The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1959-09-03
Simmons r aIS1ily


which is closed at night TO keep
out animals and intruders and there
is a guard at the wall. The wall
keeps out numerous hycnas and
domestic animals and sometimes
even a mountain lion.
Adds Ababa, the town. is in the
upland country. in an area 5000 to
5000 feet above sea level. Temporal
ture is fairly even, seldom hotter
than so degrees, and vegetation is
luxurious There is continual
growing season and flowers and
vegetables abound. Mrs. Simmons
has only to squeeze a tomato on
the ground. cover the seeds with
some fine dirt and within two
weeks there is an abundance of
vines. They grow several feet tall
and she told of one vine that had
over a hundred tomatoes. Many of
the seeds were sent to them by her
father.
Part of the city is modern but in
outlying areas native people live
mostly in mud huts, called "tukels,"
with matched roof
Mr.. and Mrs. Simmons have a
housegirl, a Mantle" who watches
children, washes, etc; houseboy
called "Sabania" who cleans, does
dishes. scrubs, and would do the
cooking if that were not one of
the things Mrs. Simmons happens
to enjoy doing.
They eat largely the food that
is brought in by Americans and
Europeans. Thus far there are no
frozen foods available but there is
electricity il the area and they
have refrigeration. Principal food
of the natives is Wat. a stew
and "Injera," a large buckwheat
cake type of food which is baked
Agriculture is the main resource
of the country. They raise teff, a
cereal grain, said to have much
more nutrition than our wheat or
other grains, and they raise cattle.
People are mostly brown and
dark, but not Negroid. They hand
down the story that when God made
man he experimental out of clay
The first one he baked too long
that was the Negro. The next one
he didn't bake long cnough-that
was the white man. The third time
he got it just right-and that is The
Ethiopian. Their main religion is
Coptic, similar to the Greek Ortho-
doX church.
The country is developing rapidly
but still has a long way to go.
There are few sidewalks Santa
ton facilities are considered very
crude. Hyenas abound and at night
they do an excellent job of clean
ing up garbage that the populace
makes in the daytime. The sew
eral hundred thousand people
who live in Adds Ababa can
create lot of garbage for the
hyenas. The two oldest sons of Mr..
and Mrs. Simmons can initiate the
bark of the hyena very well. They
hear it often enough.
The language is arabic, samali,
amharic and dozens of other dia-
lects English is the second langu-
age and is taught in the schools.
Difficulty is experienced in max
ing natives understand just what
is wanted of them and it is neces-
sary many times to demonstrate
first One day one woman asked
her houseboy to put some water
on the stove" Somewhat puzzled,
the houseboy finally took bucket
of water and poured it on the
stove. But they are eager to learn
and proud of their job" Mrs. Sim
mons said
There is plenty of community
life. Mrs. Simmons belongs to a
Children's Theatre group where
they make puppets and plan puppet
shows for Ethiopians and European
elementary schools. There is also
an artists group, an international
women's club and other organiza-
tions, most of them designed to
offer entertainment and education
to the Ethiopians. Mrs. Simmons
had the honor on two occasions to