Big Black Hole-New Year’s Addis Ababa 1966

Charles Ipcar
Emdeber, Gurage, Ethiopia
1968

Submitted by John Coyne for Peace Corps Worldwide

Big Black Hole-New Year’s Addis Ababa 1966

by Charlie Ipcar (Ethiopia 1965-68)

The “big black hole” reminds me of a New Year’s Eve celebration I and some Peace Corps friends were celebrating in Addis Ababa back in 1966. There was folk music, Ethiopian beer, and curious stuff being smoked in the pipes being passed around. Our new British friend Colin Figue, who had managed to hitchhike into Ethiopia with his friend Bob Herbison, was treating us to his rendition of Bert Jansch’s guitar solo “Angie” which we’d never heard before and which seemed to go on forever. Some time in the early morning we were making our way out the compound gate when one of us remembered the hole, the large black hole freshly dug for the cesspool, and we thoughtfully hollered out “Watch out for the hole!” and Colin actually shouted back “What hole-le-le-ohhhhh?” We all found this immensely amusing as we peered over the edge of the large black hole. Down some ten feet below was Colin still moving, no broken bones apparently; he’d been very relaxed as he fell but he’d torn his ear rather badly. One of us called the Russian Hospital near Mexico Square for an ambulance while someone else found a ladder, and somehow we managed to help Colin out, instead of joining him down below. I have this vivid memory of riding in the ambulance with Colin, sirens screaming, lights flashing, as we tore up and down the hills of the city. The Russian doctor did a fine job of sewing Colin’s ear back on, right side up no less, and he spent about a week recovering at my house while we recorded more of his songs. What joy!

At the end of the week Colin and Bob decided to fly back to England after determining that it was nigh impossible to hitchhike south of Ethiopia and maybe their thirst for adventure had been satisfied.

In 2015 I reunited with his travel mate Bob in British Columbia and he reassured me that Colin had indeed survived his near-death experience in Ethiopia, was raising a family, and was creating metal sculpture in France.

Charlie Ipcar (Ethiopia 1965-68)

Bio Charlie Ipcar

Charlie Ipcar was born in mid-coast Maine in 1942, and grew up on a farm. After college, he spent three years in Ethiopia as a PCV teaching science and geography. He then went to Michigan State and received his Ph.D. in geography, taught in college, wrote grants for the Tenants Resource Center, and worked for the Michigan Department of Labor. He also received a National Science Foundation grant to study the implementation of anti-mortgage redlining legislation. In 1982 he returned to Maine, resettling in Portland, and worked at renovating older housing, and formed his own nautical singing group Roll & Go. His website is: website:

www.rollandgoseasongs.com. Charlie and his wife live in Richmond, Maine, and share their household with a calico cat.