It was the afternoon when we were walking to the market. It is clear from a distance by the selection of goods that the main exporter is China. Cheapest plastic shoes, kitchenware and second hand clothes are buried under a layer of clay dust. For the local consumer these are still expensive goods. Next to huge heaps of plastic there is some local ceramics and cotton scarves woven on looms on a small and cramped area.
Burning the ceramics takes a whole long day in a haystack seven kilometers away. There are four to seven types of molds for sale. All these molds are unchanged and have probably been the same for the last 25 years if not longer. A coffeepot, a pan for roasting the coffee beans, a meat grilling plate, a pan for cooking the local bread injera and the stand for the resin incentives used for the coffee ceremony – every single item has it’s own mold which is considered unnecessary to change.
Better yet, someone has had the idea in the past couple of years to paint the clay with regular nitro paints. Just right here on the market, on piled up pottery, not moving a single pot the clay colored ceramics get a new look – light blue, silvery, golden or white. Incomprehensibly the ceramics with nitro paint coloring’s turn into a whole new thing which is difficult to describe.
Next to the vendors on the marketplace there are also coffee shacks tightly next to one another. An empty sugar bag tied to the ends of poles provides shade from the sun. We take a seat under one such bag and a happy lady starts to serve us readily. When the coffee is poured, it is poured so that it spills over the top.
The hostess then grabs my cup and takes a sip so that it wouldn’t spill on me from the cup. I am very surprised but continue to drink the coffee meant for me. The smile of this lady wouldn’t even let me consider leaving any leftovers.
“All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast” Proverbs 15:15
MERLE
Painting of the ceramics
Market Cafe
Coffee pots
In the opposite table
Cotton scarves woven on looms