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.!!!!