(Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia)
Dalmar Bahdoon, a 27 year old Somali man, wiped his brow as he waiting in line for a bowl of gruel at one of many Ethiopian refugee camps that have opened up due to the extreme drought and violence affecting this part of Africa.
“We have heard about the terrible weather in the Northeast part of America, how the snow came so early.”
“We felt sorry that many people had to wait longer for a train or get stuck in traffic for an hour. Some of them did even get home in time to watch the favorite television show ‘How I Met Your Mother’. It reminds me of the time when my son ran off and by the time I found him I missed out on the chance to get gruel for that day.”
“Some of them I hear did not have time for a proper breakfast. Proper breakfast is important. That’s why I’m waiting in line four hours, for gruel.”
"It's a testament to what the human spirit can endure"
“Many of the Halloween parties were cancelled because of early snow. Little children will not taste mini Twizzlers or Kit Kats for a day or two. I understand the disappointment. I would wish for my young son to go tent to tent and receive in his bowl, even if it were only more gruel.”
“So sad that they had to take alternate routes to work, take crowded buses or carpool. We here have also had travel nightmares: walking miles through hostile territory, being beaten, having our gruel taken away…”
“They have too much precipitation coming down and we have too little. The only bright spot is that Global Warming means none of us will be around too much longer to worry about it.”
