The Mehaber

Blog entry for July 9, 2011: There is an annual Mehaber in Minnesota at their state fair grounds. It’s a day event, about 5 hours long and there are vendors, Ethiopian food, Ethiopian goods to buy like clothes, jewelry, coffee, spices, etc. There are also organizations there supporting causes, like water well building projects.

We attended last year and had an enjoyable time, so thought we would do it again. My in-laws have a place up north Wisconsin, so it makes the drive time bearable, a little over two hours. We always take pictures before we go because we often forget to take pictures while we are busy “doing”. We did manage to take some pictures as you can see. . .




The program on the big stage seemed more organized this year. The stage was full of song and dance and there was even a gentleman who planned to read a poem in four different Ethiopian languages and then in English. We arrived and of course it was all about the food, so we got our name tags and then proceeded to find Ethiopian food. The girls each ate a very big adult sized plate of food! I sometimes feel like they lose their minds when they smell ET food and some instinctual behaviors take over. Anyway, then the shopping began. We found some great beaded necklaces and bracelets that support women in Ethiopia. Their organization is called Global Team Local Initiatives (GTLI) and their website is www.gtli.us. They have some cool projects, go take a look. Another organization called Empowering Ethiopian Children by Education was present. They were selling jewelry and bags to support the children’s education. They currently support 20 children and their first full week of school was held November 2010. Go check them out too!

I did manage to get a spice list from Workinesh Spice Blends, Inc. They don’t have a website, so I was hoping they would be at the Mehaber. They are still working on a website, but if you call them with an order, it’ll be shipped the next day! They are located in MN and their phone number is 952-303-6710. We also bought some t-shirts and a wall hanging of an Ethiopian women weaving a basket! Very cool. . . .

We didn’t manage to get to the two water projects, but the ones represented at the Mehaber were Water to Thrive and Mudula Water . We wanted to listen to the one speaker near Gondar, but lost track of time and missed the session. So it’s online searching we go. .

We sat and watched the little kids (K-2, so 5-7 years old) dance to Ethiopian music. We then listened to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church choir sing traditional songs with drums. It was calming and we really enjoyed it. We visited the churches booth and they let the girls put on traditional Ethiopian church clothes for us to take a picture.

So for the last hour, we let the girls go and play on all the inflatable stuff (slides, jump houses, etc.) since they are kids and they can’t sit and listen and watch all day. . . .so off we went to spread out a blanket for the grown ups and watch the little girls play! At the close of the event, we drove back to the cabin, all having a great day!