new Notre Dame football recruit.
After completing four consecutive 30-mile distances, the Run Across Ethiopia harriers hung out on the banks of Lake Nagano yesterday evening.
Musicians Seth Bernard and Mae Erlewine perform in Hawassa following Day 6 of the Run Across Ethiopia
Chris Treter analyzes Day 7 of the Run Across Ethiopia, the difficulty of the hilly terrain, but how glad he is that family, friends and our artistic support crew have rejoined the team.
How did 1,000 ganja-loving Jamaican Rastafarians show up in a rural village in southern Ethiopia? The Run Across Ethiopia harriers learned how on Day 6 of their 250-mile run to Yirgachefe.
Former Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie (“Negus Negusti”, the “king of kings”) gave land in the village of Shashomane, north of Hawassa, to 300 Jamaican Rastafarians in the 1950s. Rastafarians believed that Selassie was a prophet from God. This Jamaican enclave lives on today. The Run Across Ethiopia spoke with a second-generation Jamaican named Ibrahim about this unique history.
Outside the gates to the Rastafarian community in Shashomane, Ethiopia, “Jamaican Bob” greeted the Run Across Ethiopia harriers.
From staff reports
