Final Days

Final Days  Part 2 (of the Trilogy)

So the food shortages continue, but I am still getting enough veg to keep the plumbing clear. This is more than can be said about the general plumbing in Ethiopia. As you know I have a deep loathing for the sanitation here – it is probably the thing I dislike the most and something I will never understand. Men peeing constantly in the street is bad enough but I am increasingly becoming irate at men here using the ladies loos, especially when not peeing. I shall go to the ladies room and it will be occupied – no problem – but then time is marching on and my lukewarm dinner is becoming increasingly cold. Then the noises start, usually a lot of grunting, and finally after an age a man appears. I take one look at the wet floor and the mess left behind, then I lay into them. They all claim that they did not realize this was a ladies toilet. If I can read the sign in Amharic as well as recognize the international symbol for a lady then I am sure they can. The reason they use the ladies toilet is that they have soiled their own room and have moved on to soil elsewhere. These men are disgusting. It is also true that Ethiopians do not know how to flush a 'Western' toilet. Can't / Wont? Even at the MoE no flushing took place!!!! Don't understand the people here sometimes. But in truth the general state of plumbing here is appalling. But one gets used to it. For example I cannot fill the kettle for a cup of tea while Paul is using the shower or said shower will stop working. If I use too much hot or too much cold water in the shower – shower will stop working. There are more plug sockets in the bathroom than any other room in the house – there is only one in the bedroom and there is no toilet cistern that actually works properly; there will be an array of plastic, wool, straw, string attached to the stop cock that needs pulled and every tap leaks – except when there is a water shortage. Which is required from time to time to dry out the bare wires from all electrical appliances.

My new favourite electrical appliance is the laminator!!!! It truly is the best thing for Ethiopia. I have to makes sure, however, that it is plugged in to the right socket with enough voltage to heat it up. But I have been making resources for my last workshop and the best thing is that they can be re-used. Albeit not by me as I witnessed my colleague collecting armfuls of resources at the end of the workshop for which he did zero preparation and very little presentations during the four days. My second colleague was a bit distressed and went round picking up what was left. And of course not one thank you between them, it was all "I need this" and "I need that…" They were welcome to all my hard work. It was a rather strange workshop. I had organised two training sessions so all the trainers could get together and agree on a plan for the four days and decide who was responsible for which sessions. When the workshop started it was very clear my two colleagues had done NO preparation and had expected me to do ALL the preparation. I was feeling somewhat charitable in my last official duty as VSO volunteer and made up power point presentations for them as we went along, though my patience was tried when one colleague told me to wake up in the middle of her Amharic presentation and put certain information on the screen. She told me her next session would simply be a translation into Amharic of the session I had done that morning and I should use the slides I had already prepared. I reminded her that the slides were in English but this was not a problem. I wasn't really sure why there was an Amharic session using English slides. It was a bit like watching an English movie that had been badly dubbed into Amharic with English subtitles. Why were the trainers there I wondered. The workshop had already been cut by one day and the three remaining days were shortened by 1.5 hours. But then I discovered not only were they getting a per diem they were being paid as trainers – more than half a month's salary for 3 days work. Not bad work if you can get it, especially if you leave the ferengi volunteer to do all the work!

Final Part of the Trilogy to follow as will the Editors Cut on Ethiopia.

Final Days Part 1

Final Days 

Part 1

Well my blog friends I am coming to the end of my time in Ethiopia. I officially finish my placement in Awassa on Friday 10^th June. This has resulted in much goings on in my head; reflection on my time here and thoughts about coming home. Such reflection and thoughts are rarely coherent in one's own mind and become even more obfuscated out loud. So let me just recount some of the amusing aspects of life here in Ethiopia that I have failed to include in previous blogs.

Observation on the life and people of Ethiopia never fails to amaze me – and not always in a positive way. One thing that I can never get over is the complete lack of common sense. Thinking skills here are non-existent. One of the capacity building efforts Paul would have liked to support here is training Ethiopian's to ride a bike properly. We are constantly amused that cyclists here ride with their heels. Now it is certainly within the realms of possibility that they do not realize that peddling with the balls of your feet is much more efficient way to gain power and better on your thigh muscles but surely commons sense would prevail, as by riding with your heels it means that your toes and the front of your feet overlap the front wheel, making it increasingly difficult (nigh impossible) to steer the front wheel. So to counteract this problem cyclists here ride duck-footed – with feet pointing outwards away from the bike – thus endangering their thigh muscles further. And what with men's predilection here to wear those ridiculous long pointed shoes they are practically doing a plie on the bike simply to avoid tangling their toes in the front wheel spokes. Simply moving their feet backwards a little on the pedals would ensure greater speed on the bike and less damage to the thighs. But alas no; this common sense approach evades them. But in terms of speed though, there are moments of alacrity. As I cycle past on my bike any Ethiopian men I pass simply speed up to overtake me, peddling with all their might with their heels. But they cannot sustain the pace and I simply cruise past them 2 minutes later. So they speed up again and pass me. This cat and mouse chase continues till I get so sick of it I simply put into top gear and leave them in a dust cloud. I once did hear an Ethiopian say –'Wow she is fast!' I wondered at this strange behaviour till I was watching the Awassa 7km run. I was standing at the sidelines cheering on friends as they passed. A friend Mark passed and there was much shouting, jeering and laughing as he passed. I asked my friend Tes what was being said and he replied that the Ethiopians were shouting at other Ethiopians – 'quick run, don't let the ferengi beat you' which produced a burst of runners to fly past Mark. Apparently it is not cool to be outdone by a ferengi – I guess especially in running for which Ethiopians are renowned.

Apart from the dubious Emperor Haile Selassie the most famous Ethiopian is Haile Gebre Selassie (no relation to the emperor) the marathon runner. Our friend Dee completed the half marathon in two hours and as I was congratulating her another friend declared that Haile could do twice the distance in the same time. Its true – Haile ran the marathon in just under 2 hours – his record has still not been broken. He is a great advocate of running in Ethiopia and attends all the local running events. He is a real credit to Ethiopia. He is also a millionaire and the owner of one of the few five star hotels in all of Ethiopia and the 'Face' of Johnny Walker. Ethiopians are mad for Johnny Walker and when I tell them they should try real malt whisky they say 'What like White Horse'!!!!!! Anyway Haile's hotel in Awassa is on the lake and a lovely (though expensive) way to while away an afternoon (a macchiato is 15 birr as opposed to the usual 3 birr. Though that is still less than a pound.). The hotel is still somewhat under construction. When I spied and enquired about the tennis courts on site I was told it was free to play there till the whole site is finished. And so each Sunday Tes, Mark and I venture down to the Haile for free tennis and one morning – there was Haile himself. All tiny bits of him. He is really small. We had a quick chat and he seemed pleased we were using the courts. Afterwards Paul and I shared a steak sandwich – one of the best I have tasted anywhere in the world. And it is definitely better than the plate of chips I had the other day which came free with a large piece of broken glass in it. When I held it up to the waitress she looked at me wonderingly and her face said 'Why is the strange ferengi putting bits of broken glass in her food?' I decided not to sue as I hadn't actually swallowed anything. Unlike my friend Megs who nearly swallowed a cockroach found in her coffee. Well we all need a bit of protein from time to time.

Food is one of the things I am looking forward to. On the whole, I have a very healthy diet of fresh vegetables and there is something extra sweet about eating avocados and mangoes straight from the tree of our garden. But there are things I miss, like a decent wine (not the Ethiopian powdered kind), especially cold white wine and cheese. We haven't had cheese in over a month here. Food items come in fits and starts. For a while we had cheese and now none. Also there is not yoghurt to be had at all. But worst of all there is no sugar and no oil. Sugar doesn't bother me but Ethiopians consume sugar on enormous scale. There is an urban myth here that says the reason Ethiopians eat so much sugar is that a number of years ago the government transmitted health notices saying sugar was good for you, in order to boost sales of sugar. But whatever the reason, sugar is a vital component in Ethiopian coffee. Now the government has fixed prices for certain food stuffs, such as bananas, sugar, milk, bread, beer, beef and soft drinks. The only places exempt from charging government prices and can charge what they like are 'places where ferengis tend to go'. And this was reported in the newspaper!!!!  So sugar became difficult to get. Some places were not even selling to ferengis and you could only literally get it from under the counter. The prices soared from the fixed 7 birr a kilo to 15 birr then 30 birr a kilo. So there was sugar to be had, but only on the black market. To counteract this government institutions were given a ration for each member at regular prices. So we all had to bring in our plastic bags for our 5 kilo ration of sugar. Now I never use sugar but was able to 'pass it on' to others. Volunteers don't get paid much, but our serentenga was very happy. We are awaiting our ration of oil too as this ahs completing disappeared off the shelves. Makes cooking incredibly difficult and olive oil is no good for popcorn. So with no popcorn and no sugar the Ethiopian coffee ceremony is in jeopardy.!!!!