The PTA has been promoting the festival for two weeks.

This year our school administration opted to forgo the annual Halloween celebration in favor of a community picnic with a harvest theme.  Halloween is problematic here, much as it is in many US schools.  The Ethiopian church is unamused by witchcraft and devilry and the decision was made in order to be more inclusive.

It had been a tiring week and at first I didn’t think I wanted to go back to the school on Saturday.  But I am glad I did.  Here are some reasons:

1. Families enjoying a picnic in the sun on our beautiful campus. There’s not a whole lot for parents and kids to do together in Addis, so much of the international community turned up for this event.

2. Exotic faranji foodstuffs (some made even more exotic by the creative spelling…  foi of grass?  Never mind, it’s tasty).  You won’t find any of this in a grocery store.

3. Kids having fun (adults, too – that’s our principal in the hat.)

4. Cotton candy!  And the profits go to a refugee camp on the Somali border.

5. It’s always nice to hear the choir sing.

6. Alekka’s friends talked her into volunteering, which her parents approve of.

7. Where else do you get to see straw scarecrows guarding a banana tree?