Blog Sunday 14th October-Published 18th November
on J and M in Assosa (Ethiopia), 18/Nov/2007 18:03, 34 days ago
Sunday 14thOctoberSorry about the lack of contact but the internet for the whole area seems to have been non existent for some weeks. Actually it is still not great and I am finding it difficult to publish this blog. However I shall continue in the hope it will be OK one day.We have been busy this week with our guests. They arrived on Sunday as planned and we introduced them to the town and the local new hotel, the Bamboo Paradise. Monday we visited the local RC mission clinic which was amazing. Only one nun was present, she is originally fromKenyaand there must have been about 40 patients of all ages and problems. Some were newly delivered babies, some teenage boys who were orphans who attended school, a blind lady who had been abandoned, a man who was paralyzed and various other medical problems. .She advised us that HIV was prevalent among the patients. Sister Martha the other nun was out visiting the poor in their homes and there were 2 sewing machines whirling making school uniforms for the poor.We felt very humble and useless as we left the Clinic.In the pm we traveled on our bus to the Management Institute hoping to visit the Health Clinic in the local village but it was closed. Instead we had a walk around the village and were followed by about 20 children.Monday evening we visited the Bamboo Paradise to have a meal and introduce our guests to what we believe is the best way to eat injera. Apparently on their first night in Addis they ordered injera and were the centre of amusement when they used a knife and fork to eat it rather than their fingers! We all had meat dishes of various degrees of spicyness and the finger eating seemed to be a great success.Tuesday we visited the local hospital and after a chat with the Director we were walked round the hospital which can cater for about 100patients. Tuesday afternoon they climbed the one and only hill in Assosa with Mulatu as their guide. There are wonderful views from the top of the local countryside and they even met a man who fought with the Derg government. Tuesday evening we had a meal at home and invited the Head of Oxfam, Ato Tefari (Ethiopian), a UN Volunteer, Ato Walalign (Ethiopian) , our American friend Cassandra who is with IRC and Lesley the VSO volunteer. It seemed to be a successful mix of interests and nationalities.Wednesday we visited the market, I was glad of Seb to carry the heavy shopping as Mulatu is now at school regularly in the mornings. Afterwards we visitedthe local gold shops. Wednesday pm the head of Oxfam took us to see Jeremy’s tree project to offset carbon emissions( if you want to know more please ask). The pilot project is in a village about 2 hours walk out of Assosa and like Mulatu’s village it is occupied by Wollo people who lived originally north of Addis in a place called Wollo. 500 families were moved because of the famine and one of them was Walalign’s parents who still live here. He was brought up in this village and must be one of its success stories.Thursday Louisa and Seb left for Addis to start their tour of the northern part of the country. On the same plane from Addis 2 new VSO volunteers arrived. One is a charming Kenyan man and the other is a large West Indian lady who was born inBirminghamand has been a civil servant inLondon. She is very jolly and they both seem keen and happy to be in Assosa. We spent the weekend helping them to settle into their houses, shopping in the market etc. It reminded us of our own introduction.We are away from Assosa from 23/10– 6/11/07.