What fell to Earth

I first felt the lure of Ethiopia in a theatre in Overland Park, Kansas in 1978. I was eight years old, sitting and watching the movie “Superman.”

Lex Luthor — the arch villain played by Gene Hackman — had found what he needed to finally best the Man of Steel: Kryptonite, fallen to Earth in a meteorite. And where had he tracked it down? Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital. It was the most exotic place I’d ever heard of, and I knew I had to go there.

Traditional huts on a hillside in southern Ethiopia's Derashe region. Photo: Thatcher Cook for Mercy Corps

I first felt the deep culture and world significance of Ethiopia through my father’s fascination with history and books sitting on the shelf in our home. He told and taught me about Emperor Haile Selassie and the country’s unique religious history that dated all the way back to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. It seemed a place that made the past present like no other, and I knew that I wanted to explore it.

I first felt the heartbreaking need of Ethiopia when I was 14 and saw unforgettable images of hunger and famine everywhere: on the news, in magazines, even on MTV. I listened to Live Aid, but I still didn’t quite understand why there wasn’t enough food for all those thousands of people, especially when there seemed so much everywhere around me. It was a crisis unlike any I’ve ever seen, and the first time I gave money for international relief. That moment changed me and — now that I’m in Ethiopia — I wonder where my donation went.

It took 32 years from the time I first learned of Ethiopia until I ended up here. And now, as a writer, I feel fortunate to explore villages in some of the country’s most rugged and rural areas, where Mercy Corps is helping farmers grow more food, creating systems that supply clean water and teaching mothers ways to keep their families healthier.

Here I am, having passed through Addis Ababa, among the unique cultures and picturesque villages of Ethiopia’s southernmost reaches. And to think it all started, for a wide-eyed young boy from Kansas, with a glowing green rock fallen to Earth.