Postponement

Postponement Notice!
 
Unfortunately due to escalating developments surrounding the Ethiopian Election the installment of 'The Tale of the Screaming Paint' is postponed till the next blog. This is to bring you an update on latest developments in this developing country. The Election is set for Sunday 23rd of May and although VSO have said they do not forsee any problems several measures have been put in place. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA) have decreed that all ferengis cannot travel without a travel permit; that means an official letter with all your details, reason for travelling, liscence plate of car you will be travelling in and people you are travelling with, all sealed with the usual Purple Stamp. VSO are requesting: 2 mobile numbers (not sure why as I have only one phone), that we identify a 'safe house' in our area (I nominated Colin's house as he has a landline but more importantly a fridge in which to keep the beer and a bbq set), that we get in enough tinned food and water to last four days, that we do not travel anywhere between Thursday 20th - Wednesday 26th May, that we avoid any public demonstrations, avoid public transport and stay away from any polling station. The quote on their last weekly update said: Did you know: 'Demonstrations and Protests lead to violence and unrest'!!! But still no need to panic.
 
Thought you'd like to know, makes you thankful for the 'democracy' of our own elections. It is actually amazing that opposition parties can at least pretend to be working together for the next five years. Here two oppostion leaders 'died' one of natural causes, the other in a bar brawl. And tonnes of people are being arrested for simply taking down an election poster - 6 months in jail!!!! The posters are hideous as the party symbol is a giant bee which looks like some mutant killer bee from a 70s Sci-Fi B Movie. But despite all these restrictions everything seems calm. Can't help feeling it is a little media frenzy at work. Though interestingly the EU Observers are here to ensure things go smoothly. I was a little perturbed when having coffee in a cafe an Ethiopian came up and asked if we were EU Observers, not sure what the locals think of them being here. But we saw some the other day and they were wearing blue body warmers with EU on the back including the EU stars in a cricle in bright yellow - looks like a target!!! Glad I am not one of them.
 
Well folks hope you are all well. I am really well on this, unusually, bright sunny day in Addis. I'll keep you posted on any updates.
 
Love to you all
Joanne x

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Blogless No More

Blogless  No More

 

Dear all blogees, please forgive my tardiness in the lack of blogs. It is not for want of things to share with you, but rather a want of time. It is a rather time consuming business trying to ensure that all 40,000 + teachers are up to date with their CPD and writing support material to help them grasp the subtle complexities of why their government (like all governments) insist in overloading teachers with yet more 'vocational' training. As if trying to ensure that their 6 classes of 75 + students get a good education doesn't take up enough of their time. Also it is a rather interesting prospect to convince teachers here that Active Learning Methods, such as small group work, project work, research methods, active participation etc is all good learning. A bit difficult when there are few or no textbooks, one broken blackboard, enough rough wooden benches for only half the class and no resources for the students. Ho hum, developing teachers in developing country is a daunting and humbling experience, especially when confronted with teachers' eagerness to learn and develop their own teaching and learning despite all these obstacles. How can I dare to get despondent when daily I am met with enthusiastic and willing teachers, genuinely concerned to bring the best education to their students. It is these people who keep you going, not the ever-creepy-smiling State Minister in his yellow and lime-striped impeccable suit who talks at you and tells you what to do even though you have tried to do that very thing half a dozen times only to be met with brick walls of excuses and incompetency's and cries of 'That's not the Ethiopian way of doing things..' Ah, can you tell I am in need of a holiday. Soon, soon. But before then I must regale you with 'Tales From the Compound'. And don't be discouraged, these tales do include episodes of gore and horror of Edgar Allen Poe proportions. Some titles include: 'The Tale of the Squealing Dog', 'The Tale of the Missing Head', 'The Tale of the Missing Vegetables'. But let us begin with 'The Tale of the Screaming Paint'…

 

Are you sitting comfortably? Then let is begin… It all began a few months ago…

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My Dearest S4

My Dearest S4 Class

 

It is with a heavy heart that I write this. I have already sent you a card wishing you Good Luck for the Exams and was going to do the same in this Blog, but now events have overtaken us.

 

Who can answer the question as to why Laura took her own life. It is unimaginable. I remember her as a smart, intelligent young girl, who had the same hopes and dreams of all young people. Laura had her own circle of friends who loved her for herself and she was a loyal and good friend in return. She was also my pupil and your classmate and she touched all our lives in different ways. You will know her better than me but I will share my remembrances of her as my pupil.

 

Laura may have seemed quiet at times but she had a sharp intelligence – she was in our special S3 / S4 class after all – and a quiet but funny sense of humour. She could turn round with a sharp and witty comment at any time, and unexpectedly at that. She worked extremely hard and was always striving to do her best. She will be missed by us all.

 

So how do we move on from such a tragedy – because it is a tragedy that such a young and vibrant person should take their own life? We cannot imagine the depths Laura reached to take such a step. But we must remember her with joy and love. We must mourne her loss and not forget her and it seems too soon to move on with our own lives. But what you can take from this is how precious life is. All life is precious but I think most especially young life is precious. Laura was precious.

 

So your exams are approaching, what do you do? You continue. That's all you can do, sit your exams. It doesn't mean you have stopped thinking about Laura – no-one would ask that of you and it is not an offence to Laura's memory because you are still here alive and working to do your best in your exams. It may seem that there are more important things in life right now – and to some extent you are right. But this is an important time for you all right now.

 

Do your exams. Do them well. And do them for the memory of Laura. And when the exams are over, take time to remember Laura in a way that she would appreciate. In a way that you can all remember her with joy and Love.

 

Every single one of you are all in my thoughts and prayers at this difficult time.

 

With much love

 

Miss Joanne Cairns x

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HAPPY EASTER

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE
 
Special birthday wishes to Paul and Florence - hope you both have a fantastic day!!! Thinking of you!!
 
To everyone else have a lovely Easter Sunday. After the vigil tonight I am going to enjoy a glass of South Africa Red Wine (after my lenten abstinence) with some cheese and Nairn's oatcakes, from Maura and James.
 
Thankyou to one and all for my Easter Wishes, my apologies for not replying individually but we have been having power cuts every other day and can't access the internet easily.
 
I also hope to get my blog entries up nd running more regularly too, seen some rather interesting things. And I know I have been here a good length of time when I get excited by seeing road lines painted on a new road or getting a bounty bar!!!!
 
No Easter eggs here, but as I was walsking out the other day I had to negotiate my way through a crowd of goats and the herder asked if I wanted on for Fasika (Easter). Also at Shola Marklet today a man thrust a live chicken in my face asking if I wanted that too. It is obvious the animals here are not going to have a good day tomorrow. But the Christian Ethiopans have been fasting - proper fasting for fifty days which includes no eating meat and no dairy products for fifty days. So they indulge themselves (or gorge themselves) on Easter Sunday on meat and dairy. I have never seen so many live chickens!!!!!
 
Love to you all and HAPPY EASTER
 
Joanne x
 

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Thankyou All

Big Birthday!!!!
 
Just a quick to note to say thankyou to everyone who wished me well on the BIG 40!!!! Thankyou especially to my family for all the phonecalls, it was wonderful to speak to everyone, but didn't help me keep my emotions intact over dinner. I celebrated on Sunday by having a dinner with close friends (15 of them) at the Greek Club where I am now officially a member and have been asked to participate in the next tennis tournament!!! Yippee.
 
We all enjoyed some moussaka, Greek salad, dolmades, some lovely South African White Wine (almost impossible to get here without paying a small fortune) and of course a couple of ouzos. I was spolied with pressies from my Addis friends, including an ode written for the occasion and a cake with large 40 candles and sparklers. I broke down in tears saying the thankyous as I felt the joy, love and support of all my family and friends in Glasgow, Addis and around the globe. Though it was difficult not to miss everyone at home. I am truly blessed by thoe I call friends and family. My Addis family want my Glasgow family to know they wanted this to be a special day as they knew how difficult it would be to be away from those I love at home. They did an excellent job.
 
I received cards from home yesterday. I think VSO did not collect their post last week due to the arrivals of new volunteers, but in some ways was glad as I was already and emotional wreck (with happiness) on the big day. Cards already received from Madeleine and Grace Cairns, Aunt Eileen, Paul, Teresa and family and Gail and Scott and boys (gosh Gail how big is Fraser now????) Clara (by email). I also have a slip from the post office to collect a small parcel which is exciting. Individual emails of thanks to follow. I particularly liked the sharing of my birthday by those of you who raised a glss in my honour - be it a G&T or Whisky be sure I was raising one (or two) as well.
 
Thankyou one and all for all your birthday wishes, including texts (Mo and Jas) and Nuala and Josie for your Happy Birthday song. Thanks for emails, Gill, Paddy.
 
I am going to sign off now as I think the torrential rain has lessened a little - now I know what 'real' rain is - it is even heavier than Glasgow rain!!!! and all I am wearing is a pair of flip flops!!!!
 
Big Love and Big Hugs to everyone, and if I have forgotten to mention anyone please forgive me - when I get a minute I'll be in touch (after my three day National workshop, two day field trip, another two day workshop and all before Monday when I start my new job!!!) But be assured I'll be in touch.
 
Love, Love and more Love
 
Joey X x 40

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Another Grandish Tour of Ethiopia

Another Grandish Tour of Ethiopia

 

With Lions, Leopards, Dozy Goats and Chat Rooms

 

Hello Blogees, I hope all is well with you all. Is the snow starting to melt yet? I think days are getting a little hotter here in Ethiopia. I am sitting in a town called Harar without a cloud in the sky, the sun is shinning and I am watching the Australian Open in the hotel's lounge. It is a real treat for me to be watching any telly, never mind the Aussie Open. I think I'll have a local Harari beer while I watch the tennis and write my blog. What is also strange is that one of the adverts on the sports channel is for the next Celtic and Rangers game. Pretty bizarre! Maureen and I are on tour for the Ministry. It was supposed to be Maureen and David but David had to return to England as their house was flooded pretty badly from a burst pipe. From his phone calls to Maureen things sound pretty bad. David will be away for two months, so I am taking his place, much to the chagrin of the Ministry Driver who huffed and puffed his way throughout the journey. I think he is not pleased at having to drive two ferengi women.

 

Our first visit was to Haramaya University. It is one of the oldest universities in Ethiopia and is a complete and walled campus. It is a lovely campus and safe and full of students and staff, all of which live on campus. It even has its own farm with produce; fresh milk, eggs and pork – the only pork I have had since being here and delicious. But strangely no cheese. Ethiopia does not make cheese, despite the abundance of cows and goats. The uni also has its own 'pets' corner', but a little bit different to Linn Park's pets corner. We saw two lionesses, one of which is pregnant, a lion, a spotted hyena, a leopard, really large tortoises with babies and an assortment of monkeys one of which tried to grab my shirt as I passed. It only cost 1 birr, which is 5 pence, not bad to see my first ever lions and leopard!! Pity the cages are so small. We do get to drive through the Elephant sanctuary tomorrow – so who knows? Maybe we'll ask our driver kindly to stop and wait for the elephants!!!

 

We are currently staying in Harar, but to get here we had to pass through what Wynne calls 'Chat Town'. Chat is a plant that grows here – looks like a common garden hedge – and people chew chat to make them high. Apparently they have to chew it for 8 hours to get a 'high'. But the fields around here are covered in it. Pity they don't grow crops on such fertile land. Also in this chat town they have chat rooms – not the scary online type but the scary chewing chat rooms. They are reminiscent of Victorian opium dens. These are simply large rooms with mattresses where people buy chat and sit around for hours simply chewing chat and getting high. It is really sad and the whole town has a really sad feel to it. It reminded me of a phrase by Richard Adams in 'Watership Down' that 'they look like trees in November'. All those people whose hopes and dreams and chances of a solid job gone in the pursuit of chat. There are chat leaves strewn everywhere – even the goats chew them and stagger around the place or stubbornly refuse to get off the road. We even had to do an emergency stop at one point as a goat was clearly fixated on getting its chat leaves!! When we met a colleague for a 9am meeting he was clearly high on chat. His eyes were sparkling and his speech slurred. It was very strange. Also we were told not to expect to conduct any business in the afternoon as everyone will be on chat. And sure enough as we walked round the town people were clearly doped up on chat and talking in a version of English only heard in Harar. A few VSO pals have tried it and said it tastes like hedge – or I what I imagine a hedge tastes like!

 

But Harar is a really interesting place – now a protected World Heritage Site with a fascinating past. Next time on Joanne's blog: Christians banned from the walled town, feeding hyenas, brightly coloured scarves and a poet called Rimbauld.

 

Be well everyone. I hope spring is springing into action.

 

Lots of Love Joanne x

 

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Christmas in Ethiopia

Christmas in Ethiopia

 

Dear all blogees I would like to wish you all a HAPPY GENA – Ethiopian Christmas. This took place yesterday and although today (Friday 8^th Jan 2010) is not technically a holiday the Ministry is pretty quiet and luckily for me I have not seen any of my colleagues. Yippeeee. As you may have ascertained from recent blogs work is not going too well. I just think they are not used to a smart, intelligent, efficient, woman (yes that would be me Mark!) working with them. All women at the Ministry are secretaries, cleaners or tea-ladies and I am not kidding. Also, my team are resistant to change or doing anything 'new' suggested by me. So life at work is pretty difficult at the moment. However, I am just going to get on with things and find a way to succeed.

 

But also I want to say a HUGE THANKYOU to everyone who went to the trouble of sending me a Christmas card or gift. You cannot imagine the joy it gives me to receive anything in the post and it is one of the things that has kept me going over the past wee difficult time at work. I feel very lucky to have such family and friends and it has kept me going and able to find ways to face the daily challenges of life here. So thank you. Also I received several packages yesterday – on Ethiopian Christmas – so it was like having two Christmases – which was great.

 

So what is Christmas like here in Ethiopia? Well not as warm as I had hoped – but still lovely. There aren't many Christmas trees or decorations but Nancy, David and Maureen had decorated their houses which was nice. I think I already told you about Christmas day and how we had a lovely meal together. But one thing I am surprised about is how my appreciation of mobile phones has increased. I have already mentioned the annoyance of all my colleagues answering mobiles at ANY time at work, even in a meeting. But on Christmas day I would see different people popping out to the garden as their mobile rang with warm(ish) wishes from home. I haven't missed a single call from home as my family call my mobile. That means there is no need to arrange times to call – which may not work as often the network is down – and you never know when – and people can call at their convenience. Also as everyone here answers their mobile at any time I can do the same. All you need to say is 'May I take this call? (Really it is a rhetorical question) It is very important'. Every call for Ethiopian's is very important. But I wont complain again as I know I can be contacted from home at any time. Brilliant!!! Long Live the Mobile!

 

Yesterday Eyalnesh invited Kellie and me to her house to share Christmas with her. I had two other invitations from other Ethiopian's but chose to share the day with my serentenga. The first thing that struck me was how we tend to keep Christmas for family, but here it is common for Ethiopian's to ask ferengi's for Christmas. It was the first time we had gone to Eyalnesh's house and were a bit worried as apparently a couple of years ago Eyalnesh invited other ferengis to her house and when her landlady saw this she upped her rent as she had 'white friends' and therefore believed she was receiving financial help!! But Eyalnesh has moved houses, thankfully. She lives on the edge of Addis in an area called Kotobe and at the top of a hill – with amazing views over Addis. We entered the compound which seemed similar to our own with a nice garden with grape vines and flowers. The difference was that whereas Kellie and I have a whole house to ourselves Eyalnesh lives in one room – common for many Ethiopians. The room contains one large bed, which I think she must share with her daughter and son, two cupboards, a small table, a t.v and little else. I saw no evidence of a bathroom and we didn't ask. At the moment she has no running water, but pipes are being laid so hopefully they will have piped running water soon. There was no sense from Eyalnesh or her daughter Jordan – who is a teacher and is so beautiful looking, really striking – that life was hard or difficult. The room was clean and obviously well cared for and they were good company, chatting the whole time. We were served Doro Wat – which is traditional at Christmas. It is a chicken dish served with a spicy, bright red sauce and a boiled egg. It is quite acceptable to take an egg but you try not to take too much chicken and leave it for your host and family. I really like it and thankfully Eyalnesh is a whiz at washing as I have spoiled so many white blouses with red splotches of doro wat sauce! Also here when a man asks a woman to marry her he will only do so if she can make a good doro wat and perform the coffee ceremony well. Apparently most women are asked to make doro wat for her prospective husband to ensure she is a good wife (maybe I should bring some into work – or just serve them haggis instead!)

 

It was funny walking to work on Wednesday as suddenly on the side of the road appeared thousands of chicken sellers displaying their wares in bamboo cages. Also there were even more goats being herded down the street. Treatment of animals here is appalling and when someone buys a goat and takes it home they hold the back two legs and 'wheelbarrow' it home. It is rather funny looking, but the goats know what their destiny is and resist at every opportunity. I often have to jump out of the way of a runaway goat. So at Eyalnesh's house we were also served a goat meat dish with carrots which was very nice. Ethiopia is a good place for vegetarians as Orthodox Christians fast on Wednesdays and Fridays – no meat or dairy products, and on the run up to Christmas they fast for 45 days. So it is easy to get vegetarian dishes in restaurants. However, once Christmas has come the opposite is true – it is all about the meat and you would be hard pushed to find anything vegetarian. Apparently, although the day after Christmas is not an official holiday people have spent so long fasting and then stuff themselves with meat on Christmas day they are too sick to come to work. But then again we do the same – just pass that small piece of turkey, or just a small bit of stuffing or Christmas pudding. We just have the sense to realise we need the next day off.

 

So Kellie and I spent a lovely couple of hours with Eyalnesh and her family and sharing food. One disconcerting thing is that when you are invited to a person's house the wife will not eat with you. It is important that the guest eats first – or with the husband, if he is there – and the wife waits till the guests have eaten their fill and then eats. I still find that hard to take, but Eyalnesh's husband is dead so Kellie and I ate on our own, though there were others who did eat also, just not exactly with us. Some neighbouring children came to the door and Eyalnesh fed them too. She said they had no parents and so she sort of takes care of them from time to time. This is a woman with the bare necessities for herself and her family looking out for others. She truly is a remarkable woman and an inspiration. An experience like that puts a lot of my life and worries into perspective.

 

Well my friends, thank you for sharing my Christmases with me. I have felt you all close with me through your generous gifts, cards, emails and well wishes and am a little jealous of your snow. Next time on joanneinethiopia: the coffee ceremony. I can't believe I haven't written about it yet, it is so important here. Have a great start to the year and hope getting back to work is not too bad.

 

Much Love

 

Joanne x

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