More Ethiopia
Wow time flies, nearly two months already, by now in India I was already preparing to leave! Again a long time has gone by since my last email, and again I was reminded that I should get my brain in gear and communicate. Thing is I HAD already prepared a post, but now it's really out of date, so sorry about that.
Overall things are going really well. I'm now based in Awassa with frequent field trips to Alaba and Mareko woredas (counties to you and me). I'm integrating the team and making friends as I go. In fact, since my last mail, I have been rechristened Yonas by my workmates, accounting for my settling into the habesha lifestyle. I was supposed to have 6 lessons in Amharic by now, but only one of them has materialised. However this hasn't stopped me picking up the language thanks to the many field trips with my colleagues, much of it is far too... inappropriate for me to recount here, but that's always the way it is with me and languages, I pick up the swear words and dirty comments (because they say them so much) and I move on from there. This of course causes much laughter especially when a new person finds out about my foul habesha mouth. So as you can tell work is fun.
Because of the harvesting season it's impossible to mobilise communities in the afternoon, leaving plenty of time for relaxation, chit-chat and the drivers' favorite pass-time: chatting up women. One of them is so bad I nicknamed him 'predator' and it seems to have stuck, everyone in the group calls him that now. However it's not quite so fun when, every other night, he disappears off in the 4x4 to come back with two ladies in the back: one for him and one for me. Now even if my Amharic could carry me beyond the classic Bottom line ("What a smashing blouse you have on") I have no desire to let Yonas turn into a slut, so I innevitably close in on myself and shut up, embarassed that I'm suddenly expected to perform in front of the whole crowd. Yesterday, just as I thought the team was getting the message, back in Awassa, the guard on duty gave me a photo of a certain Lemlem who lives near the guesthouse and wanted to be known to me, and the same night I met another one of the guards for dinner to find that he'd brought a lady along who also had expressed a certain interest in the local farengi (foreigner). So it looks like I'm back to square one!
Workwise things are going well, we've almost reached the stage where everything is ready to go, community mobilised, PHAST representatives elected, facilitators trained, toolkits prepared. The team is finishing the final training this week and then we'll be set. In complete violation of IRC policies I got to drive both 4x4's, which really made me feel like a man [note sarcasm please], and though that may be seen as trampling on my principles I justify it to myself because of the terrain we need to cross and the equipment we need to carry. Also, thanks to George Monbiot I discovered that Ethiopia is WAY under it's emissions quota as defined by contraction and convergence (If you don't know what this is google it, it's the ONLY way to fairly stop climate change, and everyone should support it! [end rant]). This week I managed to dodge a week of facilitation training in Amharic where I serve no purpose and successfully avoided the predator's donations by taking a week of GIS (Geographical Information Systems) training, which could easily be described as out of the frying pan and into the proverbial fire... IT'S... SO... MINDNUMBINGLY... BORING!! Still, I get a free lunch in a hotel where coffees cost 3 times what I normally pay, so it's not all bad.
I am really coming to like Ethiopia, I had initial reservations as I think is normal when you arrive alone in a foreign country, but most of my fears have vanished and the rest I can deal with. Ethiopians are a fiercely proud people, proud that they ejected the Italians during colonial times, proud that they never lost their sovereignty, proud of their coffee, proud of being the cradle of humanity (thanks to Lucy, a missing link in the theory of evolution), proud of everything! Everyone wants to tell me how independent they are, and how amazing their country is, and you can even tell by their music as well. The only music you hear apart from Shakira (who seems to break through in ALL developing countries) is Habesha songs either about how sad the singer is for Ethiopians living abroad (Emahoooooooooy!) or praising individual states (Oromiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa). You see T-Shirts for Eminem, 50 cent and Snoop Dogg, but you rarely hear them, its always national music blaring from speakers which I do appreciate, and some songs are damn fine, but I get so sick of the beat that accompanies EVERY song from the Tigray region (Ba-dum... Ba-dum.. repeat ad nauseum). Still the shoulder dance is entertaining, so I take the bad with the good.
The food is nice, even if injera (the local sour bread) is starting to get very repetitive. I've tried the local delicacy of raw meat, which I could probably just about prepare by myself, but for some reason I was a bit disappointed in it... Why I had high hopes for raw meat I don't know, it was nice just not very interesting. Otherwise Tibs (pronounced t'bs) is the classic meal of fried ox meat, which I often have three times a day in the field (though not out of choice). Sometimes we splash out and have toungue tibs at breakfast, not unpleasant just a bit too much at 7am, and nothing like the fool (mashed lentils with chilli... gobsmackingly delicious) I had in Asebe Teferi and which I have never been able to find cooked well since. Overall the food is very good, but it's nice to have a burger sometimes with bread that doesn't make your mouth implode.
Awassa is a nice place, not much to do except shop, eat and sleep, but I live only a stone's throw away from Lake Awassa, which is a beautiful place to hang out in the afternoon, shame I've only been able to enjoy it once up 'til now, but I have another 4 months at least, so I'm sure I will have the time. Maybe, just maybe I'll manage to scrape myself out of bed at 7am on a Saturday and try the raw fish they sell down by the lake. It'll probably be as impressive as the raw meat so I shouldn't get my hopes up too much. However, apparently the area where I live is quite dangerous, at least that's the official line of IRC. Personally I think they're a bunch of paranoid freaks, everyone around here is friendly and chatty, and the most agro I've had was a man who wanted me to give his CV to my boss. Still, this means that I have an enforced curfew of 8pm, which sucks sucks sucks!!! Doesn't stop me flaunting it from time to time, but it does mean I have to endure a lecture from the field coordinator (whose compound I live in) anytime I do. The most dangerous thing that could happen is, I suppose, pretty bad. Hyenas apparently roam around at night and you can always tell when they show up, because the (many many many many) dogs in the neighbourhood go absolutely ballistic protecting their territory. I'd like to see the hyenas just once, but after hearing the racket they made while devouring a dead horse not too long ago, I suspect it would be a bad idea to go looking for them. The guesthouse "spartan" to use Peter's words. I don't even have a knife so I dip my bread in the pot of peanut butter for breakfast every morning. The hole under my door lets frogs get in at night, so many times now I have caught them pattering around my floor when the light is off. I wouldn't mind so much except that one of the guards killed a snake in the yard the other day and the idea of stepping on one of them in the night terrifies me (I know I'm a wimp!).
Another thing of note is the Obama T-Shirts and pictures that have sprung up since the election. Anywhere from shop windows, to government offices and Bajajs (tuk-tuks) is adorned by the President-elect's mug, you just can't avoid it. And while I'd love to share everybody's enthusiasm about his election, I have an inherent mistrust of politicians and lawyers, and even if he does turn out to be a good guy, he's picked a hell of a time to come to power. All I can say is that faith has been restored in the American electorate, so let's all cross our fingers and pray!
Anyway I doubt I will get another post in the next ten days, so I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Woohoooooooooooooo!!
Overall things are going really well. I'm now based in Awassa with frequent field trips to Alaba and Mareko woredas (counties to you and me). I'm integrating the team and making friends as I go. In fact, since my last mail, I have been rechristened Yonas by my workmates, accounting for my settling into the habesha lifestyle. I was supposed to have 6 lessons in Amharic by now, but only one of them has materialised. However this hasn't stopped me picking up the language thanks to the many field trips with my colleagues, much of it is far too... inappropriate for me to recount here, but that's always the way it is with me and languages, I pick up the swear words and dirty comments (because they say them so much) and I move on from there. This of course causes much laughter especially when a new person finds out about my foul habesha mouth. So as you can tell work is fun.
Because of the harvesting season it's impossible to mobilise communities in the afternoon, leaving plenty of time for relaxation, chit-chat and the drivers' favorite pass-time: chatting up women. One of them is so bad I nicknamed him 'predator' and it seems to have stuck, everyone in the group calls him that now. However it's not quite so fun when, every other night, he disappears off in the 4x4 to come back with two ladies in the back: one for him and one for me. Now even if my Amharic could carry me beyond the classic Bottom line ("What a smashing blouse you have on") I have no desire to let Yonas turn into a slut, so I innevitably close in on myself and shut up, embarassed that I'm suddenly expected to perform in front of the whole crowd. Yesterday, just as I thought the team was getting the message, back in Awassa, the guard on duty gave me a photo of a certain Lemlem who lives near the guesthouse and wanted to be known to me, and the same night I met another one of the guards for dinner to find that he'd brought a lady along who also had expressed a certain interest in the local farengi (foreigner). So it looks like I'm back to square one!
Workwise things are going well, we've almost reached the stage where everything is ready to go, community mobilised, PHAST representatives elected, facilitators trained, toolkits prepared. The team is finishing the final training this week and then we'll be set. In complete violation of IRC policies I got to drive both 4x4's, which really made me feel like a man [note sarcasm please], and though that may be seen as trampling on my principles I justify it to myself because of the terrain we need to cross and the equipment we need to carry. Also, thanks to George Monbiot I discovered that Ethiopia is WAY under it's emissions quota as defined by contraction and convergence (If you don't know what this is google it, it's the ONLY way to fairly stop climate change, and everyone should support it! [end rant]). This week I managed to dodge a week of facilitation training in Amharic where I serve no purpose and successfully avoided the predator's donations by taking a week of GIS (Geographical Information Systems) training, which could easily be described as out of the frying pan and into the proverbial fire... IT'S... SO... MINDNUMBINGLY... BORING!! Still, I get a free lunch in a hotel where coffees cost 3 times what I normally pay, so it's not all bad.
I am really coming to like Ethiopia, I had initial reservations as I think is normal when you arrive alone in a foreign country, but most of my fears have vanished and the rest I can deal with. Ethiopians are a fiercely proud people, proud that they ejected the Italians during colonial times, proud that they never lost their sovereignty, proud of their coffee, proud of being the cradle of humanity (thanks to Lucy, a missing link in the theory of evolution), proud of everything! Everyone wants to tell me how independent they are, and how amazing their country is, and you can even tell by their music as well. The only music you hear apart from Shakira (who seems to break through in ALL developing countries) is Habesha songs either about how sad the singer is for Ethiopians living abroad (Emahoooooooooy!) or praising individual states (Oromiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa). You see T-Shirts for Eminem, 50 cent and Snoop Dogg, but you rarely hear them, its always national music blaring from speakers which I do appreciate, and some songs are damn fine, but I get so sick of the beat that accompanies EVERY song from the Tigray region (Ba-dum... Ba-dum.. repeat ad nauseum). Still the shoulder dance is entertaining, so I take the bad with the good.
The food is nice, even if injera (the local sour bread) is starting to get very repetitive. I've tried the local delicacy of raw meat, which I could probably just about prepare by myself, but for some reason I was a bit disappointed in it... Why I had high hopes for raw meat I don't know, it was nice just not very interesting. Otherwise Tibs (pronounced t'bs) is the classic meal of fried ox meat, which I often have three times a day in the field (though not out of choice). Sometimes we splash out and have toungue tibs at breakfast, not unpleasant just a bit too much at 7am, and nothing like the fool (mashed lentils with chilli... gobsmackingly delicious) I had in Asebe Teferi and which I have never been able to find cooked well since. Overall the food is very good, but it's nice to have a burger sometimes with bread that doesn't make your mouth implode.
Awassa is a nice place, not much to do except shop, eat and sleep, but I live only a stone's throw away from Lake Awassa, which is a beautiful place to hang out in the afternoon, shame I've only been able to enjoy it once up 'til now, but I have another 4 months at least, so I'm sure I will have the time. Maybe, just maybe I'll manage to scrape myself out of bed at 7am on a Saturday and try the raw fish they sell down by the lake. It'll probably be as impressive as the raw meat so I shouldn't get my hopes up too much. However, apparently the area where I live is quite dangerous, at least that's the official line of IRC. Personally I think they're a bunch of paranoid freaks, everyone around here is friendly and chatty, and the most agro I've had was a man who wanted me to give his CV to my boss. Still, this means that I have an enforced curfew of 8pm, which sucks sucks sucks!!! Doesn't stop me flaunting it from time to time, but it does mean I have to endure a lecture from the field coordinator (whose compound I live in) anytime I do. The most dangerous thing that could happen is, I suppose, pretty bad. Hyenas apparently roam around at night and you can always tell when they show up, because the (many many many many) dogs in the neighbourhood go absolutely ballistic protecting their territory. I'd like to see the hyenas just once, but after hearing the racket they made while devouring a dead horse not too long ago, I suspect it would be a bad idea to go looking for them. The guesthouse "spartan" to use Peter's words. I don't even have a knife so I dip my bread in the pot of peanut butter for breakfast every morning. The hole under my door lets frogs get in at night, so many times now I have caught them pattering around my floor when the light is off. I wouldn't mind so much except that one of the guards killed a snake in the yard the other day and the idea of stepping on one of them in the night terrifies me (I know I'm a wimp!).
Another thing of note is the Obama T-Shirts and pictures that have sprung up since the election. Anywhere from shop windows, to government offices and Bajajs (tuk-tuks) is adorned by the President-elect's mug, you just can't avoid it. And while I'd love to share everybody's enthusiasm about his election, I have an inherent mistrust of politicians and lawyers, and even if he does turn out to be a good guy, he's picked a hell of a time to come to power. All I can say is that faith has been restored in the American electorate, so let's all cross our fingers and pray!
Anyway I doubt I will get another post in the next ten days, so I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Woohoooooooooooooo!!