Just one item this week...
on Joanne Cairns (Ethiopia), 19/Apr/2011 13:54, 34 days ago
Hippos and HijackingThere is only one item for the blog this week.My friends David and Maureen have been on tour for the MoE and Awassa was the last set of visits on a long month's tour. Paul and I said we would look after them and pamper them, help them rest and show them the sites of Awassa. I think it will be quite a while till they visit Awassa again!One of the highlights of Awassa is a boat ride on Awassa Lake to see the Hippos. Having checked various places and prices we decided on taking the boat from the Lewi Hotel– one of the few five start hotels in Ethiopia. A lovely spot to chill out with a (rather expensive) beer. After a macchiato we were ready for our trip. Paul and I had previously been out on the Lewi boat and we had a very nice driver / pilot. This was Paul's sixth trip on the lake and for me the fourth, but we still both love a look at the hippos. This time the boat was jammed packed full of people– Ethiopian's and ferengi alike.It was a lovely morning and everyone was buzzing with excitement. The only thing to disturb our peaceful journey was the little speedboat from the hotel which sped past us, disturbing the waves. Our worry was they would upset the hippos and scare them off. But by the time we reached the hippos the speedboat was on its way back, short trip which smacked of 'I have money and can do what I like' attitude. But it meant we could watch the hippos in peace. And we were well rewarded for our patience. I have never been so close to these majestic creatures. They have enormous heads– I mean really huge and they had more than their nostrils and tiny flappy ears out of the water. I felt truly privileged to be so close to them. All too quickly we had to head back – it was after all only an hour's trip. But the trip back lasted two hours!As we proceeded back to the hotel the driver of the boat slowed down. I noticed several row boats and thought– 'Oh hell we have driven over their fishing nets'. Fishing is a major source of employment and income for the fishermen in Awassa. Then we saw one of them holding a gun. Maureen thought it was a spear gun to get fish. Paul thought it was an excellent photo opportunity. Then we saw another boat with a guy with a gun, then another and another. We were surrounded by half a dozen rowing boats all with armed gunmen. There was a lot of frantic shouting in Amharic and we were being corralled into the middle of the lake. It was clear by now that something was 'going on'. The driver of our boat complied and we piloted slowly to the middle of the lake where we met up with the speedboat which was also being held at gunpoint. By now we thought that we were going to be robbed, and there was an amazing array of photographic equipment on the boat. The waiter from the hotel sitting next to me stuffedhis money and his sim cards into his shoe. I did the same. It actually went through my head that they could have my phone but it was too much of an annoyance to lose my sim card – especially now that the cost to replace a sim card has gone up by 25 birr! There wasn't much money in my purse and noID, thankfully. I even said to Paul to take out the memory card from his camera as he could replace his camera but not his photos. This too went down my sock! It is amazing how clear your head can be when faced with six guns pointed at you. I still wasn't convinced the guns were real. Everyone by now was thinking the same, that we were going to be forced to the other side of the lake and robbed. But then more frantic exchanges took place in both Amharic and Afan-Oroma (the language of the fishermen from the other side of the lake!) Finally an Ethiopian guy who works for the UN got up and starts shouting at the boatmen with the guns telling them (we find out later) to go away and leave us alone. Next thing we hear gunshots and in seconds we all hit the deck. This was now really serious. The waiter and one of the boatmen were first to the floor. Then the shouting got more and more franticand with us all squashed on the floor of a rather small boat it was difficult to know what was going on. Slowly as the shouting stopped we one by one sat up again. The two Chinese people and the driver of the speedboat were boarding our boat. The gunmen took over the speedboat and told us to go onour way. They seemed anxious we leave quickly and there were cries of Amesaganallo (thankyou) as we drove off.We all wanted to speed off back to the hotel but the pilot just cruised off, only to stop 10 minutes later to take a phone call on his mobile phone (apparently the noise of the boat made it difficult for him to hear). In fact he had been incredibly calm throughout the whole ordeal and was 'chatting' to the fishermen and seemed to know who they were. David thought the whole thing was a set up and he was part of it, to steal the speedboat. Someone else said it was a revenge attack for the death of two of their fishermen by the Sidamese fishermen (from the Awassa side of the lake). Either way it was a pretty frightening experience, though I didn't realize how scared I was till we finally got off the boat and my legs were shaking. Maureen flung her arms around my neck and cried– with relief. No-one was hurt. We all got back safely.The reactions of people to the incident have varied. The Police were completely unconcerned and took no details, my colleague at work just laughed, my Programme Office hasn't bothered to call and the manager at the hotel (where we were FINALLY given a free lunch) simply said: "This Is Africa!" Though he was a lovely man and very attentive to us and apologized profusely. We have had phone calls and texts from concerned volunteers and the Country Director called us. But this still remains a country where guns are easily come by and civil strife between tribes spills over from time to time to non-locals. I have been told that the 'squabbling' between tribes is something actively ignored/encouraged by the government in order to divide and conquer. But where will it stop? Does it really need the death of a tourist to create an international incident and set people to action? And in the mean time who is concerned about the deaths of the two local fishermen? And what is being done to ensure the livelihoods of local people in one of the world's poorest countries? And what would we all be willing to do to put food into the mouths of our children in a place where the government looks the other way?