Welcome dear bloggers. My apologies for the lack of blogs but life has been pretty hectic. I arrived in Ethiopia on 13th Sept and have been holed up at the Ethiopian Red Cross Centre fro two weeks doing ICT - In Country Training. I have already discovered that Ethiopians LOVE acronyms (or that other thing where letters are used instead of words - I know I know I am an English Teacher!!!!) I will be an ELIP advisor for ELIC which is governed by ELQIP. And I will be working alongside colleagues in the Ministry of Education involved in HDP and CDP (this latter one means the same!) Hopefully you'll soon get as confused as I am by the whole process. But I start work tomorrow so may be able to enlighten you further.
I have moved into my new home, which apparently has the comfiest VSO bed in the whole of Ethiopia. I have no complaints and am sleeping well. That means I will have plenty of guests. How true. Mary and Jamie from Sabeta - south of Addis - are just away after staying the weekend. They came up partly to have a hot shower, they have no water at all in their compound, and they are not the only VSOs in that situation. So I am pretty well off with hot and cold running water and a fridge. So nice cold beers called St George! I am awoken each morning by birds, including humming birds, twittereing outside my window. I have a small but lovely garden with a multitude of flowers. Who says a volunteer's life has to be hard? Also for those who know, I have a new Dominga - called Elnish!!!! When she saw me doing my own washing she took over and told me my washing was rubbish! So I will be well looked after!
So what is Addis like? It is like any big city - busy, hectic and large. Only the mjor roads are tarmaced and the rest are very rocky and dusty - so my poor feet are aching by the end of the day. Men pee on the side of the roads and toilets in cafes etc are usually pit holes with no paper and no hygiene. Apparently Habesha (local) girls learn to hold it in from an early age! So there are quite a few smelly bits. Also animals are aplently here. I had to work my way through a small herd of goats just to get to my house the other day. I felt ok doing that till I saw one with rather large horns ready to butt. But I dodged out of the way just in time. Donkeys are also plentiful and share the road with the traffic. I get around using line taxis which are small rickety minibuses. There are no numbers or signs on the line taxis so you need to listen hard for destinations. Which means I need to get to grips with the local language - Amharic or it could be a magical mystery tour. However the standard of English here is pretty good. Also alomst all the Ethiopians I have encountered are freindly and helpful and smile a lot.
Yesterday a group of us ferengis (foreigners) went to an importany religious festival called Meskel. It celebrates the finsing of the tru cross. Thousands of people gathered in Meskel square where we watching a parade of dancers, bands and flags till they lit the bonfire at sunset while everyone held candles alit. It was a beautiful scene. And there wasn't a hint of trouble. We felt very safe and welcomed. Even they mayor of Addis welcomed visitors to this festival - in English. Thousands of us walked home after and it was fun and safe. Also not a hint of alcohol in sight. I felt very priviledged to be there. Unfortunately my camera has broken so I may be short on photos for a while. Photos will come in Ethiopian time!
Now that I am settled I'll try to keep a more regular blog. I wish everyone well. You are in my thoughts and prayers. Love Joanne x
Beyond Hotmail - see what else you can do with Windows Live. Find out more.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hi Joanne
ReplyDeleteWow, it sounds totally amazing and you have certainly got the best deal by the sounds of it.
I hope you can find time in the madness of it all to keep the blog going as it really is a window into another world and totally fascinating!
Look forward to the next installment!
Take care
Love
Lucy