Before we even received our acceptance call from America World, we had checked some Ethiopia books out from the library just in case. Since then, we have been reading and learning a lot about this fascinating country! Below is some of the information we discovered and the misconceptions we had when we began researching.
WHERE IS ETHIOPIA AND WHAT IS THE LAND THERE LIKE?
We knew it was in Africa but we weren't exactly quite sure where until we looked at a globe!
The middle of Ethiopia is made up of the East African Rift Valley (a crack in the Earth). The lowlands, the northern and eastern borders, are hot and dry. The northwest and southeast highlands are cool and wetter. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital city and where we'll fly in to, is located in the highlands as is Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile River. As you can see from the pictures below, Ethiopia is not all desert, as we originally thought! While there is dry desert land over parts of the country, there is also grass and forests where their is amble rainfall.
WHAT ANIMALS LIVE IN ETHIOPIA?
We have a Milwaukee Zoo Pass and have visited the zoo several times this year. As we look at the animals and maps of where they live, we always look to see which ones are in Ethiopia. Here is a partial list: lions, elephants, zebras, giraffes, monkeys, hippos, and crocodiles.
WHAT IS THE WEATHER LIKE IN ETHIOPIA?
In the highlands, the average temperature range is 61-72 degrees with 50-70 inches of rain a year. In the lowlands, the average temperature is 80 degrees with only 20 inches of rain a year. In comparison, Chicago's average yearly temperature is 49 degrees, rainfall is 35.82 inches, and snowfall 38.7 inches. Just a bit of a difference!!
WHAT DO THE COLORS SYMBOLIZE ON THE ETHIOPIAN FLAG?
The yellow represents religious freedom. The green represents fertile land. The red represents the lives given up to protect the country. The blue circle represents peace and prosperity. The star's points are all equal to represent the quality of all Ethiopians. The shiny rays
represent a bright future!OTHER INTERESTING FACTS!
* Ethiopian is not quite twice the size of Texas.
* It is one of the first Christian countries in Africa and today about 50% of the country are Christians.
* Many believe coffee beans may have first grown here (and been eaten by some sheep who then wouldn't fall asleep!).
* Ethiopia has never been colonized.
* There are over 3 million orphans in the country. Total popoluation 67 million.
* Only 10% of the land is suitable for farming.
* The official language of Ethiopia is Amharic (am-HAYR-ik) which is related to Arabic and Hebrew.
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