What a Monday!!
on New Adventures in Ethiopia (Ethiopia), 03/Mar/2009 08:45, 34 days ago
Today was truly a beautiful day. I felt so stimulated and I learnt so much about development. .This morning I woke up early and rushed to get ready because I was under the impression that we were going to set out for the rural areas before 7. Well…I got ready and waited and in true Ethiopian fashion…no show. I waited until 8:20 (Im supposed to be at work at 8) and still no people came for me so I called the office and asked what I should do. They told me that they are still waiting for the driver of the vehicle we have rented and that Ishould just get to the office. .So Sara came by and I left her here and went to work. I jumped on the bajaj and went to the office. I got there to find David (the Kenyan pompous volunteer– I’m not digging him at all) giving Gezahen and Rev a lecture about what livelihood means. It was super patronizing. So I said good morning and waited until he took off. Anyway…so after that I pottered around the office a while and then I was offered to go on the internet so I did – I talked to Michelle and Pandi Lenin which was really cool and then when the driver arrived at 11am (that’s 4 hours late) – we set off. We decided to have lunch first so we went to this place where I ordered a cheeseburger (it was nothing like a cheeseburger really…), and then we finally left Awassaat midday. .We drove out of Awassa and took a thankfully asphalt road which forks and if continued for many hours, one fork will lead to Nairobi, Kenya and the other will lead to Mogadishu, Somalia. We went only 84 km though. The journey was absolutely gripping. The rural areas are everything that you would imagine Africa to be. Red soil, round mud homes with thatched rooves, mud houses in general, lots of cattle, goats, sheep and children carrying water, sugar cane and a whole variety of other crops. I saw children everywhere and they all noticed me and stared. I did a lot of waving today. It is unbelievable and shock-inspiring how many people don’t have shoes. I think if an NGO just dedicated itself to providing good shoes for people they would have their work cut out for them. It’s a real need. .Anyway…our first stop was in a town where we stopped for a cold drink. Gezahen was stopped in the street constantly. I guess he had a lot of relatives and he has also implemented a lot of projects for these people so they know and love him. The first project we went to was a CISO sponsored water pump. It was some kind of elated feeling when they unlocked the pump, starting pressing the lever and clean drinkable water came out. I just realized how just a simple necessity like water had changed these people’s lives. We were surrounded by kids – all of whom were looking at us. .Next stop, we went to the administrative office for the area and no officials were available so we went to a family’s house who was the beneficiaries of CISO’s Asset Creation project. The idea of the project is to give two female sheep and one male sheep to a family who is impoverished and marginalized and for them to have these 3 sheep, take care of them and give the first born to another needy family in the community. Once they do that, the cycle continues and the original sheep remain the property of the family. So we went to the house of this family. They and their sheep emerged from their round mud house…It was so cool how they live with the animals under one roof and have compartments. It is amazing how they build these homes for themselves. The woman greeted us with so much appreciation. I was taking pictures and the kids surrounded me and were really enjoying it especially when I was showing them their own faces on the screen. They were amazed. The little boy who was appointed the ‘shepherd’ (he must have been ten years old at a maximum) was so proud to stand with the CISO donated sheep and be photographed. .Our next stop was the regional office of the particular area where this family lived. There were three staff and the‘office’ is in a mud building. So I actually got to go into one of these buildings and see how it’s structured. It’s surprisingly cool inside considering the heat outside. The three men told us that some of the donated sheep had died at the hands of a disease called PPI which has been wipingout people’s livelihoods within 3 days. It was very sad. It brought about a new challenge for us and urged us to take some kind of action. This was the first area of two where this project was implemented. We then set off for the second area and also met with the respective regional representative. They told us that PPI had also hit their area but they had managed to control it with better monitoring and medication for their animals. They seemed to be more genuine and accountable and seemed to be adhering to the conditions of community sharing that the project requires. .While we were in this mud building with a tin roof, it started raining and then pouring. It was almost impossible to hear each other because of the rain beating on the roof so that basically concluded our meeting. Since at this point we were in the highlands and a good part of the route was off-road it was wise for us to set back and avoided getting caught in a rainstorm/mudslide situation. .I learnt so much from the people I met. I saw with my own eyes how rural people function and the conditions under which these people survive. It is really fascinating. I have never felt like my eyes could not catch up with my head. I had so much visual stimulus. I wanted to look at and absorb everything. And I can’t really put everything and the essence of the Ethiopian countryside and the beauty of driving through the Rift valley into words. It’s really something to see. .On our way back, we, as promised, bought some fresh eggs, avocados and sugar cane from the kids selling on the side of the road. Our car was inundated with kids. Holding my hand, holding my window, yelling‘2 birr!’ ‘3 birr!’ – It was fun. The children here are so cute. I wish I could help them all somehow. It does bother me that they see my skin and they automatically think that they should extend out their empty hands and ask for help. It would be great if that notion of outside help was eliminated and ways to help themselves were made possible. .The car journey back to Awassa was fun. We had really interesting conversations about the prevalence of HIV and why women are not empowered and the problems we saw during the day. We made it back to Awassa in good time at around 6pm. I came home and as I was coming in I was met by my landlady and her cute grandson, Yaves. I gave him a piece of sugar cane. He seemed happy. I came in and arranged my bed, did some chores, heated up my food and sat to write about my day. I treated myself to some sugar cane then made tea. I feel fortunate I have all this wonderful organic home grown produce sitting in my kitchen waiting to be eaten. I think tomorrow I might make guacamole with my avocados. So here I am. I will be calling it a night early since tomorrow we will be travelling further afield to Aleta Wondo and will be leaving at 6am (we will see what that translates to in practice). I’m sure that it will be an interesting journey like today. .Stella said she would come over but I am way too tired for that. I need my quiet time. It already quite tiring that the lifestyle here is not such that you can come home from work and just sit down and chill. I always seem to have chores to do. I enjoy it though. It makes me want to wake up early in the morning and those who know me, know Im not a morning person. It’s an amazing transition. .