First, let me introduce you to Marsha Aday , his wife, Gete Tebo, and six of their seven children. Marsha Aday is the tribal leader of the Messa tribe and lives on the flanks of Mount Yero Wallo deep in the Amaro Mountains of Ethiopia. I wasn't looking for Marsha Aday exactly.
And without long, I knew that I was looking for Marsha Aday . Marsha Aday lives in a home without a door. That signifies his status as the head of the tribe.
And when I finally arrived, we sat down and started talking about coffee. Marsha Aday is a coffee farmer in one of the most rural parts of Ethiopia, which means he makes less than $1 a day. However, he drinks a fortune every day in coffee.
That's part of the every day culture there. Marsha Aday told me this story while holding a bright red coffee cherry in his hand and handing it to me. And I bit into it.
What would that mean for these people here? Marsha Aday lives a half a drive away from any town, assuming you can actually drive on the roads. The roads are more often used as flat spots for drying coffee than they are for any sort of transportation.
As I said, the coffee topples over itself as it stretches up the flanks of Mount Yero Wallo. Marsha Aday and I were speaking for about a half an hour at this point. And he was so excited.
His coffee is accounted for in legend in Ethiopia in the 10th century BC. But Marsha Aday 's ancestors didn't start drinking it until 3,000 years later in the 20th century. And the story is told that they were convinced that these bright red coffee cherries, if you would eat one of those,
They came on camels from the low lands of Kerdea on camels to the highlands of the Amaro and started trading for coffee. And Marsha Aday 's ancestors were like, hmm. What's going on here?
And it went great for like a day. So when I was with Marsha Aday , the coffee I didn't get to drink, Gete Tebo, his wife, was making the first cup of
They have coffee forests in their backyard. And they drink coffee so much that if Marsha Aday 's personal coffee grove was getting top value in the market, which is about $150, $160 a pound, he himself would drink $75 a day in coffee, which is a four month income to him that he's
We were a little bit pressed. So we decided that the alternative was that Marsha Aday was going to dance for me. This is his costume for being the leader of the Messa tribe that goes back seven generations.
on these DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Whether that is fair or not, there are certainly many voices in the UK now who suggest that Jason Aday story was weaponized by people who strongly object to diversity uh and inclusion
So we're going to get right after it. First, let me introduce you to Marsha Aday , his wife, Gete Tebo, and six of their seven children. Marsha Aday is the tribal leader of the Messa tribe and lives on the flanks of Mount Yero Wallo deep in the Amaro
Marsha Aday is the tribal leader of the Messa tribe and lives on the flanks of Mount Yero Wallo deep in the Amaro Mountains of Ethiopia. I wasn't looking for Marsha Aday exactly. I was looking for the best storyteller.
When I got there, I asked everyone and I said, who's the best storyteller here? And without long, I knew that I was looking for Marsha Aday . Marsha Aday lives in a home without a door.
Wef Zerash is the term for natural seed dispersal by birds and by animals in Ethiopia. And the coffee, as I said, is so plentiful in this part of Ethiopia that Marsha Aday likes to say that there's no way for the cherries to leave the trees.