Slums My cousin Hannan, my sister Nora and I were on our way home to our aunts house from the hair salon. Our trip was ending so our cousin Hannan insisted that we get our hair styled. It was our first time visiting our parents homeland. Only our mother had traveled with us because my father had to work. I didn’t know what to expect. I wasn't even half as excited as Nora was. It was probably because Nora had been going through an identity crisis and had been begging our parents to send us there so that we could see what the country and family they loved so much. Frankly I didn't care. Nora was fifteen, I was eleven, and Hannan was seventeen. At first all I could think about was all the homework I was missing from being absent. We stayed at my mothers aunts house in DIre Dawa, the second largest city in Ethiopia. Her apartment was cozy and clean. The whole month my mother and Nora traveled around to meet as many family members as they could. After going with them to meet my fathers family in a rural town I got a fever and swollen tonsils. I lost my voice and was bed ridden for a week. After that I refused to leave the comfort of the city. So while they met the rest of our family I explored the city with Hannan. It wasn’t until seeing the slums, I had realized she had only taken me to the touristy rich places. A few days before our departure, Hannan had insisted we get our hair straightened. At the time I had long curly hair that almost reached my waist and didn't trust anyone with it, but she was so curious to see how long it would be straight. Once my hair had been efficiently straightened it was super long. Satisfied, we left the salon to catch a bajaj (a three wheeled taxi with open doors) back home to our aunts house. Surprisingly I had gotten many stares because of my ridiculously long straight hair. One boy came up to me and told me that I had gotten too many hair extensions. I had wondered why they put such a high standard on vanity. A little later I had become aware of why they were culturally vain. We finally caught a bajaj, which apparently wasn't that wearing your hair down in a predominantly Muslim neighborhood. There was suffocating traffic because a famous singer was in town. The cars were cramped in the tiny lanes. Of course whenever there are stopped cars on a busy road, the poor beg for money by either selling you gum or tissues. I always traveled prepared with one dollar bills to buy tissues. Hannan had scolded me for my generosity, explaining that if you hand out too much then every poor person on the street would beg you. I thought since one Ethiopian Birr is six US cents, I really wasn't putting much of a dent in my pocket. The driver got fed up with the traffic so he took a short cut through a suspicious road I had been eyeing earlier. Once he turned the corner I felt like I had been transported to the poorest neighborhood in the world. We were in the slums. The air was dusty and smelt faintly of camels and dust. The people looked tired and weak as they stared at the only vehicle that dared to pass through their neighborhood. The homes looked like loose shacks that were held together by thin pieces of wood and recycled material. A man stood by the road naked with only a piece of fabric because he had no clothes. The bajaj was shaking because of the uneven road. A filthy wild dog was strolling down the road sniffing garbage and searching for scraps of food. I doubted he would find any. I was absolutely shocked by what I was witnessing. I desperately wanted to give the people some of my singles but I my sister wouldn't let me leave the vehicle. The impoverished people exerted hopelessness from their eyes. Nora and Hannan simply ignored what was right in front of them. I felt this complete moment of clarity. I realized that so many basic necessities that I had taken for granted were the dreams others less fortunate. I felt that it was my obligation to somehow help these people and others like them. I cursed myself for complaining about all the homework I had to do when it was my cousins dreams to be able to attend school. Even Hannan desperately wanted to learn but her aunt wanted to get rid of her by marrying her off. Somehow all my problems that I had back home seemed totally irrelevant when compared to the lives of the needy. It wasn’t solely my short time driving through the slums that changed me, it was an accumulation of the things I saw during my trip. Although I didn't get to see as much as my sister did when she traveled around, my experience in the city completely changed my attitude toward life. I finally grasped why Ethiopians were so vain; they tried to hide the flaws in their society by flaunting the beauty of their people. Growing up my parents rarely talked about the poverty of their homeland or of how lucky we are to have been born and raised in a western country, but when it came to talking about appearance and culture in Ethiopia you couldn't get them to stop talking. They were ignoring the big issue that is rapidly growing; the shortage of basic necessities. My parents were selfish when it came to giving money to the impoverished. As long as their siblings had money they didn't care very much about the country as a whole. After coming back home to Portland I felt like a different person. I had a hard time integrating with the other sixth graders because the experience in a third world country had rapidly matured me. The discussions that the other preteens had just seemed so insignificant to me. After much thought at the age of eleven I had decided that I wanted to work internationally and open my own non-profit organization. During high school I begun teaching myself Arabic and volunteered at Mercy Corps. Now whenever I feel myself spending too much or complaining, I remind myself of the slums that I saw in Ethiopia. I cant even imagine what I would be like now if I hadn’t expeirienced that early in my life. It has truly changed my attitude toward life. I know that I cannot change their culture of ignoring poverty and obsessing over vanity, but if more people could see what I saw in those slums the world would be a different place.