I’ve been in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia now for 5 days… and surprise surprise! I LOVE it! Even though I’ve only seen the road from Bole airport to my house where I’m staying, probably a mere 5 minute drive, haha I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to live and volunteer here for the next 6 weeks. :)
This time it isn’t like the happiness in Fiji, the landscape in New Zealand, the animals in Australia, or the food in Thailand. It’s the people. Ethiopians just have to be the most beautiful people in the world! With their deep brown eyes framed in thick lashes, perfect skin with heart-shaped faces, high foreheads, pointed chins and long necks, the “Nefertiti bust” in Britain’s Egyptian museum which is often likened to Ethiopian beauty simply doesn’t do them justice. I also love the Amharic language, which I’ve been trying to pick up—not only the words themselves, but their high-pitched enunciation, elegant rolled r’s, and how every sentence ends in a polite question. Everything is “ishi? = okay?” :) And I’ve really been astounded at how warm, friendly and hospitable everyone has been to me, from the friends I’m working with, to my housekeeper Yeshe, guards Mulagta and Tariku, and folks on the street. Yay Ethiopia!
People keep asking me about my first impressions, and I have to say that on the flip side of loving the people and their friendly hospitality, I’m also taken aback by the lack of stuff. At the airport, I expected to get a guidebook, a phone card, withdraw some money… but there was none of that, just a big room with luggage. I’ve never been in a place with no handy ATMs around! Nor was there a McDonalds, or names for the streets. I don't have an address where I'm staying, it's just "next to the Mozambique embassy." It definitely makes me appreciate the different levels of development in a different way... I thought I'd been to developing places before, but this is just really different.
The other thing that really bums me out is all the beggars on the streets. Even though there’s everyone begging from kids to women and elders, it’s not as bad as Cambodia, because people don’t follow you or disrespect themselves in the process of asking. Thank goodness I actually read a really cool chapter about the begging issue in my Lonely Planet, that basically says you should never give money to begging children because it perpetuates their false expectations, and keeps them out of school. The best mantra is to "give a small amount often" -- like budget $3 per week in Ethiopia, or 50 birrh, for example-- and then only to adults who really need it to eat. And other than that, it's great to give to organizations and buy from local handicrafts that benefit the community. I was STOKED to finally receive this good advice, since it’s something I’ve struggled with for a long time.
So, I’ll give a little re-cap on what I’ve done so far. On the plane from Thailand to Ethiopia on Saturday February 27th, I was feeling really nervous about what was next. I hadn’t even so much as glanced at an East Africa guide book! I knew next to nothing about the history, language, culture, or city-layout… AHHH talk about unprepared! All I knew was that someone from PHE-Ethiopia was picking me up, and that I’d have a few days to settle in to Annie’s house where I’d be staying, before my boss Negash arrived back from a London Climate Change Conference on March 3rd. I hoped my Sierra Club experience would prepare me to be a helpful volunteer with adding content to the website, creating brochures and a newsletter, and going on field visits. But I knew that nothing could prepare me for the vast challenges facing Ethiopia, of poverty, environmental damage, and lack of basic necessities. Well, if Thailand and Cambodia had changed me at all, I knew that Ethiopia would knock my socks off.
Half way through the flight I for some reason got seriously sick, and experienced the true Ethiopian hospitality that I’ve grown accustomed to after a few days here. My gin and tonic with dinner was way too strong, and then the guy in front of me leaned his chair in my lap, while the woman on my left leaned up against me. I was smooshed, couldn’t reach my water-bottle, and my pillow fell to the ground so I couldn’t even properly lean against the window! In minutes my body was covered in hot sweat, and I felt classic throw-up symptoms of chills and nausea. I got up to run to the bathroom, and the flight stewardesses saved me! They grabbed me, sat me down, gave me water, fanned me, and ran ice over my face and neck. Then they actually made me a bed on the floor of the airplane for me to lie down, with blankets and pillows! I didn’t even know they could do that! I literally felt better in 3 minutes. After returning to my seat and asking the guy in front of me and the woman beside me to let me breathe a bit, I was able to doze off for most of the 9 hour flight.
I arrived at the airport at 7am on Sunday, and Tdelle (tah-dell-eh) with the Packard Foundation office picked me up. He was so sweet to have me talk with Thamar right away (who also works with Packard and has become my closest friend here), and treat me to a delicious latte and spice cake from Kaldis coffee, or the Ethiopian Starbucks. ;) He took me to Annie’s house, and it was AMAZING! Really huge with a front garden, 3 bedrooms, a kitchen, living room and downstairs art studio. The second I arrived I unpacked and hung my pictures and artwork I've bought so far all over the walls … it was so nice to finally settle for a while.
Thankfully I found Annie’s library of probably 50 books, including a Lonely Planet Ethiopia guidebook, a History of Ethiopia by Harold G Marcus, and a guide to learning Amharic. Like a huge nerd, I finished the Lonely Planet that first day, the second day I made 100 flashcards of Amharic words to study on my 15-minute walk to and from work every day, and over the next 3 days I finished the 267 page Ethiopian history book! I guess it helps that Annie’s house doesn’t have a TV, radio, or anything to do really. At this rate I could read 14 books while I’m here, haha, but at least I’m excited to really dig in and get to know the country’s history and culture.
That first day was really great, though… the housekeeper, Yeshe, arrived at 1pm and began her daily habit of totally spoiling me. She proceeded to do my laundry, clean the house, and prepare me a HUGE delicious meal of tomatoey pasta, grilled zucchini, French fries, green salad, fruit salad and bread. Since then, it’s been more good things every day—spicy Indian food with rice, omelets, homemade bread and cakes, even homemade ice cream! She’s really sweet and speaks good English… soon I’m going to need to tell her not to make so much food, because otherwise I’m afraid I’ll gain weight here! (gulp…)
Later on at about 2pm, Thamar came over to make sure I was good in the house, exchange money for me (13.3 Ethiopian bihr = $1, yikes), and take me out to a movie! She’s really funny, sweet and laid back, and actually reminds me a ton of my former boss Sandeep. I was surprised at how Western she was, I think since she studied in Canada for a few years—we talked about Sex and the City for a good 30 minutes, haha.
The next day was my first day at the office, and it went really well… I have my own desk and really fast-running computer, and Meron and Meseret who work in my office and are around my age seem really sweet. I felt super productive right-away by providing edits to a grant, and was feeling pretty good about myself… till I walked back to my house for lunch and got lost for like an hour! It really wasn’t my fault… the streets aren’t marked and look crazy similar. The directions are something like “left at the fruit stand, past the field, right at the second street with the white sign, house next to the 4th one with the gate.” Confusing, right? What messed me up was that the previously empty field was now full of 50 free-roaming goats, so I didn’t recognize where I was. My method of finding my way back was pretty silly, but it worked… I just walked aimlessly up and down the streets, shouting the name of the day guard, “Mulagta! Mulagta!” Back at the office, the girls thought it was HILARIOUS that I’d gotten lost, and even funnier how I’d found my way back… they’ve probably re-told the story 20 times already to anyone who will listen and laugh along, haha. :) Oh well, I actually love being the brunt of a joke, if it makes people laugh.
My third day in Addis, Tuesday March 2nd, was a National Holiday to celebrate the Battle of Adwa where Ethiopia defeated Italy, and singled itself out as the only un-colonized African nation. It was cool that I was reading about it in my Ethiopia history book, and after Yeshe took me for a little shopping trip to the market, I decided to take a taxi to the center of town to see if anything was going on and check out the National Museum. A nice guy named Fikalu drove me in his taxi, and I found it funny that he actually followed me around throughout the museum to explain stuff to me. The museum was sadly dinky and desolate, but nicely arranged with the famous Lucy bones on the bottom floor, marking Ethiopia’s status as the cradle of humanity. On the first floor there were portraits and busts of the royalty (my buddies I’d been reading about, haha), then paintings on the second floor, and handicrafts on the third floor. I was really moved by paintings depicting female genital mutilation and famine, and bummed that no postcards were for sale.
Yesterday (Wednesday March 3rd) I again went to the office, came home, listened to the radio that Yeshe hooked me up with along to a thunderstorm outside, and read. Today I met Negash at the office, and I have to admit I’m a little scared! He’s REALLY sweet and asked me all about my trip and how I’m doing at the house and in Addis so far, but afterwards launched into all the projects he hopes I’ll do while I’m here. He has a very forceful personality, and I’m not sure that with the trips he has planned for me, I’ll be able to take any time to see touristic sites… but I guess we’ll see. The program visits to Bale Mountains and Ghedeo Zone seem incredibly cool, and I’m excited to write a lot… I already wrote 10 pages of website edits in two days! I’m just really grateful for this opportunity to help out.
Doing research for the website and reading a few books on Ethiopia, I’m still really perplexed about why it’s so poor here. It’s one of the 10 poorest countries in the world; something like 60% of people live on less than a dollar a day, and there’s 1-2 doctors per 100,000 people. It’s really starting to hit me. Today after work I browsed through a bookstore, and couldn’t believe they didn’t have any books on Ethiopia! It was all Western books—they even had a bunch of “guides to overeating,” one which had a donut on the cover! Are you kidding me?! There are no donuts here, let alone problems with overeating! So lame.
Well now that I’m caught up on my blog, I’m going to go read my new book, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, about one man’s mission to build schools for girls in Pakistan. Makes my volunteer work here seem like nothing, haha, but at least I’m happy to get this experience before going for my MPH next year. Yay Ethiopia!
This time it isn’t like the happiness in Fiji, the landscape in New Zealand, the animals in Australia, or the food in Thailand. It’s the people. Ethiopians just have to be the most beautiful people in the world! With their deep brown eyes framed in thick lashes, perfect skin with heart-shaped faces, high foreheads, pointed chins and long necks, the “Nefertiti bust” in Britain’s Egyptian museum which is often likened to Ethiopian beauty simply doesn’t do them justice. I also love the Amharic language, which I’ve been trying to pick up—not only the words themselves, but their high-pitched enunciation, elegant rolled r’s, and how every sentence ends in a polite question. Everything is “ishi? = okay?” :) And I’ve really been astounded at how warm, friendly and hospitable everyone has been to me, from the friends I’m working with, to my housekeeper Yeshe, guards Mulagta and Tariku, and folks on the street. Yay Ethiopia!
People keep asking me about my first impressions, and I have to say that on the flip side of loving the people and their friendly hospitality, I’m also taken aback by the lack of stuff. At the airport, I expected to get a guidebook, a phone card, withdraw some money… but there was none of that, just a big room with luggage. I’ve never been in a place with no handy ATMs around! Nor was there a McDonalds, or names for the streets. I don't have an address where I'm staying, it's just "next to the Mozambique embassy." It definitely makes me appreciate the different levels of development in a different way... I thought I'd been to developing places before, but this is just really different. The other thing that really bums me out is all the beggars on the streets. Even though there’s everyone begging from kids to women and elders, it’s not as bad as Cambodia, because people don’t follow you or disrespect themselves in the process of asking. Thank goodness I actually read a really cool chapter about the begging issue in my Lonely Planet, that basically says you should never give money to begging children because it perpetuates their false expectations, and keeps them out of school. The best mantra is to "give a small amount often" -- like budget $3 per week in Ethiopia, or 50 birrh, for example-- and then only to adults who really need it to eat. And other than that, it's great to give to organizations and buy from local handicrafts that benefit the community. I was STOKED to finally receive this good advice, since it’s something I’ve struggled with for a long time.
So, I’ll give a little re-cap on what I’ve done so far. On the plane from Thailand to Ethiopia on Saturday February 27th, I was feeling really nervous about what was next. I hadn’t even so much as glanced at an East Africa guide book! I knew next to nothing about the history, language, culture, or city-layout… AHHH talk about unprepared! All I knew was that someone from PHE-Ethiopia was picking me up, and that I’d have a few days to settle in to Annie’s house where I’d be staying, before my boss Negash arrived back from a London Climate Change Conference on March 3rd. I hoped my Sierra Club experience would prepare me to be a helpful volunteer with adding content to the website, creating brochures and a newsletter, and going on field visits. But I knew that nothing could prepare me for the vast challenges facing Ethiopia, of poverty, environmental damage, and lack of basic necessities. Well, if Thailand and Cambodia had changed me at all, I knew that Ethiopia would knock my socks off.
Half way through the flight I for some reason got seriously sick, and experienced the true Ethiopian hospitality that I’ve grown accustomed to after a few days here. My gin and tonic with dinner was way too strong, and then the guy in front of me leaned his chair in my lap, while the woman on my left leaned up against me. I was smooshed, couldn’t reach my water-bottle, and my pillow fell to the ground so I couldn’t even properly lean against the window! In minutes my body was covered in hot sweat, and I felt classic throw-up symptoms of chills and nausea. I got up to run to the bathroom, and the flight stewardesses saved me! They grabbed me, sat me down, gave me water, fanned me, and ran ice over my face and neck. Then they actually made me a bed on the floor of the airplane for me to lie down, with blankets and pillows! I didn’t even know they could do that! I literally felt better in 3 minutes. After returning to my seat and asking the guy in front of me and the woman beside me to let me breathe a bit, I was able to doze off for most of the 9 hour flight.
I arrived at the airport at 7am on Sunday, and Tdelle (tah-dell-eh) with the Packard Foundation office picked me up. He was so sweet to have me talk with Thamar right away (who also works with Packard and has become my closest friend here), and treat me to a delicious latte and spice cake from Kaldis coffee, or the Ethiopian Starbucks. ;) He took me to Annie’s house, and it was AMAZING! Really huge with a front garden, 3 bedrooms, a kitchen, living room and downstairs art studio. The second I arrived I unpacked and hung my pictures and artwork I've bought so far all over the walls … it was so nice to finally settle for a while. Thankfully I found Annie’s library of probably 50 books, including a Lonely Planet Ethiopia guidebook, a History of Ethiopia by Harold G Marcus, and a guide to learning Amharic. Like a huge nerd, I finished the Lonely Planet that first day, the second day I made 100 flashcards of Amharic words to study on my 15-minute walk to and from work every day, and over the next 3 days I finished the 267 page Ethiopian history book! I guess it helps that Annie’s house doesn’t have a TV, radio, or anything to do really. At this rate I could read 14 books while I’m here, haha, but at least I’m excited to really dig in and get to know the country’s history and culture.
That first day was really great, though… the housekeeper, Yeshe, arrived at 1pm and began her daily habit of totally spoiling me. She proceeded to do my laundry, clean the house, and prepare me a HUGE delicious meal of tomatoey pasta, grilled zucchini, French fries, green salad, fruit salad and bread. Since then, it’s been more good things every day—spicy Indian food with rice, omelets, homemade bread and cakes, even homemade ice cream! She’s really sweet and speaks good English… soon I’m going to need to tell her not to make so much food, because otherwise I’m afraid I’ll gain weight here! (gulp…)
Later on at about 2pm, Thamar came over to make sure I was good in the house, exchange money for me (13.3 Ethiopian bihr = $1, yikes), and take me out to a movie! She’s really funny, sweet and laid back, and actually reminds me a ton of my former boss Sandeep. I was surprised at how Western she was, I think since she studied in Canada for a few years—we talked about Sex and the City for a good 30 minutes, haha.The next day was my first day at the office, and it went really well… I have my own desk and really fast-running computer, and Meron and Meseret who work in my office and are around my age seem really sweet. I felt super productive right-away by providing edits to a grant, and was feeling pretty good about myself… till I walked back to my house for lunch and got lost for like an hour! It really wasn’t my fault… the streets aren’t marked and look crazy similar. The directions are something like “left at the fruit stand, past the field, right at the second street with the white sign, house next to the 4th one with the gate.” Confusing, right? What messed me up was that the previously empty field was now full of 50 free-roaming goats, so I didn’t recognize where I was. My method of finding my way back was pretty silly, but it worked… I just walked aimlessly up and down the streets, shouting the name of the day guard, “Mulagta! Mulagta!” Back at the office, the girls thought it was HILARIOUS that I’d gotten lost, and even funnier how I’d found my way back… they’ve probably re-told the story 20 times already to anyone who will listen and laugh along, haha. :) Oh well, I actually love being the brunt of a joke, if it makes people laugh.
My third day in Addis, Tuesday March 2nd, was a National Holiday to celebrate the Battle of Adwa where Ethiopia defeated Italy, and singled itself out as the only un-colonized African nation. It was cool that I was reading about it in my Ethiopia history book, and after Yeshe took me for a little shopping trip to the market, I decided to take a taxi to the center of town to see if anything was going on and check out the National Museum. A nice guy named Fikalu drove me in his taxi, and I found it funny that he actually followed me around throughout the museum to explain stuff to me. The museum was sadly dinky and desolate, but nicely arranged with the famous Lucy bones on the bottom floor, marking Ethiopia’s status as the cradle of humanity. On the first floor there were portraits and busts of the royalty (my buddies I’d been reading about, haha), then paintings on the second floor, and handicrafts on the third floor. I was really moved by paintings depicting female genital mutilation and famine, and bummed that no postcards were for sale. Yesterday (Wednesday March 3rd) I again went to the office, came home, listened to the radio that Yeshe hooked me up with along to a thunderstorm outside, and read. Today I met Negash at the office, and I have to admit I’m a little scared! He’s REALLY sweet and asked me all about my trip and how I’m doing at the house and in Addis so far, but afterwards launched into all the projects he hopes I’ll do while I’m here. He has a very forceful personality, and I’m not sure that with the trips he has planned for me, I’ll be able to take any time to see touristic sites… but I guess we’ll see. The program visits to Bale Mountains and Ghedeo Zone seem incredibly cool, and I’m excited to write a lot… I already wrote 10 pages of website edits in two days! I’m just really grateful for this opportunity to help out.
Doing research for the website and reading a few books on Ethiopia, I’m still really perplexed about why it’s so poor here. It’s one of the 10 poorest countries in the world; something like 60% of people live on less than a dollar a day, and there’s 1-2 doctors per 100,000 people. It’s really starting to hit me. Today after work I browsed through a bookstore, and couldn’t believe they didn’t have any books on Ethiopia! It was all Western books—they even had a bunch of “guides to overeating,” one which had a donut on the cover! Are you kidding me?! There are no donuts here, let alone problems with overeating! So lame.Well now that I’m caught up on my blog, I’m going to go read my new book, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, about one man’s mission to build schools for girls in Pakistan. Makes my volunteer work here seem like nothing, haha, but at least I’m happy to get this experience before going for my MPH next year. Yay Ethiopia!
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