Week 3- Ups and Downs in Awassa
on Paul Stanley (Ethiopia), 24/Feb/2010 17:50, 34 days ago
Greetings all. It was a hard week last week, and I’m only just getting round to writing on Monday- up until now I’ve been trying to stay on top of this during the week...I didn’t give a lot of detail about the house and my housemate last week, so lets start there. The house is situated on a back street just near a cafe called Logita. The street is quite quiet, and not within prayer distance of either the orthodox church or the mosque, so sleep is generally uninterrupteduntil the cock starts to crow at between 5.30 and 6.00 AM. Swathes of Bouganvilla flowers mark out the gate to the compound. Go through the gate and you are facing our veranda, and the lovely garden. My favourite feature is the Avocado tree that is heaving with fruit- they’ll soon be ripe, and nodoubt, forming an essential part of my daily diet! In the through the front door, and you are in the large living room with a number very comfortable chairs, a nice full bookcase, and a dining table. Beyond the living room is the bathroom, kitchen and two bedrooms. The bathroom and kitchen are utilitarian, but completely functional. Mine is the smaller bedroom at the back- I don’t mind as it has the light for most of the day. The other bedroom is inhabited by Luboa, a volunteer from Uganda. Lubowa is great-he spends a lot of time singing Ugandan songs- one of which I’m sure is the same tune as the theme to Coronation Street. The house has a fridge and hot water- both luxuries I was surprised to see, as the VSO do not always provide either.VSO provide a day and night guard for our security. Almaz, our day guard is amazing- she also acts as mine and Lubowa’s housekeeper- the house is cleaned every day, and all our washing is taken care of as well. We supplement the payment she receives from the VSO for these additional services. I have met our night guard only briefly- I’ve not really been out that late to run into him yet. The guard concept is very strange at first, and I’m lucky in a way that it was all in place when I moved in- Karen and Laura had lots of fun and games sorting out theirs.I hadn’t felt well all day, and by the evening I was starving, so I jumped in a Bajaj, and headed to the Post Rendezvous, for a Pizza- this was not my best move, as it did not do anything for my stomach problems. My first night in the house was also marred by the fact that I had been unable to find Laura and Karen’s house to pick up stuff from my VSO box- I ended up sleeping under my travel mosquito net, which just didn’t fit very well, and spent most of the night with it just inches from my face.The next morning I awoke, determined to sort that out, and make sure my second night was more comfortable. I was still suffering from what I shall delicately call“Ethiopia Tummy”, so was not feeling anywhere near my best. I set out early to find Laura and Karens house, and retrieve a few of my things- luckily Laura’s directions were spot on and in no time I had a mosquito net, a hot plate, some sheets, and a few things for the kitchen. I sorted out myproper mosquito net and bedding then headed into town to get a sim card for my CDMA mobile internet device, and get my PO Box registered. Whilst out I picked up some bread and bananas- I was determined not to repeat my mistake of the night before, and was sticking to bland food for the time being. Iwas a little diossapointed when I got home to find that my CDMA card was not functional, but a quick call to Mike Robei, one of the other IT volunteers, provided a potential solution to the issue. The network of volunteers is an amazing thing.Wednesday, I was feeling no better, so stayed round the house and made a quick trip into the office to have a look over the server room, and begin to think about plans. Abraham is very well read in IT terms, but has had little practical experience, so I had to reign in some of his ideas, as I believe we need to get the fundamentals working first before we move onto some more complex networking solutions. Above all I would like whatever I do at the college to be sustainable- and If it’s too complicated we may miss that goal. My short time at the college gave me the opportunity to download some software to get my CDMA card functional, and connect me back with all my friends.I found my first few days in the house very isolating- not that Lubowa isn’t friendly, but he has been here for 18 months, and has his own circle of friends. I got the CDMA card working just at the right time- that along with calls from Sandra and Dom lifted my spirits no end.Wednesday evening I caught up with Karen and Laura at my local watering hole, Logita, and we all brain dumped our first weeks experiences. We had all had our shares of trials and tribulations, but we were all still smiling, and beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel...Thursday was a very quiet day- I wrote my journal for the week before, posted on the blog and mailed it out to all you good folks. I ventured out shopping and found an excellent grocer/general store near my house. I seem to be paying reasonable prices there- so often in Ethiopia there is a“Ferenji” price and a “Habesha” price. Ethiopians tend to see white and assume rich, so charge accordingly. I picked up my first proper supplies for the house- pasta, carrots, lentils, onions, and some “Ambasha” bread. “Ambasha” is rapidly becoming a favourite- its a local type of bread, and tastes a little like Foccacia. Very nice indeed. That evening I cooked my first meal- pasta with a sauce made from lentils, carrots and onions, and a little too much “burberry” spice... Abraham came round for a chat, and as usual I retired quite early.On Friday, the Awassa VSO contingent, were invited to a local school, Mount Olive, where Kaye would be judging an English speaking competition. It was a truly amazing experience- we were treated as visiting dignitaries, and the children at the school were fantastic. The English competition consisted of the children reciting speeches from luminaries such as Abraham Lincoln, Linden Baines Johnson, and Barrack Obama. Their English was superb, and what amazed me was the length of the speeches- I’m sure I could never have remembered anything that long. I’m sure I couldn’t now... Kaye had a very hard task judging them, but did a fantastic job. That evening all the volunteers from Awassa gathered at Post Rendezvous for Friday night pizza and beer – we were joined by Maggie, one of ourICT intake, and Tara, who were visiting Awassa for the Interr University football championship that was taking place at Awassa University that weekend. We were also joined by Joffrey- a volunteer from Kenya who hadn’t been around when Laura, Karen and I arrived in Awassa. Our final special guestfor the evening was Fiona- an ex volunteer who had lived in my house between 2005 and 2007- she had returned to Awassa on holiday and was catching up with all her Ethiopian friends. A fine evening was had by all, and plans were made to show Maggie and Tara the highlights of Awassa.Friday was also my Dad’s birthday- I gave him a quick call to wish him an excellent day! Happy Birthday Dad!Saturday saw the Awassa three, Karen, Laura, and myself have our first bash at being tour guides round Awassa for out visitors- first thing on the cards was a trip to the lake for hippo viewing. Again, it was an amazing experience- if it wasn’t quite so pricey, I think I’d go every week. It’s lovely on the lake- so refreshing, and much cooler than around town. Tara couldn’t get over it-she was totally giddy about the holiday town of Awassa. She and Maggie are based in Ambo, a very small town two hours north of Addis, and the bright lights of Awassa were a world apart from there. It made us Awassa volunteers feel very lucky! After the hippos we went to Dolce Vita, probably the best Ferengi restaurant in town, for some great Italian food- I had an amazing plate of Potato Tortellini with meat sauce. Yum. Probably the first meat I’d eaten in over a week...The plan for Sunday was a little more energetic- Kaye had offered to guide Laura, Tara and I for a walk up the local mountain,Tabor. It’s not really a mountain- more a large-ish hill, but its worth the climb for the views over the lake and the town. It was a great walk only slightly spoilt by the small group of children that latched onto us for half of it... The smiles of the kids gave way to outstretched hands and requests for 1birr- annoying, but I am developing strategies to deal with them. I find they don’t give me as much trouble as they do the girls, and if you completely ignore them, they soon lose interest. This sounds a little harsh, but you can’t give all them money... I will try and find a local charity downthe line who do something for the street kids, and either donate them some money, or see if I can do any voluntary work for them. On a completely different note- Tabor hill has some cracking looking trails on it that could be an absolute hoot on a mountain bike- I’ve found my first African singletrack! After the walk we retired to Kayes house for a fantastic brunch of Tea, Toast and Marmite, and pancakes. Cracking spread Kaye- thankyou... Kaye is leaving Awassa next week, and has been an invaluable guide to all of us. The others headed to the university football final, and I headed back fora rest, and a shower. Later that day I met up with Tara at my local watering hole for a beer, and an introduction to Habesha food. I’d not really eaten any Ethiopian food since leaving Addis, and I needed a guide to introduce me to it again. We had a dish called “Bayonet” with “Tagabino”.Bayonet is a vegetarian pick and mix-lots of small dishes on a bed of injera. Tagbino is a spicy thick sauce- again vegetarian, and really really tasty. I was so pleased to be eating local food again!The weekend was great- it really lifted my spirits after a hard week, and reminded me in a lot of ways why I wanted to become a volunteer...Monday was the first day at work... We’ll come to that in the next update!