Sunday 25 08 07
on J and M in Assosa (Ethiopia), 26/Aug/2007 07:07, 34 days ago
Blog Sunday 25 08 07This week has been dominated by two events, firstly, the 3 day workshop to discuss our 10 year Strategic Plan at the MI. I am not sure if the 3 years that have been spent planning this count towards the 10 years. We were very fortunate to be able to attract the Manager of the Ethiopian Management Institute in Addis, a charming and professional man who contributed enormously to the discussions. The EMI is one of the best organised places we have visited in Ethiopia and it must all be due to his management. We were also supported by a Manager from the Amharran MI in Bahir Dar and by a representative from the Ministry of Federal Affairs. The fact that the President of BG spent 2 days at the workshop shows the importance he gives to the MI. There were lots of discussions and arguments throughout the workshop and there was truly a participatory approach. Whether the right decisions were made is hard to say at this stage. One decision the Consultant recommended was that the MI becomes an autonomous body and able to spend the money it makes from running courses as it wishes. This would make it a very powerful institution in the region but this was blocked probably for political reasons. The whole 3 days were a bit long for us as the discussions were in Amharric on our insistence– if they had been in English fewer people could have participated. I think our Manager was pleased with the 3 days and it ended with a dinner for all on the Wednesday evening. It now just remains for all the recommendations to be implemented. That dreaded word ‘implement’ which is were everything falls apart here. One of our more sophisticated Ethiopian colleagues sums up Ethiopia as ‘NATO’ – No Action, Talk Only – unkind but sadly true.It will be a job for the next VSO and UN volunteers to the MI to try to encourage these recommendations.Secondly there has been a bazaar (pronounced‘buzzer’ by locals) in Assosa – this was opened on Saturday afternoon by the President of Ethiopia who came on the plane from Addis, opened the bazaar and then left again on the same plane! No staying overnight in Assosa for him. Luckily the weather was dry so the plane got away. There was also a rumour that Al Mundi, the richest and most successful business man in Ethiopia was also coming but he did not materialise. He is half Saudi Arabian and owns the Sheraton in Addis in addition to a number of other hotels and businesses.We went to investigate the bazaar on Sunday– it is apparently part of the Millennium celebrations and is also to raise funds to build a very ambitious stadium and shopping complex here. There is a charge of 5 birr to get in and then there is a marquee with goods from Addis for sale eg leather goods like shoes, wallets, and coats, saucepans and tin plates, Chinese children’s toys. Then round a large open air stage there were beer tents, places selling food, displays by the Agriculture College of equipment like ploughs, grinders and bee hives. After that were tents of really sophisticated equipment like tractors, generators etc. Then promotional tents, the most interesting displays here were of the local marble which is virtually unexploited but there is a unique marble with a pale blue streak, very beautiful. There were displays of locally grown incense (interestingly also called myrrh) and a CD of the four local ethnic groups.Outside by the time we had seen all the displays the local music and dancing had started supported by local musicians, the most interesting being the Bertha group with their long horns– a bit like the Swiss.It was certainly an excellent event which was well organised by the Bureau of Information and Tourism. It is on all week and there must be something different every evening as Mulatu went on Tuesday and said there was lots of loud music and dancing– certainly it was the only night we heard the music at our house which is quite a distance from the bazaar.In addition there was competition from the Orthodox Christian Church who have been fasting for 10 days and also have been singing all night for 10 nights. I don’t think anyone in Assosa can have had a decent night’s sleep in this time – certainly we have not. Do they have to use a microphone at 3am?!