We certainly had an interesting time at the Ethiopian school this afternoon. Apparently a good portion of the teachers were absent due to illness because there were quite a number of classes who were entirely unsupervised. So the principal sent me off to teach a grade 6 class and Sol and Abram taught a grade five class. We had about 60 seconds to prepare a lesson and then we were in charge of classes for the next few hours. I was really impressed with the way Sol and Abram rose to the occasion. It wasn’t an easy thing to do since it is difficult to maintain control of a class when the ability to communicate is so minimal. Luckily, each class has a “head student” who helps maintain discipline. Unfortunately, they often do this by yelling or even swatting the other children with a book. We were all very tired after this rather draining experience. Since so many teachers were missing, I didn’t end up teaching my after school English class for the teachers.
Tomorrow afternoon we will head into Addis with the school bus that takes faculty and staff back and forth to Addis on a daily basis. We will be staying in a Catholic guest house for night and then head off to the airport to catch our flight that leaves at about 6:15 am. Our flight goes to three other cities before it will finally reach Lalibela. We have chosen to not take our lap top along for security reasons so we will be out of touch with all of you until our return to DZ on Sunday. We will update you on our adventure as soon as we get back!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
May 24, 2009 -- posted by Karen
We had an interesting morning at our little English fellowship. The group is made up of a number of Dutch families that come from a strong Reformed background, a number of Mennonite families that bring an Anabaptist understanding of faith and then Africans from various places, some of which have a strong Pentecostal background. A very interesting mix.... This morning during prayer time, one of the African leaders got very caught up in his prayers for healing. He basically said that true Christians shouldn’t ever get sick because sickness is the devil’s work and the result of sin. We just need to have enough faith and we will be well. And then he prayed long and very loudly (it actually kind of scared Isaac!) for deliverance from every kind if illness and disease. When he had finished the service was supposed to be over but one of the Dutch leaders stood up and shared that their family had been in an accident two years ago where his neck had been broken and son had been killed. He did not feel that this happened because of the devil but rather it was God’s will because he wanted to work in his heart. Richard and I didn’t agree with either one of them but we were not ready to jump into this sudden theological debate. By the end of the service, the African Pentecostal was threatening to leave the church! Quite the morning!
We went out for lunch after church with Carl and Vera to Dreamland family restaurant overlooking Lake Bishoftu. It’s interesting to hear the story of the church in Ethiopia and particularly the College since Carl has been the primary visionary and leader in it’s development.
We were going to go for a walk in the afternoon after the heat had abated a bit but we had a spectacular rain storm instead with the power going on and off. Once that was over, I did manage to get a short walk in with Vera before dark. We went up the hill behind the College where we have a beautiful view of Lake Hora.
We went out for lunch after church with Carl and Vera to Dreamland family restaurant overlooking Lake Bishoftu. It’s interesting to hear the story of the church in Ethiopia and particularly the College since Carl has been the primary visionary and leader in it’s development.
We were going to go for a walk in the afternoon after the heat had abated a bit but we had a spectacular rain storm instead with the power going on and off. Once that was over, I did manage to get a short walk in with Vera before dark. We went up the hill behind the College where we have a beautiful view of Lake Hora.
May23, 2009 -- posted by Karen
This morning Richard and I took a bajaj into town for the first time. We needed to get to the bank before it closed at noon and there was no one available to take us in so we walked about 10 minutes until we encountered one of the three-wheeled motorcycle taxis they call a bajaj. We were able to negotiate a pretty reasonable fare that got us to the bank to exchange some US dollars as well as Euros. The big Saturday market happens close to the bank so we spent a pleasant hour wandering through the stalls. We bought some produce as well as a handcrafted table cloth. Most of the other forenji (foreigners) stay away from the market for some reason but we really enjoy the atmosphere.
By the time we got home, the kids had finished their gardening work on campus. Carl and Vera are in the midst of some pretty ambitious planting and cultivating in an attempt to bring some beauty to the campus. The kids have helped with watering and today they were planting very small seedlings in bags that will eventually be planted somewhere on campus. It would be great to come back in five years and see the transformation as all these very small plants mature.
After a quick trip into town with Dianne for some groceries, we went to spend the late afternoon at our Dutch neighbours. The Dutch government has a program that grants significant funding for five years to people who come to places like Ethiopia to start businesses that will establish and train Ethiopians in new business ventures. There are quite a number of Dutch families in DZ who have been here for a number of years. They often gather at our neighbour’s to play volleyball on Saturday afternoons. The kids had a great time playing and Richard and I thoroughly enjoyed visiting in their beautiful walled garden full of flowering bushes and lush vegetation. There is so much potential for beauty in this country. Unfortunately, the average Ethiopian is far too preoccupied with survival to give much thought to beauty.
By the time we got home, the kids had finished their gardening work on campus. Carl and Vera are in the midst of some pretty ambitious planting and cultivating in an attempt to bring some beauty to the campus. The kids have helped with watering and today they were planting very small seedlings in bags that will eventually be planted somewhere on campus. It would be great to come back in five years and see the transformation as all these very small plants mature.
After a quick trip into town with Dianne for some groceries, we went to spend the late afternoon at our Dutch neighbours. The Dutch government has a program that grants significant funding for five years to people who come to places like Ethiopia to start businesses that will establish and train Ethiopians in new business ventures. There are quite a number of Dutch families in DZ who have been here for a number of years. They often gather at our neighbour’s to play volleyball on Saturday afternoons. The kids had a great time playing and Richard and I thoroughly enjoyed visiting in their beautiful walled garden full of flowering bushes and lush vegetation. There is so much potential for beauty in this country. Unfortunately, the average Ethiopian is far too preoccupied with survival to give much thought to beauty.
May 22, 2009 -- posted by Karen
Life certainly has a slower pace out here in Ethiopia. It has allowed much more time for reflection, reading and long walks with family. For the most part, we all go to bed with the sun and get up with the sun and realize that we are finally getting enough sleep. This is all very good but at the same time I find myself getting just a tad restless. This weekend will be especially slow since several of our housemates are away and others are occupied with various commitments. We like to do stuff on our own but without transportation, our options are quite limited. Besides, it feels like we’ve done almost everything there is to do in DZ. This is not exactly a bustling, cosmopolitan town. I am trying to enjoy these few restful days knowing that next week will be very different as we take our trip up North.
We spent the day doing schooling and helping the library staff process books. In the afternoon we celebrated Lydia’s birthday (she turned three) so the kids had fun throwing water balloons at each other and we had cake and some time to visit. I managed to figure out how to bake a chicken for supper. Since Lois and Ernie are gone for the weekend, I used their oven. This is the first real meat we have had since we’ve arrived other than a few meals in restaurants.
We continue to try to eat one meal a day in the dining hall. This is a bit of a stretch. Their diet here at the College is pretty basic and rather monotonous. They will have injera for either lunch or supper. This is not particularly good injera and many of the Ethiopian students don’t like it because it is very strong and sour. We try to avoid the injera meals as much as possible. The other meal is most often macaroni with a bit of a sauce. Sometimes they vary that up with spaghetti with the same sauce or rice. And they always serve bread with every meal. So you can see, we are definitely loading up on our carbs. The students seldom get anything that resembles fruit or vegetables.
We spent the day doing schooling and helping the library staff process books. In the afternoon we celebrated Lydia’s birthday (she turned three) so the kids had fun throwing water balloons at each other and we had cake and some time to visit. I managed to figure out how to bake a chicken for supper. Since Lois and Ernie are gone for the weekend, I used their oven. This is the first real meat we have had since we’ve arrived other than a few meals in restaurants.
We continue to try to eat one meal a day in the dining hall. This is a bit of a stretch. Their diet here at the College is pretty basic and rather monotonous. They will have injera for either lunch or supper. This is not particularly good injera and many of the Ethiopian students don’t like it because it is very strong and sour. We try to avoid the injera meals as much as possible. The other meal is most often macaroni with a bit of a sauce. Sometimes they vary that up with spaghetti with the same sauce or rice. And they always serve bread with every meal. So you can see, we are definitely loading up on our carbs. The students seldom get anything that resembles fruit or vegetables.
Friday, May 22, 2009
May 21, 2009 -- posted by Karen
After spending the first part of the morning doing our schooling, we headed off to the College for tea time since we were celebrating our house mate Michael’s birthday. Lois had baked something that almost tasted like cinnamon rolls. It’s funny the simply things you miss out here....like cinnamon rolls! We weighed ourselves last night and found that both Richard and Abram have lost 10 lbs already. Abram’s shorts literally fall right off of him and he didn’t bring a belt so we are using some string to try to keep them on. Both Sol and Isaac have lost about 8 lbs. I didn’t bother weighing myself.
We did some volunteering in the library after tea time, unpacking and sorted donated books. They had such a backload of books that needed to be processed but with Richard’s help they are making incredible headway. Abram and I also ended up doing a bunch of shelving and getting some of the new books out into the stacks. It was a nice change from our usual activity. Later in the afternoon, Isaac, Sol and I took a hike up the big hill behind our house to see Lake Hora. It is so incredibly beautiful. We checked out the hyena dens but we could hear the hyenas howling inside so we didn’t stick around for long. I certainly don’t have the experience to deal with a hyena encounter!
In the evening we hosted a surprise birthday party at our place for Mike. It’s amazing how close we already feel to the people we are working with. I guess it’s rather like going to summer camp where you have a very intense immersion experience with a group of people and before long you feel like you’ve known them for years. Unfortunately, our group will begin to disperse in a few weeks when Lois and Ernie, Carl and Vera and Mike head back to North America after grad. With the exception of Mike, they will all be coming back for September. That will leave us here with Dianne and Fanosie and some other profs. will be joining us to teach the rainy season semester.
We did some volunteering in the library after tea time, unpacking and sorted donated books. They had such a backload of books that needed to be processed but with Richard’s help they are making incredible headway. Abram and I also ended up doing a bunch of shelving and getting some of the new books out into the stacks. It was a nice change from our usual activity. Later in the afternoon, Isaac, Sol and I took a hike up the big hill behind our house to see Lake Hora. It is so incredibly beautiful. We checked out the hyena dens but we could hear the hyenas howling inside so we didn’t stick around for long. I certainly don’t have the experience to deal with a hyena encounter!
In the evening we hosted a surprise birthday party at our place for Mike. It’s amazing how close we already feel to the people we are working with. I guess it’s rather like going to summer camp where you have a very intense immersion experience with a group of people and before long you feel like you’ve known them for years. Unfortunately, our group will begin to disperse in a few weeks when Lois and Ernie, Carl and Vera and Mike head back to North America after grad. With the exception of Mike, they will all be coming back for September. That will leave us here with Dianne and Fanosie and some other profs. will be joining us to teach the rainy season semester.
A new Ethiopian Orthodox church in Addis Ababa.
The Blue Tops Restaurant in Addis Ababa.
The family at Blue Tops Restaurant in Addis Ababa.
Eating at Blue Tops Restaurant in Addis Ababa.
Our driver, Daniel is on the left.
An example of the Coke signs that are all over Addis Ababa.
One of the nicer hotels in Addis Ababa.
Train station in Addis Ababa.
Addis Ababa.
A Weaver bird.
A Weaver bird.
The guest house at Meserete Kristos College.
Our apartment is the bottom left.
Our apartment at Meserete Kristos College.
Our apartment in Meserte Kristos College.
May 20, 2009 -- posted by Karen
We (Karen and the boys) spent the afternoon volunteering at the Ethiopian school. One of the teachers was not able to come to school because she was ill, so the principal asked if we would be willing to teach her class. If it had been an English class, that would have been easy but this was a Bible class which is typically taught in Amharic because these are students whose English is very, very minimal. As Sol, Abram and I were led toward the class we tried to come up with a plan. In the end, we simply ended up acting out Bible stories with very simple dialogue ourselves and then had volunteers from the class come forward to do the same thing. I don’t think they had ever had a Bible class that was quite this interactive since I’ve observed that most of their learning is very teacher-oriented. However, judging by the laughter and smiles, they enjoyed themselves. Hopefully they learned a little bit too!
I expect the next few days to be pretty routine. We don’t have any major day trips or expeditions planned. But we are putting together all the details for our major trip to Northern Ethiopia next week. The flights are already booked and we spent yesterday evening consulting Trip Adviser before making final reservations for our accommodation. We will be flying to Lalibela and then to Gondor.
The weather here seems to be continuously ideal. About 80 degrees every day. Sometimes there is a dramatic rain storm that lasts an hour and then it clears up again and the sun comes out. It’s really quite beautiful.
I expect the next few days to be pretty routine. We don’t have any major day trips or expeditions planned. But we are putting together all the details for our major trip to Northern Ethiopia next week. The flights are already booked and we spent yesterday evening consulting Trip Adviser before making final reservations for our accommodation. We will be flying to Lalibela and then to Gondor.
The weather here seems to be continuously ideal. About 80 degrees every day. Sometimes there is a dramatic rain storm that lasts an hour and then it clears up again and the sun comes out. It’s really quite beautiful.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
May 19, 2009, posted by Karen
It’s funny how life out here in Ethiopia is beginning to feel “normal”. Driving down dusty, rutted roads with cattle wandering across and people trudging along with their water pots, hunting down groceries in the various shops in DZ, eating meals in the dining room with the students.... Life here is certainly different but it has also become normal.
We helped lead chapel yesterday morning. It was a novel thing for them to have someone who could actually play the key board that is sitting on stage. Very few people have any musical training out here. There is only one guitar on campus (the students had a fund raising drive last year to purchase it) and there seems to be only one student who is able to play it. He has allowed our kids to borrow it so Abram and Sol had great fun playing it yesterday. We really regret not bringing along one of our guitars since the guys have so much spare time and would probably have made more use of it out here than they ever do at home.
I spent the remainder of the day shopping for groceries with Dianne, doing laundry which is basically a full day enterprise and various other domestic duties. The excitement of the day came when Ernie helped the guys invade a huge termite hill outside our house. Ernie was a biology teacher in his earlier years and he loves to explain the ways of nature to the kids. The other encounter we had with nature was a home invasion of some very large, winged creatures we call “sausage flies”. They look absolutely ugly and intimidating although they don’t pose any real danger. Richard, Abram and Sol did some hunting and killing in the living area while Isaac and I took refuge in the bedroom.
We helped lead chapel yesterday morning. It was a novel thing for them to have someone who could actually play the key board that is sitting on stage. Very few people have any musical training out here. There is only one guitar on campus (the students had a fund raising drive last year to purchase it) and there seems to be only one student who is able to play it. He has allowed our kids to borrow it so Abram and Sol had great fun playing it yesterday. We really regret not bringing along one of our guitars since the guys have so much spare time and would probably have made more use of it out here than they ever do at home.
I spent the remainder of the day shopping for groceries with Dianne, doing laundry which is basically a full day enterprise and various other domestic duties. The excitement of the day came when Ernie helped the guys invade a huge termite hill outside our house. Ernie was a biology teacher in his earlier years and he loves to explain the ways of nature to the kids. The other encounter we had with nature was a home invasion of some very large, winged creatures we call “sausage flies”. They look absolutely ugly and intimidating although they don’t pose any real danger. Richard, Abram and Sol did some hunting and killing in the living area while Isaac and I took refuge in the bedroom.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
May 18, 2009, posted by Karen
Sol was feeling marginally better by this morning. We discontinued the antibiotic and that seemed to make a huge difference. I phoned the Dr. at the clinic in Addis this morning and he suggested an alternative antibiotic so Dianne took me to a pharmacy in DZ and we picked some up. By this evening, Sol was once more driving Isaac crazy so I know that he is recovering!
Abram, Isaac and I did our volunteering at the Ethiopian school this afternoon. This time, Isaac and Abram were working with the grade one class and got to do a fair amount of English teaching. They also helped out with a grade 6 gym class. Abram is getting to know a 14 year old boy named Easter who is teaching him some Amharic (the official language of Ethiopia). I spent most of my time visiting with the principal, the Bible teacher and another English teacher who are eager to build a friendship. I taught another English class to the teachers which is turning out to be quite a bit of fun.
We have a chapel service at the College every morning from 8:30 to 9 am. It is typically in Amharic but occasionally they have one in English. Tomorrow we will be helping to lead the English singing. They found out I can play keyboard and so I will be playing some “classics” like “Seek ye first” etc.
Abram, Isaac and I did our volunteering at the Ethiopian school this afternoon. This time, Isaac and Abram were working with the grade one class and got to do a fair amount of English teaching. They also helped out with a grade 6 gym class. Abram is getting to know a 14 year old boy named Easter who is teaching him some Amharic (the official language of Ethiopia). I spent most of my time visiting with the principal, the Bible teacher and another English teacher who are eager to build a friendship. I taught another English class to the teachers which is turning out to be quite a bit of fun.
We have a chapel service at the College every morning from 8:30 to 9 am. It is typically in Amharic but occasionally they have one in English. Tomorrow we will be helping to lead the English singing. They found out I can play keyboard and so I will be playing some “classics” like “Seek ye first” etc.
May 17, 2009 posted by Karen
Sol was still not feeling all that well so he stayed home from church with Mike our housemate who had to catch up on grading papers. By the time we got home from church, Sol seemed to be feeling even worse. He ended up throwing up another eight times in the afternoon and felt absolutely miserable. The Dr. had mentioned that the antibiotic might cause him to feel a little nauseous but this was ridiculous. He couldn’t even keep water down. The Dr. had mentioned that he was giving Sol an adult dose which concerned me a bit since Sol is only 98 lbs. My theory is that the medication was far too strong for him. We discontinued the medication and by evening he was able to sit up and walk around again and even ate a few bites of cracker. I will phone the clinic tomorrow morning and speak to the main Dr. who was trained in Europe (we saw the Dr. “on call” yesterday and I wasn’t quite convinced he knew what he was doing). Perhaps she can prescribe a different antibiotic or reduce the dosage on the one he has. Poor Sol has had a rough few days.
I spent most of the day nursing Sol while the others went on a hike up the hill to the lake. I did get out a bit to do a music practice with some students who are singing in chapel on Tuesday. They found out I could play keyboard and want me to play for them. It was kind of fun to work with them. They were saying that they would love to have someone teach music classes at the school.
There is a student at the College whose wife died in childbirth last month. His family lives a distance away and he is living at the dorm at the College so I don’t think he was even with her when she died. She was a teacher and so she was his main source of financial support. Now, not only is he grieving her death, but he has had to pull his other children from school because he can no longer afford it and he may well have to discontinue his studies to become a pastor because he no longer has a sponsor. Life is so harsh here and yet the students are so committed to serving God no matter what the price might be.
I spent most of the day nursing Sol while the others went on a hike up the hill to the lake. I did get out a bit to do a music practice with some students who are singing in chapel on Tuesday. They found out I could play keyboard and want me to play for them. It was kind of fun to work with them. They were saying that they would love to have someone teach music classes at the school.
There is a student at the College whose wife died in childbirth last month. His family lives a distance away and he is living at the dorm at the College so I don’t think he was even with her when she died. She was a teacher and so she was his main source of financial support. Now, not only is he grieving her death, but he has had to pull his other children from school because he can no longer afford it and he may well have to discontinue his studies to become a pastor because he no longer has a sponsor. Life is so harsh here and yet the students are so committed to serving God no matter what the price might be.
May 17, 2009
Yesterday we spent the day in Addis Ababa. It was our second trip to Ethiopia’s capital, other than the day we landed in Ethiopia. As we drove around the city and stopped at various sites I was constantly struck by the stark contrasts around me.
Our first stop was at the Swedish Clinic on the east side of the city. Solomon had had a fever since Thursday evening, so we thought we better get him to a doctor. When it comes to medical facilities, there are a number of options. In our city of Debre Zeit, there is a hospital close to where we live. However, we were told to go there only if we had no other options, and, as Canadians in Ethiopia, we obviously have plenty of options. Since we were planning to go into Addis anyways, it was suggested that we visit the Swedish Clinic, started a number of years ago by doctors from Sweden.
As we had last week, we hired a local taxi driver named Daniel to take us to Addis. He charges us 600 Birr (around $55 US) for the day. Just to put that in perspective, I spoke with two North American women at lunch today who were visiting people here at the college from Addis. They took a taxi like the one Daniel drives and paid 10 Birr (around $1.00), 600 Birr is a lot of money for the average Ethiopian. I think the average labourer earns around 30 Birr a day.
When we arrived at the clinic we drove through the gate and parked beside what looked like a nice bungalow. An older Ethiopian in a lab technician’s coat was there to meet us and we walked right in to see the doctor, also an Ethiopian. There are two Swedish doctors on staff but they were not working on Saturday. There was also a female nurse/receptionist who was also on duty. All three had some ties to Sweden in terms of their training. I filled out a brief form and we were shown the fee schedule. After looking at Sol for a few minutes he diagnosed tonsillitis, and a lab test confirmed strep throat as well. After paying 1,743 Swedish Krona (a little over $200 CDN) for the consultation, the lab test, and the prescription for the antibiotics) we were on our way. The only other patients we saw at the clinic were a young Dutch couple. Going to this clinic would be out of the question for nearly all Ethiopians, which explains why there was no one there when we arrived, even though it was the middle of the morning on a Saturday.
From the clinic we drove to Bole Road to visit a travel agent in order to book our tickets for a trip to the northern part of the country. The travel agency is located in a 5-6 story commercial building. It is basically a mall with an open court in the middle surrounded by high-priced stores on each floor. The stores were all fairly small, but looked just like the kind of stores you would see in a Canadian mall. There weren’t very many people in the stores, but those who were there were obviously representative of a very small proportion of the Ethiopian population that is wealthy, along with the occasional North Americans, Europeans, and Chinese.
What is interesting is that in Addis these high-priced stores are located in buildings next to what I would describe as a slum area – corrugated metal shacks sprawled across a field. You don’t really have rich and poor areas of Addis – they are all mixed together. In Addis the wealthy Ethiopians don’t have the luxury of secluding themselves from the poverty around them.
Addis has a lot of beggars and cripples in certain parts of town. You see a number of amputees, both young and old, walking and crawling around. They are all asking for money, and as a white person, you become the target. We were stopped at a red light three lanes over from the curb and within 10 seconds there was a beggar holding a young child at the window. I suppose each foreigner has to decide how to respond to these situations. I’m not sure I have figured out a consistent response yet. Sometimes I see a woman with a child and so I give in and hand them 1 or 2 Birr (10 or 20 cents) while other times I just shake my head or ignore them altogether. I would love to be able to walk the streets and hand out Birr notes to whoever asked, but a person just can’t do that – at least, I can’t.
There are some humorous sights as well – at least from my perspective. It is interesting to see what seems to be in abundance in the country. Backpacks are everywhere. As you drive down the streets you see stores with nothing but backpacks hanging from floor to ceiling. Another site that I thought was strange was seeing young men selling laminated maps of the world. Now, being a lover of maps, I would probably buy one of these if I had a home in Addis, but as a tourist, why would I be asked to buy one of these maps? What do these men think I am going to do with a laminated map of the world? At first I looked and almost laughed at the guys, but I just declined and carried on.
People in Ethiopia, especially in the cities, dress very modestly and for the most part, conservatively. The Muslim women are usually covered up but you can see their faces. Orthodox Christian women are also clothed in several layers, often with a shawl over their head. Young women are also dressed very modestly. Men often have suites on, and you really don’t see anyone wearing shorts, except for the occasional insensitive tourist. The countryside is a little more relaxed when it comes to shorts for men, but not in the city. Some of the men wear traditional head coverings, but most don’t. Many of the older people walk with a walking stick.
The only time you see people dressed in shorts or skimpy tops are when you see mentally ill people. We saw a young woman walking down the street wearing shorts and a top that was pushed up to her neck in the front. I thought that maybe she was a prostitute but was told that she was most likely mentally ill.
Transportation in Addis is mostly either public transportation in the form of buses or taxis that are all blue and white Toyota vans that have five rows of seats. They stop wherever they are hailed and keep loading up people until they are full. Private vehicles are mostly Japanese imports and the occasional Mercedes Benz. Oh, and by the way, in Addis, women can make left turns at busy intersections while others are making left turns at right angles from them, while talking on their cell phones. Truly an impressive sight.
Well, that it is for my observations today.
Our first stop was at the Swedish Clinic on the east side of the city. Solomon had had a fever since Thursday evening, so we thought we better get him to a doctor. When it comes to medical facilities, there are a number of options. In our city of Debre Zeit, there is a hospital close to where we live. However, we were told to go there only if we had no other options, and, as Canadians in Ethiopia, we obviously have plenty of options. Since we were planning to go into Addis anyways, it was suggested that we visit the Swedish Clinic, started a number of years ago by doctors from Sweden.
As we had last week, we hired a local taxi driver named Daniel to take us to Addis. He charges us 600 Birr (around $55 US) for the day. Just to put that in perspective, I spoke with two North American women at lunch today who were visiting people here at the college from Addis. They took a taxi like the one Daniel drives and paid 10 Birr (around $1.00), 600 Birr is a lot of money for the average Ethiopian. I think the average labourer earns around 30 Birr a day.
When we arrived at the clinic we drove through the gate and parked beside what looked like a nice bungalow. An older Ethiopian in a lab technician’s coat was there to meet us and we walked right in to see the doctor, also an Ethiopian. There are two Swedish doctors on staff but they were not working on Saturday. There was also a female nurse/receptionist who was also on duty. All three had some ties to Sweden in terms of their training. I filled out a brief form and we were shown the fee schedule. After looking at Sol for a few minutes he diagnosed tonsillitis, and a lab test confirmed strep throat as well. After paying 1,743 Swedish Krona (a little over $200 CDN) for the consultation, the lab test, and the prescription for the antibiotics) we were on our way. The only other patients we saw at the clinic were a young Dutch couple. Going to this clinic would be out of the question for nearly all Ethiopians, which explains why there was no one there when we arrived, even though it was the middle of the morning on a Saturday.
From the clinic we drove to Bole Road to visit a travel agent in order to book our tickets for a trip to the northern part of the country. The travel agency is located in a 5-6 story commercial building. It is basically a mall with an open court in the middle surrounded by high-priced stores on each floor. The stores were all fairly small, but looked just like the kind of stores you would see in a Canadian mall. There weren’t very many people in the stores, but those who were there were obviously representative of a very small proportion of the Ethiopian population that is wealthy, along with the occasional North Americans, Europeans, and Chinese.
What is interesting is that in Addis these high-priced stores are located in buildings next to what I would describe as a slum area – corrugated metal shacks sprawled across a field. You don’t really have rich and poor areas of Addis – they are all mixed together. In Addis the wealthy Ethiopians don’t have the luxury of secluding themselves from the poverty around them.
Addis has a lot of beggars and cripples in certain parts of town. You see a number of amputees, both young and old, walking and crawling around. They are all asking for money, and as a white person, you become the target. We were stopped at a red light three lanes over from the curb and within 10 seconds there was a beggar holding a young child at the window. I suppose each foreigner has to decide how to respond to these situations. I’m not sure I have figured out a consistent response yet. Sometimes I see a woman with a child and so I give in and hand them 1 or 2 Birr (10 or 20 cents) while other times I just shake my head or ignore them altogether. I would love to be able to walk the streets and hand out Birr notes to whoever asked, but a person just can’t do that – at least, I can’t.
There are some humorous sights as well – at least from my perspective. It is interesting to see what seems to be in abundance in the country. Backpacks are everywhere. As you drive down the streets you see stores with nothing but backpacks hanging from floor to ceiling. Another site that I thought was strange was seeing young men selling laminated maps of the world. Now, being a lover of maps, I would probably buy one of these if I had a home in Addis, but as a tourist, why would I be asked to buy one of these maps? What do these men think I am going to do with a laminated map of the world? At first I looked and almost laughed at the guys, but I just declined and carried on.
People in Ethiopia, especially in the cities, dress very modestly and for the most part, conservatively. The Muslim women are usually covered up but you can see their faces. Orthodox Christian women are also clothed in several layers, often with a shawl over their head. Young women are also dressed very modestly. Men often have suites on, and you really don’t see anyone wearing shorts, except for the occasional insensitive tourist. The countryside is a little more relaxed when it comes to shorts for men, but not in the city. Some of the men wear traditional head coverings, but most don’t. Many of the older people walk with a walking stick.
The only time you see people dressed in shorts or skimpy tops are when you see mentally ill people. We saw a young woman walking down the street wearing shorts and a top that was pushed up to her neck in the front. I thought that maybe she was a prostitute but was told that she was most likely mentally ill.
Transportation in Addis is mostly either public transportation in the form of buses or taxis that are all blue and white Toyota vans that have five rows of seats. They stop wherever they are hailed and keep loading up people until they are full. Private vehicles are mostly Japanese imports and the occasional Mercedes Benz. Oh, and by the way, in Addis, women can make left turns at busy intersections while others are making left turns at right angles from them, while talking on their cell phones. Truly an impressive sight.
Well, that it is for my observations today.
May 14, 2009 -- posted by Karen
As I become better acquainted with some of the students at the College, I am impressed by the depth of their commitment to faith in Christ and their willingness to make significant sacrifices for their faith. There is a young woman studying here named Karima whose entire family has disowned her because of her decision to become a Christian. Another woman who works in the library with Richard has burn scars all over her face where her parents thrust her head into burning coals in an attempt to make her give up her new faith in Jesus. Many of the students study here at the College for four years and in that time they will only have the opportunity to see their families a few times annually since they come from places far removed from DZ. And yet, the students feel so privileged to be able to study here as they prepare to eventually return to their home towns as church leaders.
We did some pretty serious home schooling today since we will not do any tomorrow because we are spending the day in Addis. The boys also did some work at the construction site for the boy’s dorm that is being built and helped out in the library in the afternoon. My day was occupied with doing laundry which is an arduous and time consuming task.
We did some pretty serious home schooling today since we will not do any tomorrow because we are spending the day in Addis. The boys also did some work at the construction site for the boy’s dorm that is being built and helped out in the library in the afternoon. My day was occupied with doing laundry which is an arduous and time consuming task.
May 13, 2009 -- posted by Karen
We spent most of the day volunteering at the Ethiopian school down the road. It was a rather mixed experience. It is clear that the children at this school are among the poorest children in town. For many, the meagre meal they get at noon at the school is the only guaranteed sustenance they get for the day. The campus itself is quite beautiful and feels like an oasis in the desert with beautiful flowering plants and mature trees. This is unusual because for the most part, Ethiopians don’t have space in their life for beauty since survival must come first.
Sol and Isaac were assigned to work with the grade ones and had a great time with them. They were able to interact with them extensively, teaching them games like “Duck, duck, goose” and “What time is it Mr. Wolf.” Abram and I were assigned a grade three English teacher who was less used to involving others in her teaching. We basically spent the day observing her teach. Since she has large classes of approximately 50 students, I suggested that Abram and I could take a few students to a different space and give them some extra work on the day’s lesson or simply practice some basic English with them. She didn’t seem to understand my suggestion. Because of her limited English, she frequently taught the children incorrectly. However, she was a very nice person and quite a gifted teacher despite her limitations.
During the noon hour, Sol and Isaac played football (soccer) with the older kids in the school yard. The heat and the high altitude took their toll and by the end, they were absolutely exhausted. At the end of the school day, I taught an English class for the teachers and office staff which turned out to be a lot of fun. Approximately 15-20 teachers attended and they were very eager to spend time interacting with me in English. I will be doing this with them three times a week. I was able to share some of the school supplies I brought along with the teachers and they were very grateful.
This evening was marked with several culinary victories. I actually managed to put together our rather limited ingredients into something that resembled spaghetti sauce. The kids even liked it. (I’m not sure if it was actually that good or if everything just tastes much better when you’ve gone without for a period of time!) Since I was on a roll, I also attempted muffins in the evening. Since our oven doesn’t work, I used our neighbours oven that sort of works.
This was to have been a “No Electricity Day” with the power shut off from 9 am to 9 pm. That makes the evenings very long since it is dark by 7 pm and no one has adequate alternative light sources to do much but stare at each other by candlelight. However, for some reason, the power was never turned off. The rumour is that our part of town will no longer have power outages since we are near a government building. That would be wonderful.
Sol and Isaac were assigned to work with the grade ones and had a great time with them. They were able to interact with them extensively, teaching them games like “Duck, duck, goose” and “What time is it Mr. Wolf.” Abram and I were assigned a grade three English teacher who was less used to involving others in her teaching. We basically spent the day observing her teach. Since she has large classes of approximately 50 students, I suggested that Abram and I could take a few students to a different space and give them some extra work on the day’s lesson or simply practice some basic English with them. She didn’t seem to understand my suggestion. Because of her limited English, she frequently taught the children incorrectly. However, she was a very nice person and quite a gifted teacher despite her limitations.
During the noon hour, Sol and Isaac played football (soccer) with the older kids in the school yard. The heat and the high altitude took their toll and by the end, they were absolutely exhausted. At the end of the school day, I taught an English class for the teachers and office staff which turned out to be a lot of fun. Approximately 15-20 teachers attended and they were very eager to spend time interacting with me in English. I will be doing this with them three times a week. I was able to share some of the school supplies I brought along with the teachers and they were very grateful.
This evening was marked with several culinary victories. I actually managed to put together our rather limited ingredients into something that resembled spaghetti sauce. The kids even liked it. (I’m not sure if it was actually that good or if everything just tastes much better when you’ve gone without for a period of time!) Since I was on a roll, I also attempted muffins in the evening. Since our oven doesn’t work, I used our neighbours oven that sort of works.
This was to have been a “No Electricity Day” with the power shut off from 9 am to 9 pm. That makes the evenings very long since it is dark by 7 pm and no one has adequate alternative light sources to do much but stare at each other by candlelight. However, for some reason, the power was never turned off. The rumour is that our part of town will no longer have power outages since we are near a government building. That would be wonderful.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
May 12, 2009
I thought it was time I describe the college and the library in particular. Meserete Kristos College was established in the 1990s in Addis Ababa by the Meserete Kristos Church, the Mennonite church in Ethiopia. In 2007 the college moved to the present campus in Debre Zeit. The campus has a 5-story building serving as the main building, a guest house with four suites, each with three bedrooms (Mike Miller from Atlanta shares our apartment until the first week of June), a dining room/chapel, a kitchen, and a few other smaller buildings. The campus also has a partially completed dormitory which will house 340 students on four floors. At this point all floors are up and the roof is being constructed. The walls have not yet been built.
The majority of students are male, married, and in their 30s and 40s. They are pastors and evangelists who have been called out by their churches for further education, and in many cases are being funded by their congregations. There are one, two, and four year programmes at the college, with instruction in Amharic and English. Those in the two and four-year programmes study in English. Many of the faculty have graduate degrees from American seminaries and universities.
The library occupies the first and second floors of the main building. The third floor is offices and the fourth and fifth floors, from what I have seen, house the approximately 170 students and a few additional offices.
The main entry to the library is on the second floor. The second floor includes the circulation desk, the lab with around 10 workstations, the reference collection, a number of study tables, and the library office. Stairs from the middle of the second floor lead down to the first floor where the general collection of around 20,000 volumes is held along with additional study tables.
Nearly all of the collection has been built by acquiring donated books. Naturally, the collection is comprised of mostly older materials, but there are also a number of recently published items. The collection is a typical Bible college collection with strengths in Biblical studies, theology, practical theology, and church history, augmented with titles in the social sciences. In recent years the college has considered expanding its course offerings to include the liberal arts and sciences, particularly nursing, so titles in these areas are being added as well. Given that the vast majority of the materials have been donated, I am quite impressed with the collection that they have been able to accumulate.
The library is staffed by four employees – two cataloguers, a circulation desk attendant, and an IT person, augmented by student clerks. Some of them have basic library training, but that is about it. Descriptive cataloguing and classification skills are minimal.
The library has an integrated library software program that includes a cataloguing and circulation module and a public access catalogue. Students access the catalogue using two computers. Unfortunately the library does not have a computer network. Copies of the database need to be constantly copied onto other computers so that all are up-to-date. Not having a network obviously limits how much cataloguing can be done. Realistically, only one person can update the database at a time.
The library has a number of donated books that still need to be processed. Library procedures and documentation need to be prepared, issues of information literacy need to be addressed, and staff need to be exposed to further training and professional development. I am going through a series of topics with the staff in order to write a report for the academic dean and president.
One of the things that I have already been able to accomplish is help them set up software that they had acquired in order to download library cataloguing records from other libraries over the Internet. In spite of dial-up access, we have already been able to download a number of records, thus speeding up the cataloguing process and improving the quality of their catalogue.
Major issues at the college are the lack of licensed software, the lack of a computer network, including proper firewalls and other security measures, and dial-up only access to the Internet. It is impossible to update software and operating systems, and as a result viruses run rampant throughout the campus. Staff and students are needing to constantly clean up their computer systems and USB flash drives are always infected with viruses. Just being able to provide high-speed Internet access for staff, never mind for students, who have no Internet access at all, would solve a lot of problems. I have no idea what that would take.
In spite of these limitations, I am amazed at how much the library is used. In the afternoons, study tables are piled high with books as students study and write their papers. There is a thirst for knowledge and a diligence amongst the students that is very encouraging.
Well, that is my take on the library here at Meserete Kristos College.
I am enjoying my work and feeling good about the contribution I am making. Sometimes I wish I could be here longer to get to know the college and students in greater depth, but two months is all we have so we are making the most of it.
The majority of students are male, married, and in their 30s and 40s. They are pastors and evangelists who have been called out by their churches for further education, and in many cases are being funded by their congregations. There are one, two, and four year programmes at the college, with instruction in Amharic and English. Those in the two and four-year programmes study in English. Many of the faculty have graduate degrees from American seminaries and universities.
The library occupies the first and second floors of the main building. The third floor is offices and the fourth and fifth floors, from what I have seen, house the approximately 170 students and a few additional offices.
The main entry to the library is on the second floor. The second floor includes the circulation desk, the lab with around 10 workstations, the reference collection, a number of study tables, and the library office. Stairs from the middle of the second floor lead down to the first floor where the general collection of around 20,000 volumes is held along with additional study tables.
Nearly all of the collection has been built by acquiring donated books. Naturally, the collection is comprised of mostly older materials, but there are also a number of recently published items. The collection is a typical Bible college collection with strengths in Biblical studies, theology, practical theology, and church history, augmented with titles in the social sciences. In recent years the college has considered expanding its course offerings to include the liberal arts and sciences, particularly nursing, so titles in these areas are being added as well. Given that the vast majority of the materials have been donated, I am quite impressed with the collection that they have been able to accumulate.
The library is staffed by four employees – two cataloguers, a circulation desk attendant, and an IT person, augmented by student clerks. Some of them have basic library training, but that is about it. Descriptive cataloguing and classification skills are minimal.
The library has an integrated library software program that includes a cataloguing and circulation module and a public access catalogue. Students access the catalogue using two computers. Unfortunately the library does not have a computer network. Copies of the database need to be constantly copied onto other computers so that all are up-to-date. Not having a network obviously limits how much cataloguing can be done. Realistically, only one person can update the database at a time.
The library has a number of donated books that still need to be processed. Library procedures and documentation need to be prepared, issues of information literacy need to be addressed, and staff need to be exposed to further training and professional development. I am going through a series of topics with the staff in order to write a report for the academic dean and president.
One of the things that I have already been able to accomplish is help them set up software that they had acquired in order to download library cataloguing records from other libraries over the Internet. In spite of dial-up access, we have already been able to download a number of records, thus speeding up the cataloguing process and improving the quality of their catalogue.
Major issues at the college are the lack of licensed software, the lack of a computer network, including proper firewalls and other security measures, and dial-up only access to the Internet. It is impossible to update software and operating systems, and as a result viruses run rampant throughout the campus. Staff and students are needing to constantly clean up their computer systems and USB flash drives are always infected with viruses. Just being able to provide high-speed Internet access for staff, never mind for students, who have no Internet access at all, would solve a lot of problems. I have no idea what that would take.
In spite of these limitations, I am amazed at how much the library is used. In the afternoons, study tables are piled high with books as students study and write their papers. There is a thirst for knowledge and a diligence amongst the students that is very encouraging.
Well, that is my take on the library here at Meserete Kristos College.
I am enjoying my work and feeling good about the contribution I am making. Sometimes I wish I could be here longer to get to know the college and students in greater depth, but two months is all we have so we are making the most of it.
May 12, 2009
We did our usual home schooling in the morning and then the boys and I took a little expedition into DZ this afternoon. One of the ironic things about DZ is that a rather small, rural town that doesn’t even have consistent running water for its inhabitants, has this huge, Olympic sized pool with a three level platform diving tower. It’s really rather astonishing. So off we went to check it out. Other than the fact that it doesn’t get cleaned very often and looks rather murky, it’s really a great pool. We put our faith in the germ killing power of chlorine and jumped in. There were only about eight other people in this huge pool since swimming isn’t a great part of Ethiopian culture. (You can’t swim in the lakes because of strange organisms and who can afford to go to the few pools that are available?) Sol especially had a great time jumping off even the highest of the towers. The Ethiopians were quite impressed. There were two teenagers there who said that they were part of the Ethiopian Swim Club and they challenged Sol to some races. They weren’t impressed when this farinji (foreigner) kept beating them!
In the evening I attended a small women’s English Bible study led by a Nigerian woman. It was interesting to hear about the story of Hannah and Penninah from her perspective since African culture has some significant similarities to the original Old Testament culture when it comes to infertility. While we were there, there was a massive downpour which was the first rain we have had since we arrived. Everyone was very grateful for this since it will settle the dust and cool things off a bit.
In the evening I attended a small women’s English Bible study led by a Nigerian woman. It was interesting to hear about the story of Hannah and Penninah from her perspective since African culture has some significant similarities to the original Old Testament culture when it comes to infertility. While we were there, there was a massive downpour which was the first rain we have had since we arrived. Everyone was very grateful for this since it will settle the dust and cool things off a bit.
Monday, May 11, 2009
May 9, 2009
9 May 2009
This morning we took a walk with a few others to the Debre Zeit market, which is held Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday every week. It is the best place to go for fresh fruit and vegetables. You can also purchase blankets and other woven items, spices, household item, and even a donkey or goat! I took a number of pictures, most in secret. Typically, adult men expect money if you take their picture, so I take most of mine secretly. That’s one of the nice things about a digital camera. The walk each way was around 45 minutes. We were pretty tired by the time we got back. The highlight was spotting a few exotic looking birds, both a bright green in colour. One was a bee-eater and the other a parrot.
The temperature here is actually quite nice – usually a little over 80 F, with a breeze. The air is not humid at all – in fact it is quite dry. For me it is perfect. The sun, though, is quite intense, being as close to the equator as we are. It cools down a bit at night, but not much. We often leave the windows open during the day if we are around to allow the breeze to flow through the apartment. We need to keep the windows closed in the evening due to the mosquitoes. We are at the elevation where we do not have to worry about malaria, and we are not taking any preventative medication for it, but we still don’t want them in the bedrooms at night. We use mosquito netting just to play it safe, but mosquitoes have not been an issue for us.
Last night one of the ESL instructors showed “Winged Migration” in the chapel. It is a documentary type of film with great cinematography. We will probably watch the special feature tonight. That’s it for entertainment around here, except for the satellite television. We get around a dozen English language channels, with the rest coming from the Middle East or Africa. We get BBC and they show hockey highlights in the sports segment around noon, so we are getting our Stanley Cup playoff fix.
This morning we took a walk with a few others to the Debre Zeit market, which is held Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday every week. It is the best place to go for fresh fruit and vegetables. You can also purchase blankets and other woven items, spices, household item, and even a donkey or goat! I took a number of pictures, most in secret. Typically, adult men expect money if you take their picture, so I take most of mine secretly. That’s one of the nice things about a digital camera. The walk each way was around 45 minutes. We were pretty tired by the time we got back. The highlight was spotting a few exotic looking birds, both a bright green in colour. One was a bee-eater and the other a parrot.
The temperature here is actually quite nice – usually a little over 80 F, with a breeze. The air is not humid at all – in fact it is quite dry. For me it is perfect. The sun, though, is quite intense, being as close to the equator as we are. It cools down a bit at night, but not much. We often leave the windows open during the day if we are around to allow the breeze to flow through the apartment. We need to keep the windows closed in the evening due to the mosquitoes. We are at the elevation where we do not have to worry about malaria, and we are not taking any preventative medication for it, but we still don’t want them in the bedrooms at night. We use mosquito netting just to play it safe, but mosquitoes have not been an issue for us.
Last night one of the ESL instructors showed “Winged Migration” in the chapel. It is a documentary type of film with great cinematography. We will probably watch the special feature tonight. That’s it for entertainment around here, except for the satellite television. We get around a dozen English language channels, with the rest coming from the Middle East or Africa. We get BBC and they show hockey highlights in the sports segment around noon, so we are getting our Stanley Cup playoff fix.
May 6, 2009
6 May 2009
Today was our first experience with a scheduled power outage for the area, from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. The college doesn’t use any generators and simply carries on without the use of lights or computers – quite a novel idea for us westerners. I spent the day in the library talking to the staff and beginning my assessment of the collection. I was able to convince Karen and Abram to join me in the dining hall for lunch, only because lunch was rice with cabbage and onions instead of the traditional injera with wot. I’ll have to describe this dish in more detail some other time. After lunch we discovered that the power was back on, which was the earliest that this had happened in recent memory. Karen and the boys walked down to an orphanage to offer their services but were basically turned down, so they will be visiting a school next door tomorrow. We are optimistic that something will come together for them. Our boys have volunteered to help with the watering of a number of newly planted trees and shrubs on the campus, and have been told that they could assist with conversational English for the students taking the ESL classes, but nothing structured has been set up yet for them. We hope the school option works out.
For supper we went out with Fanosie and Dianne from across the hall and Mike from our apartment to a local restaurant. Sol wasn’t feeling very well when we sat down so he decided not to order anything. Fanosie and Dianne have two young children, a boy named Zach who is 5 and a girl named Lydia who is nearly 3, so they were playing out in the yard in front of the restaurant with Sol. All of a sudden we look and Sol is down on his hands and knees throwing up on the lawn. After a few minutes he felt a lot better, so that was good. The other highlight was Zach falling down and hurting himself in a pond that had just been cleaned out. Other than those two events, we had a good time.
At around 9 p.m. this evening Carl came down and told us that the president of the college had just called and would like our family to present the program for the chapel tomorrow morning at 8:30. This should include an introduction of the family and a devotional. Okay, I guess this is how things work in Ethiopia. I decided to check my email before going to bed while Karen was already in the bedroom. I thought I heard Karen pouring something into the shower or sink a couple of times before I realized that, no that wasn’t coming from our bedroom, that was coming from the boy’s bedroom. I opened the door to see Sol, from the top bunk, spewing all over the floor. Nice. That was a joy to clean up. I guess we’ll work on the chapel tomorrow morning.
Today was our first experience with a scheduled power outage for the area, from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. The college doesn’t use any generators and simply carries on without the use of lights or computers – quite a novel idea for us westerners. I spent the day in the library talking to the staff and beginning my assessment of the collection. I was able to convince Karen and Abram to join me in the dining hall for lunch, only because lunch was rice with cabbage and onions instead of the traditional injera with wot. I’ll have to describe this dish in more detail some other time. After lunch we discovered that the power was back on, which was the earliest that this had happened in recent memory. Karen and the boys walked down to an orphanage to offer their services but were basically turned down, so they will be visiting a school next door tomorrow. We are optimistic that something will come together for them. Our boys have volunteered to help with the watering of a number of newly planted trees and shrubs on the campus, and have been told that they could assist with conversational English for the students taking the ESL classes, but nothing structured has been set up yet for them. We hope the school option works out.
For supper we went out with Fanosie and Dianne from across the hall and Mike from our apartment to a local restaurant. Sol wasn’t feeling very well when we sat down so he decided not to order anything. Fanosie and Dianne have two young children, a boy named Zach who is 5 and a girl named Lydia who is nearly 3, so they were playing out in the yard in front of the restaurant with Sol. All of a sudden we look and Sol is down on his hands and knees throwing up on the lawn. After a few minutes he felt a lot better, so that was good. The other highlight was Zach falling down and hurting himself in a pond that had just been cleaned out. Other than those two events, we had a good time.
At around 9 p.m. this evening Carl came down and told us that the president of the college had just called and would like our family to present the program for the chapel tomorrow morning at 8:30. This should include an introduction of the family and a devotional. Okay, I guess this is how things work in Ethiopia. I decided to check my email before going to bed while Karen was already in the bedroom. I thought I heard Karen pouring something into the shower or sink a couple of times before I realized that, no that wasn’t coming from our bedroom, that was coming from the boy’s bedroom. I opened the door to see Sol, from the top bunk, spewing all over the floor. Nice. That was a joy to clean up. I guess we’ll work on the chapel tomorrow morning.
Photos from Richard in Ethiopia
Baskets in the Debre Zeit market.
Blankets in the Debre Zeit market.
Textiles in the Debre Zeit market.
The Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater (or could be the Blue-breasted Bee-eater -- I'm not quite sure).
Market in Debre Zeit.
sycamore tree near the college on the way to the city.
Some of the women who transport eucalyptus branches from the hills surrounding Addis Ababa.
Some of the neighbourhood children.
One of the nearby lakes in Debre Zeit, Ethiopia
A cattle herder with his herd walking down the road. He was a little perturbed at me (Richard) for taking this picture, but I was able to smooth things over.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
May 5, 2009
Well, we were awakened at 3:00 a.m. by the yelping and barking of the pack of dogs that roams the college campus. At one point they were right outside our patio door. They must have spotted a hyena in the neighbouring property. Then, at 6:00 a.m., the priest began his mass over the loudspeaker. So, it was time to get up. Today is a national holiday, celebrating the defeat of the Italians by the Ethiopian army in the late 19th century. So, with the college being closed, we hired a taxi driver, Daniel, and headed for Addis Ababa. We left Isaac behind because he had been sick during the night (he of course being the child who refused to take the Dukoral medication for travel sickness because he didn’t like the taste of it – I of course took the opportunity to remind him of this as he was sitting on the toilet with the runs and vomiting at the same time).
Debre Zeit is about an hour away from Addis. The highway is full of taxis and transport trucks, most of them belching out blue or black smoke. Once we arrived in the city, it was no different. I probably inhaled more exhaust fumes today than I have in my entire life.
Our first stop was on Bole Road, where there are all sorts of fairly trendy stores and restaurants. We ate at a restaurant called the New Yorker. We ate our fill of hamburgers and shakes and then continued on through the city. We drove down some of the major roads and saw the palace now used by the government and the Sheraton and Hilton Hotels. I was unable to take any photographs of the palace due to the signs prohibiting this posted all over the street.
We were hoping to visit the National Museum, but it was closed due to the holiday. So, we drove up to the top of the Entoto Hills with a spectacular view of the city and visited the Entoto Maryam Church and palace built by Emperor Menelik II in the 19th century. It was a good introduction to the more recent history of the country, although the palace was nothing more than a few small buildings – not what I imagined even for Ethiopia. When Menelik built the palace in 1887 the city of Addis did not exist. The area was not rich in firewood, so the emperor had eucalyptus seedlings imported from Australia and planted all over the hills to provide fast growing firewood. This allowed people to settle in the area down below the hill in what is now Addis, where the emperor’s wife had asked to have a palace built close to a hot spring she favoured. And thus was born what is now one of the largest cities in Africa.
The most interesting thing about the drive up and down the hill was the site of women carrying huge bundles of eucalyptus branches down the road. We since learned that thousands of women in Addis make their living cutting down branches and carrying them down the hills to the markets to sell for fuel. These women looked to be quite old, and we observed several young girls “in training” doing the same thing. I have no idea how heavy these bundles are, but by the stooped backs of the women I’m guessing they are quite heavy!
After a trip to the grocery store we were on our way back home.
Debre Zeit is about an hour away from Addis. The highway is full of taxis and transport trucks, most of them belching out blue or black smoke. Once we arrived in the city, it was no different. I probably inhaled more exhaust fumes today than I have in my entire life.
Our first stop was on Bole Road, where there are all sorts of fairly trendy stores and restaurants. We ate at a restaurant called the New Yorker. We ate our fill of hamburgers and shakes and then continued on through the city. We drove down some of the major roads and saw the palace now used by the government and the Sheraton and Hilton Hotels. I was unable to take any photographs of the palace due to the signs prohibiting this posted all over the street.
We were hoping to visit the National Museum, but it was closed due to the holiday. So, we drove up to the top of the Entoto Hills with a spectacular view of the city and visited the Entoto Maryam Church and palace built by Emperor Menelik II in the 19th century. It was a good introduction to the more recent history of the country, although the palace was nothing more than a few small buildings – not what I imagined even for Ethiopia. When Menelik built the palace in 1887 the city of Addis did not exist. The area was not rich in firewood, so the emperor had eucalyptus seedlings imported from Australia and planted all over the hills to provide fast growing firewood. This allowed people to settle in the area down below the hill in what is now Addis, where the emperor’s wife had asked to have a palace built close to a hot spring she favoured. And thus was born what is now one of the largest cities in Africa.
The most interesting thing about the drive up and down the hill was the site of women carrying huge bundles of eucalyptus branches down the road. We since learned that thousands of women in Addis make their living cutting down branches and carrying them down the hills to the markets to sell for fuel. These women looked to be quite old, and we observed several young girls “in training” doing the same thing. I have no idea how heavy these bundles are, but by the stooped backs of the women I’m guessing they are quite heavy!
After a trip to the grocery store we were on our way back home.
May 4, 2009
Today was our introduction to commercial life in Debre Zeit. The first stop was the local Bank of Abyssinia, where I needed to exchange some US cash for Ethiopian Birr. The exchange rate is around 11 Birr for every 1 US dollar. I presented my money to the bank teller, and after a while was told to come upstairs. There I had to witness the counting of the US dollars as they fed the bills through a counter. I was then offered a cup of coffee, which at first I declined graciously, but when I realized that I had offended by teller, I accepted. So, that makes two cup of coffee in two days. Once I received the 3,300 Birr, it was off to the grocery stores. In Debre Zeit the grocery stores are tiny. Some just sell dairy products, while others just sell fruit. Products are sometimes simply not available in any store, such as eggs.
Once we returned to the college it was time for the campus tour, and time to meet the staff. I spent the rest of the morning touring the library and meeting the staff.
I took the afternoon off and we went for a 90 minute walk with Ernie and Lois Hess. We walked to two more lakes and wandered through various urban and rural areas of Debre Zeit. A lot of the little children come running up and want to touch us. Some ask for money, but most are just curious. I just about got in to trouble with a cattle owner after I took a picture of his herd walking down the road. I managed to smooth things over. White people are pretty rare in these parts, so you get all sorts of hooting and hollering from people. You often hear the term “ferenje” which means foreigner, or you hear “money, money, money.” One of the more humorous scenes, besides me getting yelled at by the cattle herder, was coming across a small herd of sheep in the field we were crossing. For some reason, maybe because they realized Karen is a pastor, they decided to follow us down the road. Once we turned at an intersection, they stopped and after a while, crossed the road. We could not see that anyone was concerned about the sheep, so I guess they just roam around town and come back home eventually.
Once we returned to the college it was time for the campus tour, and time to meet the staff. I spent the rest of the morning touring the library and meeting the staff.
I took the afternoon off and we went for a 90 minute walk with Ernie and Lois Hess. We walked to two more lakes and wandered through various urban and rural areas of Debre Zeit. A lot of the little children come running up and want to touch us. Some ask for money, but most are just curious. I just about got in to trouble with a cattle owner after I took a picture of his herd walking down the road. I managed to smooth things over. White people are pretty rare in these parts, so you get all sorts of hooting and hollering from people. You often hear the term “ferenje” which means foreigner, or you hear “money, money, money.” One of the more humorous scenes, besides me getting yelled at by the cattle herder, was coming across a small herd of sheep in the field we were crossing. For some reason, maybe because they realized Karen is a pastor, they decided to follow us down the road. Once we turned at an intersection, they stopped and after a while, crossed the road. We could not see that anyone was concerned about the sheep, so I guess they just roam around town and come back home eventually.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Well, at 4:00 a.m. we were greeted with the sound of a priest singing prayers over a speaker system. There is a Egyptian Orthodox Church located at the top of the hill overlooking the campus. In fact, our bedroom window faces this church. I am assuming this only happens on Sunday mornings, but we’ll find out soon enough if that is not the case. I was able sleep until 6:00 a.m., but the rest were up for the day.
We headed off to church at around 9:30. There is an English language church that began meeting in Debre Zeit around 6 months ago. It includes people from the Netherlands, Canada, the US, and several African countries. They meet at a place called Genesis Farm, started by Dutch missionaries who are hoping to turn a vegetable farm business over to Ethiopians some day. Once we arrived we discovered that the meeting room was already being used by another group, so after some discussion we all headed back to the college chapel. We were told that this is just the way it is in Ethiopia. Plans are changed and you just go with it.
We took in the sites driving back and forth from the college to the city. There is a water shortage in the city, so we saw hundreds of people walking down the roads with bright yellow 10 gallon water containers, lined up at two different water delivery points. One is a Dutch mission that allows people to use their water, and other is a central point where the government delivers water. An interesting site was a large flatbed truck a few vehicles ahead of us holding a choir in gowns being cheered on by the neighbours. After we attended our English language service, I was kind of thinking I would have rather attended the service the choir we saw was singing at. Not that the service we attended was bad, but it certainly lacked the energy and enthusiasm we saw amongst the choir on the road.
After church a lunch was held in our honour. The power went out for most of the afternoon, but again, this is no big deal in Ethiopia. I had my first cup of Ethiopian coffee this afternoon, as did Karen. Now, for those of you who know me, I never drink coffee. In fact, I think I have consumed a total of one cup my entire life. This was fairly strong stuff according to those who are coffee drinkers, made by an Ethiopian woman who works for one of the families in the guest house, but with milk and sugar it was actually not bad. During the few hours we sat together we learned a lot about the college and life in Ethiopia.
Later in the afternoon we went for a hike up the hill overlooking the college on one side, with a great view of one of the area lakes on the other side. The highlight was discovering a hyena den complete with the skulls and bones a number of hyena dinners.
Tomorrow we will try to get some basic grocery shopping and banking done in the city.
We headed off to church at around 9:30. There is an English language church that began meeting in Debre Zeit around 6 months ago. It includes people from the Netherlands, Canada, the US, and several African countries. They meet at a place called Genesis Farm, started by Dutch missionaries who are hoping to turn a vegetable farm business over to Ethiopians some day. Once we arrived we discovered that the meeting room was already being used by another group, so after some discussion we all headed back to the college chapel. We were told that this is just the way it is in Ethiopia. Plans are changed and you just go with it.
We took in the sites driving back and forth from the college to the city. There is a water shortage in the city, so we saw hundreds of people walking down the roads with bright yellow 10 gallon water containers, lined up at two different water delivery points. One is a Dutch mission that allows people to use their water, and other is a central point where the government delivers water. An interesting site was a large flatbed truck a few vehicles ahead of us holding a choir in gowns being cheered on by the neighbours. After we attended our English language service, I was kind of thinking I would have rather attended the service the choir we saw was singing at. Not that the service we attended was bad, but it certainly lacked the energy and enthusiasm we saw amongst the choir on the road.
After church a lunch was held in our honour. The power went out for most of the afternoon, but again, this is no big deal in Ethiopia. I had my first cup of Ethiopian coffee this afternoon, as did Karen. Now, for those of you who know me, I never drink coffee. In fact, I think I have consumed a total of one cup my entire life. This was fairly strong stuff according to those who are coffee drinkers, made by an Ethiopian woman who works for one of the families in the guest house, but with milk and sugar it was actually not bad. During the few hours we sat together we learned a lot about the college and life in Ethiopia.
Later in the afternoon we went for a hike up the hill overlooking the college on one side, with a great view of one of the area lakes on the other side. The highlight was discovering a hyena den complete with the skulls and bones a number of hyena dinners.
Tomorrow we will try to get some basic grocery shopping and banking done in the city.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Saturday, 2 May 2009
After about a 3 hour lay-over in Frankfurt, we arrived in Addis Ababa at 6:15 p.m. (8:15 a.m. Pacific time). It had been 24 hours since we took off from Vancouver and we were finally in Ethiopia! We were all able to catch some sleep on the flight to Addis. Going through customs was relatively brief, having purchased visas already in Canada. After we picked up our luggage we were met by Fanosie, one of the New Testament instructors whose wife Dianne is originally from Ontario. She is the host of the guest house on the college campus and so we had been emailing her all sorts of questions. Fanosie was accompanied by Daniel, the driver of the taxi van, who we have been told is a trustworthy taxi driver that we can trust if we ever need one.
It took us about an hour to drive to the college. As we landed, the sun was still shining, but by the time we got on to the highway at around 7:00 a.m. it was dusk. Driving down the four lane highway was interesting. They have pedestrian overpasses but at a number of places people just chose to dash across the highway, at night, with dark clothing, even when the overpass is only 100 metres ahead! We passed through several towns before arriving in Debre Zeit. Along the way there were all sorts of little fruit and meat shops. All the fruit comes from farmers throughout Ethiopia, and includes oranges, bananas, pineapples, mangoes, and apples. Apples are the most expensive fruit, which is opposite of what we are used to. Once we got off the highway we had another 5-10 minute on a side road to the college. The highway was nice and smooth, but the side roads are a different matter altogether. They are dirt roads with no gravel, so they are not smooth at all. As we were driving I was thinking that anyone with a grader could make a lot of money here.
We arrived at the college at 8:15 and were met by Dianne, Mike Miller, with whom we will be sharing our apartment for a month, Carl and Vera Hansen, staff at the college, and Ernie and Lois Hess, MCC workers teaching ESL at the college. Then it was time to unpack and go to sleep.
After about a 3 hour lay-over in Frankfurt, we arrived in Addis Ababa at 6:15 p.m. (8:15 a.m. Pacific time). It had been 24 hours since we took off from Vancouver and we were finally in Ethiopia! We were all able to catch some sleep on the flight to Addis. Going through customs was relatively brief, having purchased visas already in Canada. After we picked up our luggage we were met by Fanosie, one of the New Testament instructors whose wife Dianne is originally from Ontario. She is the host of the guest house on the college campus and so we had been emailing her all sorts of questions. Fanosie was accompanied by Daniel, the driver of the taxi van, who we have been told is a trustworthy taxi driver that we can trust if we ever need one.
It took us about an hour to drive to the college. As we landed, the sun was still shining, but by the time we got on to the highway at around 7:00 a.m. it was dusk. Driving down the four lane highway was interesting. They have pedestrian overpasses but at a number of places people just chose to dash across the highway, at night, with dark clothing, even when the overpass is only 100 metres ahead! We passed through several towns before arriving in Debre Zeit. Along the way there were all sorts of little fruit and meat shops. All the fruit comes from farmers throughout Ethiopia, and includes oranges, bananas, pineapples, mangoes, and apples. Apples are the most expensive fruit, which is opposite of what we are used to. Once we got off the highway we had another 5-10 minute on a side road to the college. The highway was nice and smooth, but the side roads are a different matter altogether. They are dirt roads with no gravel, so they are not smooth at all. As we were driving I was thinking that anyone with a grader could make a lot of money here.
We arrived at the college at 8:15 and were met by Dianne, Mike Miller, with whom we will be sharing our apartment for a month, Carl and Vera Hansen, staff at the college, and Ernie and Lois Hess, MCC workers teaching ESL at the college. Then it was time to unpack and go to sleep.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Departure Day
Well, the day of departure for Ethiopia has arrived, and we are one-third the way there. We woke up at 3:30 a.m. to get to the Vancouver airport by 5:45, being told that our flight departed at 7:00 a.m. Turns out our flight left at 8:00 a.m., so we were able to grab breakfast before the flight. The entire trip is going to take us 24 hours in total, arriving in Addis Ababa around 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 2, which is 8 a.m. Vancouver time. So far the trip has gone well. Isaac enjoyed sitting at the window, and they had good movies to select for viewing. We'll see how we feel once we arrive in Frankfurt tomorrow morning.
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