Korem is the place from where Michael Buerk made his first broadcast announcing the Ethiopian famine (in which some one million people died) to the world. To see it now, surrounded by rich fields on all sides, and the people looking so healthy and happy, this just seems unbelievable.
Soon after leaving the hotel, we found ourselves in a demonstration (or was it a celebration?) of lots of happy smiling schoolchildren, some with placards. There must surely have been over a thousand, from primary age upwards to full teens, but as Ross slowly edged Helena through the throng, everyone just smiled happily and made room for us to pass by. Unfortunately, we have no idea what it was all about as the placards were written in Tigray, which Aden does not speak - so we shall never know.
And so we passed on through the seemingly endlessly beautiful scenery, with the harvest here in full swing. All, of course, being done by hand. As always, of course, we had to slow down / stop for someone herding their flock of goats, sheep, cattle along the road (plus of course their donkeys). Needless to say, many of the houses and villages are unbelievably poor - the kind of poverty that is beyond our imagination unless you see it. (Ever thought you you get gravel? You start with a pile of large stones and painstakingly smash them into smaller and smaller pieces with your hammer).
Eventually, we started to make our way down to Lalibela (where we are spending three nights) and as progress over the unmade road was slow, we all had another opportunity to sit up on the roof seats and feel even closer to the scenery - and people - through which were passing. Quite what they must possibly think of "rich westerners" passing by their life of seemingly hard, grinding poverty is impossible to know but yet again almost everyone - and certainly the children - gave us happy smiling faces and wave after wave.
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