Friends Ink: July 2023

Hello my special friends.

Isn’t it exciting that Shelley is visiting you this month? I know she is thrilled to spend time with all of you again. I cannot wait to see pictures and hopefully some videos of you. I hope you have a lot of fun when Shelley visits. Shelley always returns to Canada with stories of how wonderful and special every one of you are. I just love hearing updates and seeing pictures of you.

One interesting fact about me is that I love to learn different languages. English is my first language but I studied French and a little Spanish when I was a child. My husband is Dutch so I even know a few sentences in Dutch. When I was a school teacher, I taught children French for many years. When Shelley tells stories about all of you, I love hearing your names and then I try to pronounce them. I have learned to say the names Tesfa, Edilawit, and Tilahun. I hope I get to learn more of your names because Ethiopian names sound so cool! I also love to learn the names of Ethiopian cities and towns like Harar and Addis Ababa. I know that sometimes, I make mistakes when I pronounce Amharic words but that is okay. I don’t mind sounding silly as long as I am learning new things. Maybe you could teach us some more Amharic words or a song? I would love that! Do you like to learn English words and sentences too? It was awesome when you sang the song, “Skinna Marink”. Maybe Shelley will teach you some new English words when she visits this month.

You made my mouth water when you wrote to us about eating fresh mango. M-m-m-m-m!! Mango is one of my favourite fruits. I love to make special wraps with mango, lettuce and other vegetables. I share the mango wraps with my friends and family. You dip the mango wraps in a homemade peanut sauce. Yummy! The mango makes them extra special but I know they would taste even more delicious if I had sweet and fresh mangoes from Ethiopia. In our last letter, Lisa mentioned that we cannot grow mangoes in Canada because it is too cold outside. Our mangoes come from other countries so they are not as juicy and sweet as the ones that you eat in Ethiopia.

We are able to grow some fresh fruits and vegetables here in Canada though. In the summer, it is warm enough. I grow a very small garden. In my garden, I am growing lettuce, tomatoes, and peppers. It is fun to grow vegetables and they are so fresh and healthy! We have to build a fence around our garden so that the rabbits, squirrels, and chipmunks do not eat our vegetables. I love to work in my garden but this summer, there seem to be a lot of mosquitoes flying around. Mosquitoes bite people and suck our blood. After they bite, mosquitos leave an itchy red bump on our skin. I know there are mosquitoes in Ethiopia too. Do you have a lot in Harar?

In your last letter, Lisa also wrote about Canada Day which is at the beginning of July. On Canada Day, we celebrate what it means to be Canadian. One thing that Canadians are known for around the world is our manners. We like to say please and thank you to show appreciation. We hold the door if someone is behind us or we will sometimes let other people go ahead of us when we are waiting in a line. If an older person is standing and needs a seat, we will help them and offer them our chair. When someone else is talking, it is good manners to listen attentively to them. Manners are important because they help people live together.

Manners are a way of showing kindness, respect, and appreciation for others. I was so happy to hear that some of you are showing manners by volunteering and helping older people in your community. I also read that you have invited other children from the streets to come in and spend time with you. This kindness is touching for us and shows us how thoughtful you are. What are some ways that you could show manners to Tesfa, your teachers, Shelley, or your friends? Do you like to spend time with others who are kind and show manners?

I really hope that you love your new Canada t-shirts!! I cannot wait to see pictures of all of you in your red & white Canada shirts. I hope that when you wear them, you think of us and the love that we have for you. These shirts are like a big hug from all of us, your special Canadian friends.

I cannot wait to hear from you again!

Kim & the Friends Ink team
On behalf of all your Canadian friends

Friends Ink: June 2023

Hello to our Friends!

This is Lisa writing to you from Woodstock in the month of June.

It is so wonderful to hear from you. We enjoy your letters so much, and enjoy learning about your lives in Harar and some of the history of your country, Ethiopia. I loved hearing about mangoes in your last letter! The pictures you sent were amazing! I really enjoy using mangoes in my cooking but I must admit it is hard to get good mangoes so far away from their source!

Two foods that are very popular this time of year in Ontario are strawberries and asparagus. This is the time of year when they are ready to be picked, and people tend to eat a lot of those foods while they are so plentiful, fresh and delicious. Of course, by the end of June, I am very tired of asparagus, because I have eaten so much! We are able to buy most fruits and vegetables all year long at our grocery stores, but most of those foods (at least in the winter when it’s not our growing season) are imported from other countries. There is a big difference between food brought from far distances and food grown close to home. There is a growing trend to “eat local” as much as possible and not buy produce that has travelled so far, as a way to reduce pollution caused by air travel and sea freight. However, we cannot grow foods like bananas and pineapples and mangoes, for example, in Canada, so we do need to import them. Bananas are very popular and are very good for one’s health. Do you enjoy eating bananas? I do! I try to eat several bananas each week for my health.

Today is Sunday, June 11, and it is a cloudy day. We had some rain showers earlier this morning and expect some rain tonight, too. The rain is very welcome. It has been extremely dry here for many weeks. Farmers have planted their crops, but without rain, there is worry that some of the crops will not survive. I hope that the rain we get tonight will make a difference.

As you may know, Canada is a huge country with large areas of forests. Our forests are beautiful, with a mix of evergreen trees, like pine and spruce, and deciduous trees, which shed their leaves every fall. I know that Shelley has described the beautiful colours of the leaves in the fall. Our forested areas do not have many people living in them. Forests are mainly home to wildlife, like deer, bears, foxes, rabbits, and many types of birds. Canada is going through a bad wildfire season right now, with forest fires burning in northern Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, northern British Columbia, and even in Nova Scotia, a province that hasn’t had many fires in the past. While forest fires are a natural part of the cycle of nature, this year is very extreme and some of the fires are getting close to communities where people live. People are having to leave their homes in some areas to go to safety. There are no fires near us – we don’t have large areas of forest in Southern Ontario – the forests are much farther north. Rain is helping, so we all hope that the fires will be under control soon. If it stays hot and dry, though, people will not be allowed to build any fires anywhere this summer. Campfires are popular when people go camping, which many people do on their summer vacation.

Fire fighters from other countries have come to Canada to help control the fires. It is wonderful to have the support from our neighbour, the United States, and other countries. When other countries experience natural disasters like fires and floods, Canadian troops and first responders go to help them. It is so important to help each other as a global community. There was a wonderful newspaper story last week about a small town in Nova Scotia that hosted a lobster dinner for a group of fire fighters from the United States. One of them was celebrating his 60 th birthday, so the community decided to have a party for him and to thank the fire fighters for their help. (Do you know what lobsters are?)

I have two sons who are in their thirties. I remember when my sons were small, they called June their “happy month”, for two reasons: one, both of their birthdays are in June; and two, the school year ends at the end of June and school children then have two months off (July and August) for summer vacation.

The first big event of the summer holidays is Canada Day, which falls on July 1 st every year. Canada Day celebrates Confederation, the day that Canada became its own country. On July 1, 1867, the British Parliament passed the British North American Act, which created a “dominion” of Canada within the British Empire. The four provinces that joined together in 1867 were Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec. That means that Canada is only 156 years old this year! Ethiopia’s history as a country is so much older!

Other provinces joined Confederation over the years. Canada is a constitutional monarchy, which means that the British monarch (King or Queen) has power to govern Canada, although in fact, the Queen or King gives that power to our elected governments. Our current Prime Minister is Justin Trudeau. You may have heard that Britain has a new king, Charles III. His coronation was held recently and was quite a spectacular event. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died last year after more than 70 years as Queen of the United Kingdom.Canada Day, July 1, is a national holiday and people get the day off work. Many cities, including Woodstock, will hold events during the day, such as concerts, lots of food, crafts and activities for children, and then beautiful fireworks displays at night. Fireworks light up the night sky with so many beautiful colours. They are noisy, though. My dogs are scared of the noise! Oh well, I just cuddle them more.

Just a small personal note, this July 1 is my husband’s and my 40 th wedding anniversary! We will have been married 40 years! It is hard to imagine how quickly those years have passed, but I am very grateful to have had such a wonderful husband all of these years. He thinks he is very lucky, too!

June is the month when baby birds leave their nests and learn to be on their own and to fly. We had a robin’s nest on top of a light fixture on our back porch. For a couple of weeks in May, once the baby robins had cracked out of the eggs, the mother and father robin were busy gathering worms for the baby birds to eat. One day last week, I looked outside and the two baby robins were not in the nest. They stayed nearby, though, and the mother and father stayed close to them. Apparently, the father robin stays with the babies in safe spots in trees for about 2 weeks, until the babies are strong enough to fly well and get their own food. I guess the mother robins are the ones to get their food while they’re in the trees.

June is one of my favourite months. I enjoy seeing the baby birds and hearing the birdsong. I am happy for school children who are looking forward to summer vacation and are having fun at end-of-school events like Track and Field Days. I know that all of you work very hard at your studies, but I am sure you look forward to some time off school, too. I enjoy going for long walks outside, before the summer gets too hot, and I enjoy playing golf. I like to plant flowers in my back yard, too, so that we will have something beautiful to look at all summer. I remember all the beautiful plants you have at your home. Do you know what we call someone who has talent for growing healthy plants? We say that they have a “green thumb”. Tesfa must have a green thumb!

Well, that is all the news I have this month. Your Friends here in Canada think about you often and are so happy to get your letters and hear your news.

Wishing you much love on behalf of Friends Ink,
Lisa

Friends Ink: May 2023

Hello to our special friends at Tesfa’s Shelter! 

I know we say this every month, but WOW, do we love hearing from you! We never thought we would be getting letters back from you so often! Every time one arrives it feels like Christmas! It feels like we are “pen pals” - that is the name we use here in Canada for friends who don’t meet, but instead write letters to each other to keep in touch. I love letters and I love hearing from you all when you write us back!

Tell us how you write a letter as such a big group - do you brainstorm ideas? Do you take turns writing? Do the oldest have the responsibility of writing? We are so interested to hear how it all works.

It is Megan writing to you this month. I am so very happy right now because it is finally warm here in Canada. It is not always as hot as Ethiopia, that’s for sure, but it is our spring and summer season. All the flowers are sprouting, pushing up through the dirt, and the most beautiful trees are covered in white, pink and purple flowers! Every day I go for a walk and I take pictures of the flowers because I just can’t get over how beautiful they are. It is such a lovely time to be here in Ontario.

That is the province where we live. Canada is divided into 13 smaller districts; we have 10 provinces and 3 territories. Ontario is a very large province with many large cities, and some smaller towns and isolated communities with not very many people, too.

I am very lucky because all of my friends live here in Ontario. Even though you can drive all day and still be in this province - and some places can only be reached by airplane, not by road, because they are so remote! - the people that are important to me live between one and three hours away. I wanted to write to you about friendship today because I see and hear how you are all building friendships at Tesfa’s Shelter but also at school and with other children in the community.

We are all so impressed when we hear about your academic success, but we want you to know that your kindness to others is equally important. We are so inspired when we hear about some of you helping other children who are living on the streets. Sharing your bathing facilities, offering fresh new clothes or other essential items, or even just offering some conversation and compassion to children on the street when it is safe to do this - you are setting an amazing example for others in your community! These projects to help strangers are so special and I hope you feel so happy and full of joy when you see your new friends playing games with you inside your compound or enjoying the food or items you have shared with them on the street. When we see the photos we are amazed at your kindness and good deeds! You are sharing what you have with others who do not have much and that is an amazing experience you will always remember.

It is so important to find people who are alone or scared or vulnerable, and to reach out with kindness and support. I know someone who tells their children every day to “be friends to the kids who don’t have friends.” It means they will keep a look out for children in their classes, or outside of school, who are alone and don’t have anyone to talk to or play with. 

I remember times in my life when I could have used a friendly face and a new friend reaching out to help me. I know many of you have experienced times when you needed some help, too! We all need to offer what we can to the people around us. That’s how we make a better world.

I have three very special friends who are always lifting me up when I am sad, and who celebrate with me when I am happy. We met when we were very young, in primary school, and we still talk to each other often now - that’s more than 20 years later! I am so happy they are in my life, but because we don’t live in the same city, we don’t get to see each other as often as we would like. Missing the people we love is so challenging. I hope you are able to lean on your friends and Tesfa when you are feeling sad or missing someone special. 

What do you like to do with your friends? Do you have a game you love to play with a specific person? How do you show your friends that they are special to you?

Thank you to each and every one of you for showing care and compassion to your friends, and to children that you don’t even know who are living on the street. 

Your Canadian friends are all so proud of you. And guess what? You are teaching us lessons every day! 

We love to hear stories from your lives and think about how we can act like you, showing love to strangers.

Talk to you soon,

Megan & the Friends Ink team
On behalf of all your Canadian friends

Friends Ink: April 2023

Greetings to our family in Ethiopia.

Yes, I said family, because I feel like these letters we are exchanging with each other are helping us to know each other closely, and cherish each other more fully.  I enjoy the messages we receive from you, and I love the videos that show your smiles and joy.  You shared a video with us about your birthday celebrations, and it looked like so much fun.  There was singing, special food, and a true effort to make the birthday of your brothers and sisters a special day.

Here in Canada, I celebrated my 61st birthday in the month of March.  I know it might sound silly, but I remember when I was young like most of you are now, I believed 61 years old was a very, very old age.  Now, of course, I try hard not to imagine this as old as it sounded to me when I was 12 years old.  I don’t feel old after 61 years of living.  I feel grateful.  I can share with you that it is a great privilege to grow old.  There are many, many obstacles and illnesses that can cut our lives short, so every day that grows into a month, that grows into a year, that takes us to ‘old age’ is truly a blessing.

As children in Canada, our birthdays were often celebrated with a birthday party, much like the one I saw you holding.  The benefit you all have is your birthday party guests are living right there with you.  If you are a shy child, like I was when I was younger, the most difficult part of holding a birthday party was finding people to invite to the party.  There would be people we know from our schools, or from our churches, or from our athletic practices. I played on baseball teams since the age of 6, so some of my friends were only known to me through my sports.  You can imagine how difficult it would be to hand out invitations to a party, then to worry and worry if anyone would want to come to celebrate with you. Of course, there were always children who accepted the invitation, so all that worry was really unneeded.  I am still trying to learn about the dangers of worrying too much.  I think some of us worry more than others. Do any of you worry a lot?

Mother and father and other family members would often decorate the house with balloons and streamers, trying to make the house seem festive.  Usually we were asked to dress up in our best clothing for our party, which often meant putting on our clothes reserved for church or school. Often each child would wear a birthday hat. The balloons were so fun to bat around at each other at the end of the day. Our birthday parties often included some games.  One popular game was called, “Pin the Tail On The Donkey”.  Now, don’t worry my friends, we didn’t actually bring a real donkey into the house.  This game involved a very large picture hung on the wall of a donkey that had no tail. Each child was given a long strip of paper with a tail painted on it.  One by one, the children were blind-folded, then spun in a tight circle, around and around, then stopped just in time to be facing the picture of the donkey, still blind-folded and now a bit dizzy.  The goal of the child was to approach the donkey hanging on the wall, and attach the strip of paper with the image of a tail as close to where it was supposed to go on a real, live donkey.  We all know, that would be the donkey’s rump.  Everyone in the room would cheer and laugh as the blind-folded player would end up with a tail stuck to the donkey’s nose, or the donkey’s belly.  The winner of the game was the person who got the tail closest to the proper location at the rear end.  Do you play a game like this one in Ethiopia?

In Canada, the season of the year has a big impact on the kinds of activities you could hold during your party.  If your birthday was in the winter months, and there was snow on the ground, you could do things like build a snowperson, or go sledding down the park hills on toboggans and sleds.  If your birthday was in the summer months, you might be able to go to a swimming pool and splash and swim in the pool with your friends.  Springtime is so close to my birthday that indoor games were the best choice. It rains a lot in springtime to melt the winter snow and help our flowers to grow. It can be quite muddy outside in the spring and often still quite cold.

The next part of the party was opening the gifts your friends may have brought you.  This was often fun and full of surprises.  To be honest, I enjoyed the play time far more than gift opening.  Next came the birthday cake.  Sometimes mother or father would have baked the cake right at home, and other times a special cake would be ordered from a bakery. I loved chocolate cake with chocolate and pink icing.  On top of the cake were the exact number of candles that matched your birthday.  So, if you were turning 10 years old, the cake would have 10 candles.  The tiny candles were made of wax, and had a wick inside them.  Each candle would be set afire with a match, and the glow from the burning candles would light up the room. Mother or father would turn the lights out in the room to really make the burning candles glow. Your friends and family would sing the song, “Happy Birthday To You”, and just at the right moment, you would do your best to blow out all the candles at once.  It didn’t happen often, but now and again, a trick candle would be added to the cake that could not be blown out, no matter how hard you tried.  Everyone always laughed when that happened. You could blow and blow, but that candle would not go out.

Let me tell you my friends, when you are turning 61 years old, you really do not want to try to blow out that many candles in one breath.  Try to picture 61 candles burning at once. Wow, that’s a lot of light, and a big cake.  Cake and icecream and treats were shared by everyone, and then your friends would go home so you could finally really look at the gifts you received.  My favourite gift was art supplies, because I love to draw and paint.

Receiving gifts is very nice, but perhaps a better feeling comes from watching someone else receive a gift you have given to them. You know my friends, I have learned that the true value of a gift is not in how much it costs to purchase, but in how much love and thought that has gone into it.  For example, if you know your good friend loves the colour yellow, perhaps a special gift is to find a yellow flower you could pick to give them (always making sure you have permission to pick this flower, of course), or you could draw a yellow flower on paper and present it to them.  If your friend seems sad about something, perhaps the best gift you can give them is to get them to laugh at something silly you do.  Always remember that gifts come in many, many forms, and the best ones can not be purchased in a store.  You children bless me every time you send us a letter.  It is a gift I treasure each time I read it.

This year I will celebrate my 61st birthday by spending time with my dear friends, and maybe having a special meal at a restaurant so that I don’t have to cook for myself.  I will go for a walk in the woods to smell the fresh cool spring air and watch the flowers trying to push up from the warming forest floor. The singing birds might inspire me to sing some songs and play my Ukulele.  I think that sounds like a perfect day.

Happy Birthday to all my friends in Ethiopia.  You are loved by so many people here in Canada.  You are a gift to all of us.

Patti

Friends Ink: March 2023

Hi kids!

It is me Shelley writing this month and I am so excited to share some more information about the area we live and our traditions.

This time of year is still cold and we still have snow and ice.  As the temperatures start to get warmer, there is a change in our maple trees.  Maple trees are very common in Canada in fact, our flag has a maple leaf right in the middle of our flag.  Inside the maple tree, in March and early April, sap starts to flow and when farmers put a special tap in the tree and attach a pail, the sticky sap from the tree can be gathered, cooked for many hours and turned into very, very delicious sweet syrup. 

What I think you will find really interesting is that the maple tree in the summer has green leaves, in the fall, the leaves turn orange or red or yellow and then the leaves fall off of the trees leaving the branches bare and then in the spring, the leaves come back.  Before the leaves come back is when the sap is running from the trees.  Isn’t that amazing that one kind of tree can do all of that in one year?!  Please look at the pictures I have sent so you can see a maple tree in the summer, fall, winter and spring.

I love maple syrup and many Canadians do.  The most popular way to have maple syrup is to pour it on pancakes.  Pancakes are made from flour, eggs, oil and milk and cooked on a hot pan.  They are spongy like injera but do not taste the same.  We also don’t eat pancakes with other foods like  you eat injera with different watts or sauces.  I have included a picture of pancakes so you can see what they look like.  Writing about pancakes and maple syrup is getting me hungry.

Maple syrup can also be used in baking instead of using sugar.  In fact, maple syrup can be used instead of sugar on cooked oatmeal for breakfast or other ways.

Julia and I went for a drive in our car the other day to look at the trees and grass because the day before we had had what is called freezing rain.  I know you get rain in the rainy season.  I want you to imagine what that would be like if that rain froze to ice when it hit the ground, trees, everywhere. I am not even sure if you have ever seen ice.  Ice is water that has frozen.  Some people like ice in their cold drinks to keep them really cold. 

When we have freezing rain, it makes driving very dangerous because cars can slip and slide and have a very hard time stopping.  Unless you absolutely have to be somewhere, when it is freezing rain, it is best to stay at home.  Most people in Canada have two sets of tires for their vehicles.  One set for the winter and one for the summer.  The winter tires are made to not slide as much on the snow and ice.

We don’t have freezing rain a lot but when we do, when it stops and the sun is shining, it is a beauty I cannot even describe.  The ice covers the trees, the grass, the roofs on our buildings, everywhere.  Julia and I drove to take pictures for you to see.  I hope you can see in these pictures the ice on the trees and grasses.  Do you know what a diamond looks like and how it sparkles in the light?  When the sun hits the ice on the trees and the grass, it looks like thousands and thousands of diamonds sparkling.  It is a beauty that makes my heart sing.  Do you know that expression?  It means it makes me feel like I could cry because I am so impressed by and thankful for that beauty.  It is like when I see you when I come to visit, I feel like I could cry because I am so happy, so happy to see all of you.

By the way, thank you so much for the Valentines video of many of you singing Skidermerinky Dinky Dink, Skidermerinky Do.  I loved it and so did our sponsors and donors!  Thank you!  My heart was also singing when I saw the pictures of you having lunch at the Harar Ras Hotel.  I am so thankful for the owner to give you that experience.  Was the food delicious?  Were you able to eat it all?  What was your favourite part of the lunch?  You all looked so beautiful and handsome!  My heart was also singing to see many of you receive awards for your grades from your semester 1 results.  Congratulations!  All of the sponsors are so happy to know you are doing so well.  They are all proud of all of you, all 92 of you!

Our sponsors, our volunteers and I have been given such a blessing in being able to support you, care about you and love you.  Your letters are helping us get to know your culture, your country and your traditions much better.    We are so thankful for your letters and feel it connects us in a very real way even though we live so far apart.  I have been to Ethiopia many times but I am learning a lot from your letters too. 

One of the things we are hoping our letters can do is to teach you some life lessons we have learned in our lives.  One lesson my mom has taught me is to always do what you say you will do.  It is so important to build trust in people isn’t it?  When you know that someone will always do what they have told you they will do, you know you can depend on them and that feels good doesn’t it?  When you trust someone, it allows you to feel closer to that person, it allows you to build a good relationship.  When you always do what you say you will do, people will know they can count on you and will ask you to be involved in important work.

Don’t say you will do something unless you are committed to doing it and know that you can do it.  Be honest if you are not able to do something for whatever reason.  It is better to be honest and disappoint someone than to say you will do something, not do it and affect their trust in you. 

Does that make sense?  Maybe you can talk together about some examples of times you have said you would do something, did it and how it helped your relationship, how it made you feel?  Maybe you can talk about examples of when someone told you they would do something and they didn’t do it and how that made you feel.

I have included a picture of my mom with this letter so you will know who taught me this lesson.  My mom and dad are sponsors of your shelter.

Here are some jokes.  I hope when you translate them, they will still be funny:

1.     What is worse than finding a worm in your apple (worms love apples)? 

Answer:  Finding half a worm!

2.     Why did the cookie go to the hospital?

Answer: Because she felt crummy.

3.     What did the little corn say to the mama corn?

Answer: Where is pop corn?  (some people in North America call their father “pop”)

4.     What did the left eye say to the right eye?

Answer: Between us, something smells.

I hope our letters help you to understand how much we care about you and love you. 

Shelley

Friends Ink: February 2023

Hello friends in Harar. This is your friend, Kim, from Woodstock, Canada. I am thrilled to write my very first letter to all of you.

We saw the video of your special January birthday party! When we see videos of all of you smiling and laughing, it makes us smile too! We loved the colourful balloons and decorations and hearing your happy screams and laughter. The cake and snacks looked delicious. What was Tesfa spraying all over the place? The spray looked cool! We hope everyone has a lot of fun at birthday celebrations! Happy birthday to all of our special friends who celebrated their birthdays in January! Happy birthday also if you will celebrate your birthday in February!

It is February and it is cold and snowy in Canada. When I look outside today, the ground is covered in white snow. Sometimes when it is snowing here, you can actually see the shapes of the snowflakes if you look closely. It is so beautiful! I was walking outside earlier today and I had to be careful not to fall on the ice. It is so cold that sometimes the ground gets ice on it which is slippery. I have fallen a few times on the ice and it is not fun especially if you fall on your bum! Ouch!!

In February, Canadians celebrate 2 fun days: Groundhog Day and Valentine’s Day.

Groundhog Day is February 2. Because it is cold and snowy here In February, Canadians want spring and warmer temperatures to arrive. We want to put away our coats, mittens and hats. Some people in Canada believe that an animal called the groundhog can predict the weather. A groundhog is a small brown furry animal who digs holes in the ground. They have short legs and a bushy tail. On Groundhog day, some people gather to watch the groundhog climb out of the hole where it lives. When the groundhog comes out of its hole and sees its shadow, people think it means there will be 6 more weeks of cold winter temperatures. If the groundhog does not see a shadow, people think that spring is going to be here very soon. Spring means that it will get warmer in Canada. On Groundhog Day, we all hope that the groundhog does not see a shadow because we want spring. Isn’t that silly? Do you believe that an animal can predict the weather? Are there any animals that look like groundhogs living near Harar?

In Canada, we also celebrate Valentine’s Day on February 14. On Valentine’s Day, we like to eat little red hearts that taste like cinnamon or sometimes we eat chocolate too. Yum! We sometimes wear red or pink and send little cards to our friends to show that we care about them. The cards are usually decorated with pink and red hearts. We hope

that you like the special Valentine’s card that we made for you. We wanted you to know how much we appreciate all of you! Friends are important even if they live far away. Do you do nice things for your friends to show that you care about them?

We saw the video of Shelley teaching you the song Skinnamarinky Dinky. That song is perfect to sing on Valentine’s Day because it is about love and appreciating other people. In Canada, lots of children sing it at school on Valentine’s Day. We saw you learning the song in a video. We loved seeing how much fun you had singing the song. Do you remember the song? Maybe you could all sing it again after you finish reading this letter.

Do you want to know a big secret? I have been a friend of Shelley’s for 40 years? 40 years! Can you believe it? That is a long long time! Shelley and I met when we were 16 years old. We went to school together and we both loved music class. We played in the school orchestra together. She played the violin and she was an excellent singer and I played the trumpet. When Shelley and I visit each other, we like to go for walks, talk and laugh together! We help each other by doing nice things whenever we can. Maybe you will have friends from Tesfa’s Shelter for 40 years! Wouldn’t that be cool?

We hope that all of you are doing well and that you enjoy reading our letter and seeing our Valentine!

Sending hearts and big hugs from Canada! One of your Canadian friends,

Kim

Friends Ink: January 2023

Hello and Happy New Year to all of our dear friends at Tesfa’s shelter! I am wishing you a happy and healthy year and want you to know that there are so many of us thinking about you all and wishing you much love and happiness. 

Here in Canada, we celebrated Christmas on December 25 and New Year’s Day on January 1. 

Many people put up a Christmas tree in their house for a few weeks around Christmas. Many people buy a real tree that has been cut down – or go to what is called a Christmas tree farm where they can choose the tree they want and cut it down themselves.  Many other people, like my family, have an artificial plastic tree which is stored in a box in the basement and brought upstairs every December.  We put lots of decorations on the tree, and there are strings of small electric lights on the tree which glow at night and look so pretty.  I am sharing a picture of our Christmas tree which we had in our living room in front of the window. We put wrapped Christmas presents for our relatives and friends under the tree so that when they come to visit us, we can give them their presents to unwrap. Even though it is artificial, the tree looks real.

New Years is traditionally a time for people to think back on the past year, all the good things that have happened, all the challenges they have faced, and all the friends and family who have helped and supported them. It is a time to be grateful. We think ahead to the new year, and set goals for what we would like to accomplish and things we would like to do. Many people celebrate the new year with friends and family.  Some people go to parties on New Year’s Eve, and many cities have parties with big displays of fireworks. People stay up until midnight so that they can “ring in the new year”, which means watching the clock, doing a countdown before midnight (ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one…) and then celebrating and wishing everyone around them a Happy New Year.

Things have been much quieter during the holiday seasons since COVID-19 started, though. Most people I know prefer to stay home.  I don’t even stay up until midnight anymore, as I like to go to bed early, usually by 10 o’clock at night. 

Here in Canada, it is a tradition for many people to make “New Year’s resolutions”.  They decide to try new things or to change some of their habits.  Do any of you set goals for yourselves?  It was so exciting to watch the videos of the Team Tesfa Awards celebration – you obviously do work very hard, at your school work, and helping out at home.  I think you should all be very proud of the great contributions you are making.

A very common New Year’s resolution is to be more healthy by getting more exercise and eating more nutritious foods.  In North America, many people eat a lot of “fast food”, like hamburgers, french fries, and soft drinks (or “pop”)– foods with a lot of fat and sugar in them. It is called fast food because you go to a restaurant to buy it and it is already made for you so doesn’t take any time or effort to make. Sometimes people are so busy with their jobs and their family’s activities, they want to stop at a fast food restaurant to eat instead of cooking a healthy meal at home.  It is convenient but it is not healthy.  Many people in North America do not get as much physical exercise as they should.  It is more challenging to get exercise during the winter months, as the snow and ice make the roads and sidewalks slippery and difficult to walk on.  There are lots of fun winter activities that people can do, though. Some of the most popular are skating, tobogganing, skiing, bird watching, and snowshoeing.  The water in our lakes and rivers freezes during the coldest part of the winter.  Once the water is very well frozen, you can walk on it! Some people like to clear the snow off the frozen pond or river to make a skating rink.  Maybe they will play a game of hockey! Because Canada is cold and snowy during the winters, hockey is a very popular sport.  Many young boys and girls play hockey on teams, and some teams travel around the province of Ontario to play games against other teams, trying to win a championship trophy.  I have a nephew who was so good at hockey, he was given a scholarship to play for a university in the United States.  It can be quite expensive though to play hockey on teams.  There is a lot of equipment that you have to buy.  But if you just want to skate, here in Woodstock there are many skating rinks.  Some are indoors, in big arenas, but neighbourhoods have outdoor skating rinks that people build in parks for anyone to use.

We had a lot of snow here on Christmas Day, but the weather got warm after Christmas and all the snow has melted.  

It is beautiful to get outside on a sunny day with snow on the ground and on the tree branches.  You have to dress warmly in heavy coats, hats, and mitts, and winter boots to keep your feet warm and dry. I am sending you a picture of a person dressed up in winter clothes, snowshoeing on a beautiful winter day in the country.  

I have three dogs as pets, and when it is really cold, we put coats on the dogs to keep them warm when we take them for their walks.  We even have little boots for our dog’s paws to protect them when the sidewalks and roads are really hard to walk on. That probably sounds silly to you! 

Many people in Canada feed wild birds during the winter or even all year round.  It can be difficult for birds to find food when the snow is deep on the ground.  I have three bird feeders in my back yard, which I fill with bird seed every week or so.  I love to watch the different kinds of birds coming to the feeders to get something to eat.  It is so much fun to watch them.  My favourite birds are the smallest ones – the sparrows and chickadees – but there are also some beautiful colourful birds too – the bright red cardinals and the blue jays. Even if you can’t see the birds, you can tell what kind of bird they are by their calls –the songs they sing.  Do you have a lot of birds near your home?

I am going to finish my letter to you now and make some lunch for me and my husband.  I think we will eat some homemade soup and maybe I will make some hot chocolate to drink!  Soup is one of my favourite foods.  I really enjoyed the Ethiopian food I had when I visited your country a few years ago. A highlight of that trip for me, though, was visiting your home and seeing what a beautiful, bright, and love-filled home it was.  I think you all are wonderful examples of cooperation, caring, and responsibility. I admire very much how you care for each other.  

Wishing you much love,

One of your friends from Canada,

Lisa

Friends Ink: December 2022

Hi friends!

 We think of all of you as our friends, even though we are a long way away! I checked and we are almost 12,000 kilometres apart. That is really half a world away. It would be like travelling to Addis Ababa and back 12 times! But it’s so fun to be able to feel much closer through letters and emails and the magic of the internet. We love writing to you and seeing the updates about you from Tesfa and Shelley.

It’s Megan writing to you this month.

Guess what? We saw some video clips of your Team Tesfa Awards! We are so proud of every single one of you for your hard work and perseverance, whether you received an award or not. It gave us so much joy to watch you all celebrating and supporting your friends and teammates. Thanks for letting us share in the fun of the awards ceremony.

I love how much time and energy you put into your studies and keeping up at school. Your grades are very impressive. Your hard work is very inspiring, too. I was very serious about school when I was younger. I would be disappointed if I didn’t get top marks. But in my final years in university I got very tired and had to work very, very hard to stay focused and make sure I got all my work done. Sometimes it is hard to keep going when challenges are getting in your way. You are all very strong to keep going each and every day. You are investing in your future by dedicating yourselves to school. Good job!

Right now in Canada it is almost time for students to have a two-week break for Christmas. We know that Ethiopian Christmas doesn’t happen until January, but most people in our country who recognize this holiday celebrate on Dec. 25. Lots of people put bright colourful lights on the edge of their roofs and light them up at night. It is dark here for about 15 hours every day. How long does the darkness last where you are? 

We also like to bring evergreen or pine trees inside our homes and decorate them with small bright lights and ornaments! We call them “Christmas trees.” A star or an angel goes on the very top. Does it seem silly to bring a tree indoors? Some people have very fancy Christmas trees but in my house, we use homemade crafts that we made as children for our ornaments, plus a few others we have collected over the years. 

Many people have traditions, activities they do every year in December to celebrate the holiday season. Baking sweet treats is a popular one. Every family has their own kind of cookies they like to make for Christmas. My favourite are the ones with chocolate. We enjoy the goodies with warm drinks like coffee and tea and hot chocolate. (It is not as good as Ethiopian coffee or macchiatos, though. We love to taste those delicious drinks when we visit Ethiopia.) 

I was lucky to come visit your home in 2019 and to bring home coffee from Dire Dawa. My friends and family said it was the most interesting coffee they had tried in their whole lives! My boyfriend Jake loves to drink coffee. Every morning he makes two biiiiig cups to take to work. Do you want to know a secret? I don’t really like coffee - unless it’s in Ethiopia!!

It is also getting very cold here, so a hot drink in the morning is very nice. We have to wear thick, warm coats, gloves on our hands and hats on our heads every time we go outside. If you don’t, you can get frostbite and hurt the parts of your body that weren’t covered up from the cold! We have to shovel the snow so that we can have clear paths to walk around and use our cars. There are huge machines the government uses to clear the snow from the road so cars and buses and taxis can get around.

But the snow also gives us a chance to have adventures! Some people like to strap on skis and snowboards - basically little and big sticks on their feet - and go sliding down big hills or mountains! We also make balls out of the snow to build snow art. Sometimes we are a little bit sneaky and throw those snowballs at each other. 

Have you ever seen snow?

Thanks for listening to the updates from your Canadian friends. See you next month - we are sending big waves and big hugs from 12,000 kilometres away!