Ethopia Through My Lens

“The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.” The Ethiopia that I fell in love with was different than the version I was taught about in school. She did not need to be pitied but rather celebrated. She did not need to serve as the proxy battleground for religion, democracy, conservation theory and development. She had a story to tell and it was not being told correctly. What we were taught was a black and white tale of poverty and disease. We saw images of naked children with flies in their eyes. What I got in flesh and spirit was so much more.