*Video* Shoulder Dancing in Ethiopia

An Adventure A Week

Ethiopia is a country rich in tradition and faith. It is also a country ravaged by HIV/AIDS like all its African neighbors.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, an estimated 5% of the population is infected with HIV. Not only is the disease physically debilitating, but socially debilitating as well, with many victims still shunned.

Africa’s women and children suffer the most from this health epidemic. The majority of all women living with the malady reside in Africa, and an overwhelming majority of AIDS orphans are African.

Rather than being overwhelmed by the scale of the problem, African communities are finding ways to combat the pandemic through both medical treatment and community education. One innovative program hosted by The National Network of Positive Women Ethiopia (NNPWE) is a beauty pageant for HIV+ women.

While I’m not usually a fan of beauty contests, this one is special. There were 20 contestants, each representing their hometown. To encourage participation, each contestant received 1,000 Birr for entering (about $56)—more than a two-week wage in Ethiopia.

The pageant judges evaluated the contestants on attributes such as stage control, smile, confidence, audience connection, and general knowledge about HIV/AIDS. Ethiopia is known for its beautiful women and competition was fierce, with regional rivalries kicking in.

During my time in Ethiopia, I volunteered with the pageant organizers as well as the Ethiopian Women Lawyers’ Association (EWLA), a nonprofit organization protecting women’s rights in the country. I developed a fast friendship with the head of the organization, The Honorable Zenaye Tadesse.

Formerly a federal judge, Zenaye and her team of lawyers were desperate to find funding. At the time, the Ethiopian government had just passed a law mandating that the majority of funding to nonprofit organizations needed to come from local sources. This law was most stringently applied to Ethiopian-based organizations protecting human rights.

This new law means that EWLA could no longer accept foreign government grants that supported their work without also securing significant local funds. We worked hard, spending several days brainstorming ways to raise money locally—quite a challenge in one of the most cash-strapped countries in the world. I’m happy to say that by the end of my visit, we developed a viable fundraising plan.

But we didn’t just work. Zenaye and I also went to breakfast and lunch and shopped together, as many women like to do. One of the true joys of volunteering while traveling is the opportunity to form new friendships and check out favorite neighborhood joints.

I particularly loved Ethiopia’s elaborate coffee-serving ceremonies and sharing a traditional injera lunch. Injera, a large, hubcap-sized pancake of fermented teff, a type of grain, is the basis of every Ethiopian meal. With your right hand, you pull off a piece of the sponge-like injera and dip it into the spicy side dishes.

On my last day in the city, Zenaye took me shopping for a shema, a traditional Ethiopian white shawl. According to tradition, women and men wear white when entering an Ethiopian Orthodox church. And since most Ethiopians attend mass at least once, if not several times a day, you see the iconic white shema everywhere.

At the local textile market, we found beautiful shemas made with finely woven linen and beautiful hand-embroidered edges. To my great surprise and delight, Zenaye bought me a shema as a thank-you gift for my volunteer work. Touched by this kind gesture, I chose the scarf with the lavender flower border because violet is Zenaye’s favorite color and it would remind me of her.

During our shopping excursion, I was also looking for a long-flowing Ethiopian dress. I had seen women wearing them while shoulder dancing in local bars and I wanted one too. Eskita is a traditional Ethiopian form of dance, where the women stand in front of you and shrug their shoulders up and down in time to the music. It’s quite seductive.

Since I so admired the culture, I thought an Ethiopian party dress would be the perfect souvenir. I decided to splurge, making room in my suitcase by swapping out an item of clothing. A pair of dull khaki hiking pants was enthusiastically exchanged for a billowy white dress with elaborate green and gold embroidery on the waist and trim. Fancy!

Shopping complete, we headed to a local bar to celebrate our purchases and drink 20-cent bottles of beer. During this festive happy hour, I almost gave in to a dare to change into my new party dress and model it for the bar patrons. Luckily, I didn’t. When I got it home and tried it on, I discovered that the white fabric was completely transparent. Public humiliation was averted but it was a close one.

Later that night, I said my farewells to my new friends. I needed to be up the next morning at 4:00 a.m. to catch my flight to South Africa. During the eight-hour flight to the opposite end of the continent, I had plenty of time to think about my friends and their lives. I reflected on the ravages of HIV on women and their families, the depths of gender discrimination, and the deep demonstrations of faith.

I also thought about the country’s powerful signs of hope: the Ms. HIV+ Ethiopia contestants bravely walking the pageant runway and Zenaye, a judge who chooses to use her skills to help bolster women’s rights. These are women to watch. These are women of hope. 🦋

How are people with HIV/AIDS treated in your country? Is the stigma decreasing over the years? What gives you hope?

⭐ An Adventure A Week is a serial based on my autobiography “Adventures Of A Nomad: 30 Inspirational Stories.” You can read the essays in order (or not). Can’t wait for the next installment? Get the book.

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Christened “Wander Woman” by National Geographic, Erin Michelson is a professional speaker and author of the Nomad Life™ series of travel books and guides, including the #1-ranked “Explore the World with Nomads.”