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Actually, it is a quarter to ten in Addis Ababa – my computer says it’s 2h45pm in Toronto… or Montreal time… it already seems so far! Should I also say that it’s almost 4 o’clock here in Ethiopia according to their way to tell time… so from any 6am to 6pm, they go from 12 to 12… anyway… I enjoy to be challenged – even with some things that appeared to me universal like the time!
I’m in my room – in a house used by some YCI staff members 5 minutes walk from the slovak embassy. My door is wide open and some bugs act as as many cursors on my screen – attracted by the light coming from my screen… it’s been 24 hours since we arrived in Addis. The program for the first day was mostly about eating and enjoying the perfect sun! We also had our first walk in this huge city – actually the 4th biggest city in Africa and the 3rd highest capital in the world. It is situated at 2320 meters high in altitude. We saw the variety of animals that live on the streets starting with the uncountable homeless dogs and a dead horse lying in the middle of the street. There were also chickens, sheeps, tons of goats, donkeys, bulls, cows and probably some others that I missed.
We had breakfast at in a pretty fancy little restaurant… I have to mention the avocado juice that I had – exactly like in Morocco! Then we went to some BBQ with some UN soldiers from Germany, Greece and Sweden… There was a table full of some delicious dishes! We had a chance to try some delicious ethiopian coffee – that is actually not the best they produce, since this one is all sold to Japanese people… what do I know about good coffee anyway…
Today started pretty early for me – more exactly at 5am when I heard the sirens calling the muslims for prayers… this was followed by some music that I didn’t really have a choice to listen to and then the sun went up… A little later, I was sitting in our front yard with the two YCI staff members. My two teammates were still sleeping – exhausted after all the time spent on the planes – from Toronto to Amsterdam in the night from Friday to Saturday, from Amsterdam to Karthoum on Saturday morning followed by a 3rd and last flight to Addis.
I wasn’t totally awake this morning when, trying to find something to do, I opened my suitcase noting that the 2 zippers were not in the position I had left them after packing at the hostel… I opened it and noticed many things that were missing! After a few seconds my stress went back down when I remembered a ‘fun’ episode at the airport when I had to move about 7 kilos of stuff from my suitcase to my backpack. Everything went perfectly! Special thanks to KLM that tried to overfeed us… I had had my normal meals in the day of Friday (I actually had some chinese food for breakfast but this is not that important) and I had 4 more during the travel… I always enjoy plane meals! I also survided to having my legs squeezed for about 16 hours…
Let’s go back in time – to Toronto… where I arrived in the afternoon of the 21st of september! At this time, I was the only one in the room at the hostel so as some of you know, I turned on my computer… by the way, our hostel has been voted the best in Canada in 2003! I met Aliez (french people, pronounce Alise) later this night who is one of the two girls actually participating on the same project than me in the same community. The next morning, I met 3 other participants that are probably, as I am writing, on their way to the Toronto airport finally leaving to Ghana and Tanzania. We walked to the YCI office which was close to the hostel to meet the staff – that I have received tons of emails from all summer long – and the rest of the participants.
The activities started and were all very relevant and pertinent. I won’t make a list of all of them but they were mostly related to gender issues, human rights, HIV/AIDS, teaching english as a second language, group dynamics, health, etc. We also had some amharic lessons, two HIV positive people speeches, alumnis speeches, other YCI staff speeches and fun games! The evenings were pretty relax for me since I had a limited time to finish a book – borrowed from another participant ‘Racing against time’ by Stephen Lewis (I recommend to google or to youtube this guy to listen to what he has to say in case you don’t already know him – he is one of these Canadians that deserve to be known) – to continue to study amharic that represents a great challenge and to shop for a few more things – like Dollarama canadian flags of course made in China!
Wednesday night was the last day with all the participants together so we gathered in a BIER MARKT – some kind of german inspiration – to have a drink and to say goodbye / good luck. Later, we went to the Skydome to watch the end of the baseball game that the Toronto team (trying to give its support to the Maple Leafs by losing) lost in overtime to the Yankees…
We kind of know what we are going to be asked to do in Debre Sina. We are probably going to teach ESL in the morning to some elementary and secondary school students. Then we are going to teach english to the teachers so they stay updated and confident in what they are doing. As a group, we are going to have choose a project to do with/for the community when we will arrive in Debre Sina at the end of this week. I will also have to run a personal project – which could be a boys club where we would discuss different topics and where I would help them to develop some lifeskills. We will also have to facilitate some workshops on some important topics for the community. In our personal time, there will probably be a lot of sports going on – mostly futbol (soccer) – but also something that I am really looking forward, table tennis. There will be a lot of hikes in the moutains and the farms around.
The two girls and me (the other girl’s name is Tessa – they’re both from BC and have a lot of traveling experience) are gonna live on a compound (I never used this word before – so don’t ask me its exact definition) where the organism that we will be working for has its offices. We will also have the possibility to cook for ourselves – the 2 restaurants in the village are another great option – depending on the electricity and the water we have (they apparently come and go regularly – just as now in Addis, we don’t have any tap water). The village where we will spend most of our time has a population of 15 000 and goes up to 50 000 when we include the farms around.
I couldn’t finish this first entry without doing what I consider the most important – what gave me the chance to be here on this luminous continent – all the donators. There are many of them and I should start by the ones that gave me my first push into this project – some of my pupils at St-Noel in Cambridge, some of the staff members and some families that I have a great chance to know. I also want to thank all my friends and family members who also believed in my project and helped me financially, giving me some of their time, giving me some stuff to sell and lending me their frontyard for my memorable garage sale! Sincerely, thank you all!
A lot of people also told me that they would like to do what I am doing… You are definitely in my thoughts! I never had a clear answer to why I have decided to go to Ethiopia… and I’m glad, because I couldn’t really know how Ethiopia was going to be. I still don’t have a more precise answer since I just feel that this place is great and that I will find new parts to the answer to this question in every moment. Anyway, I wouldn’t travel to a place if I knew exactly what I was going to experience and/or to see… My motivations are still the same though...
Je ne croirai pas que je n’aie pas à m’occuper de ce qui arrive loin d’ici. Je veux croire que le monde entier est ma maison, que l’action modeste, et l’amour aux mains nues, contribuent à bâtir la paix sur terre.
This is probably the best way to describe it. There are people with needs everywhere. This is true. Although, there are millions of people in Africa that are not treated fairly and that see their rights not being respected – millions of them die without having access to any health care and millions live by themselve or have to raise their younger siblings from a very young age. This doesn’t mean that they are not happy but they deserve their rights to be respected as much as ours… Some people perceive Africa as another world – for so many people, watching world vision make them feel bad for a moment so they take their remote and come back to their reality… These people are not directly responsible of course… but if we say that education is the most sustainable solution for Africa, it is as important for the rest of the world to know about its situation… This is one of the purposes of my visit here.
It is my 2nd time in Africa and I strongly believe that part of me belongs here on this beautiful and warm continent! They say: you love it or you hate it… I saw so many beautiful and natural smiles on so many faces so even if I am not paid to be here, this is the highest salary I could ask for!
Finally, I feel strangely relaxed since it started… I was stressed before coming, but since I got in touch with the group – mostly my two teammates and since I heard some other motivated and optimistic people speaking about Ethiopia, this trip became real and I know that I will enjoy the whole experience!
I may not have access to Internet for a while, but your comments and/or questions are still very welcome! CIAO!
