What I Learned Riding to Asko

The Mercy Ministries Happy Children’s Home is about 9 km (5.6 miles) outside of Addis Ababa (the capital of Ethiopia) in the town of Asko, about a 30-minute drive on account of construction and bad roads … pretty hard to tell the difference between the two, really.

Random things I learned from Eyob on our journey:

It’s not really 2:00 a.m.

I noticed that Eyob had two clocks set in his Toyota: one blinked 2:24 and the other 12:24. I inquired.

            “It’s not 2:24 a.m. right now,” he began.

Ethiopia has its own time, two 12-hour periods each day that distinguish “light” time and “dark” time: what we know as 6:00 a.m. begins the first 12-hour period and what we know as 6:00 p.m. begins the second. So (stay with me), what we know as “noon” is 12:00 p.m., but in Ethiopia, “noon” is 6:00, six hours after the light period began.

            “It is 8:24,” Eyob said.

This did not explain his clocks and my befuddled mind dropped it.

It’s not April 30, 2012, either.

So if you’re going to change time, you may as well change the calendar, too. In Ethiopia:

They have a 13-month calendar

12 months each have 30 days

The 13^th month is an accumulation of the extra days and is only 5 days long (6 days in leap year)

Their new year begins on September 11

Also … it is 2004 here. Egypt, Eretria, and Ethiopia follow a different calendar.

So, Eyob explained, I arrived not on 4/30/12 but 7/30/04.

My brain began to seize.

The Home has been challenged getting volunteers in the current global economic situation.

It is customary for people to urinate in the streets.

Stop signs are generally optional, at least at 8:24 dark.

Gasoline is $10.22/gallon.

I believe all that Eyob learned on the way to Asko is that it’s not necessary to pronounce the “T” in “castle.” You’re welcome, Eyob.