After all the Thanksgiving and Black Friday posts I've been seeing around the internet thrown against a backdrop of the neighborhood I'm staying in in Addis Ababa, I thought it would be interesting to see what a handful of Ethiopians were thankful for.
I selected three individuals from poor and middle class status (homeless and shop owners) while walking through the Piazza district and had a translator ask them what they were thankful for. While some had little to say, others said all they had. Overall, it really left me thinking about all of the things that I have in my life to be thankful for: three meals a day, a roof over my head, family and friends all over the world, the financial ability to return to the United States whenever I want, and a laptop to be able to write this blog post.
The responses are in Amharic first, and the translated (and somewhat difficult to hear, therefore subtitled) responses come next. Watch the facial expressions and body language, then hear their words in English.
Here's what I found.
Each respondent gave explicit permission to be recorded. Though the interview was not predicated on any compensation, each respondent was paid a small amount of money after the interview as a goodwill gesture for their time.
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| A woman with two children who participated in the interview. |
I selected three individuals from poor and middle class status (homeless and shop owners) while walking through the Piazza district and had a translator ask them what they were thankful for. While some had little to say, others said all they had. Overall, it really left me thinking about all of the things that I have in my life to be thankful for: three meals a day, a roof over my head, family and friends all over the world, the financial ability to return to the United States whenever I want, and a laptop to be able to write this blog post.
The responses are in Amharic first, and the translated (and somewhat difficult to hear, therefore subtitled) responses come next. Watch the facial expressions and body language, then hear their words in English.
Here's what I found.
Each respondent gave explicit permission to be recorded. Though the interview was not predicated on any compensation, each respondent was paid a small amount of money after the interview as a goodwill gesture for their time.
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