Thursday morning

What is going on here? What time is it? What are we doing? The time definitely goes slower here… Monday, we realised that we had only been here for 48 hours and we all felt as if we had experienced so much already… Tuesday and Wednesday are no exception and were pretty interesting!

So today should be the 22nd day of the first month of 2001… and the time… it doesn’t really matter… I would say that it’s time for us (the two girls and me) to get to our working community… We are not sure what we are doing here in this capital… like tourists… always taken to the best places, the best restaurants… and most of time driven in our UN style 4x4… At least, this car is not the most luxurious in the world since we often have to push it to start the engine… The last time we had to do it, we were on a mountain close to a huge christian orthodox church where a ceremony was going on… We were 7 people total… 5 canadians and 2 ethiopians who left us for about an hour to go visit a museum - connected to the church and the king Menelik the 2nd… They had to pay 3 birr to get in (about 0,30$) and it would have been 60 birr for us… so we were waiting… and our car was surrounded by a group of kids… at one moment having fun practicing some basic english phrases – and at some other moment, begging for money, chocolate or a pen… This was… an experience – being there sitting comfortably while these street kids and sick people were there – barely surviving… We had to get off the car to push – surrounded by a crowd of people helping us / blocking our way…

So we are having a great treatment… Everything is made to make us have the safest time in the city… Actually, it is not that enjoyable since we can’t even take initiative and take any decision by ourselves… This is why I can’t wait to leave this place and to get to the smaller community and start to connect to some people… I have been alone by myself only a few times and each time, I had some interesting talks with some local people… I only wish I had more…

On Monday, our program seemed pretty simple – bank, Internet – but took us almost the whole day… We changed some money at the bank – and tried to find some Internet place… We could finally get some connection at the 3rd place… We had our first injera… which was really good but a little bit messy for me… trying to eat with my right hand… I can only get better! This evening, we went to a place called ‘Le bateau ivre’… a place of farenjis… almost only foreigners working or living in Addis… it was a jazz bar where almost everybody knew everybody and where I tried some ethiopian beer… We had the chance to talk to many humanitary workers, soldiers, travelers or business people… people from Portugal, Germany, France and some other places… was it still Ethiopia? I guess so but we could have been in any other city as well…

I could understand a few more things about Ethiopia in general… about the use of their famously legal drug called ‘chat’… which is legal in only 5 countries… the process is to chew on the leaves for hours to feel some effect… and I heard that about 10% of the expenses of the people go for this drug… that it is cheaper to import some cereals than to buy them locally… because everything here depends on the weather… there is no real control on the production… and also about flowers… which is a new trading product… what a great idea… (you may feel some sarcasm…)

On Tuesday, we visited the EDA offices… this is the organisation that we will be working for… we had a presentation on what it is doing by the executive director himself… how it started, the projects, the challenges, the achievements, the expectations they have for us, the long term objectives… EDA is sponsored by different canadian organisations and all their efforts go directly to the people… (I recommend to google them for more details) they approach the same topics that I mentioned earlier… gender issues, HIV/AIDS, women empowerment, life skills, education, health… they build schools and teach the kids that couldn’t afford it, clinics and all kind of centers where people learn enough to get a job and to stay healthy…

After this, we’ve been to Entoto… (where the big church is) and finally came back home… to absorb all we had seen this day… and the days before… I was asked where I would want to eat and chose the portuguese restaurant… I had no idea what it really was – how good it would be – and how disconnected from the rest it would be… This restaurant is situated on the top on one of the hills surrounding the city and we were taken there by a portuguese guy (in his luxurious mitsubishi 4x4) that is starting a business in Addis… should I mention that most of people drive trucks in a city where a very low percentage of the roads are paved… the other ones are very very bumpy! he plans to import the best products – cheese, wine, port wine, etc. – so of course I ordered some bacalhau com natas but they didn’t have some so I had to make a huge sacrifice and ask for bacalhau a bras… This is not that important, but our bill went up to 1300 birr… about 130$ for 6 people… it is not that much… but when we thought that a big part of the population make less than 10 birr a day, we were not sure how much enjoyable it was to be there…

I was asked what I wanted to do after and heard that there was a shisha place… moroccan place… we went there and had this great tasting apple flavored tobacco that always turn into a licorice taste… still, it was a nice place, but soon, I needed to have some ‘fresh air’ outside… I guess I had had enough for this day…

Yesterday, we went to one of the 4 places where EDA has its projects… in a place called Akaki Kality – an industrial area – just outside the city – where a lot of people come to work in textile factories… There are a lot of families living there and also a lot of men coming from the countryside to work so they are away from home… one of the main factors of the spreading of HIV…

So EDA has a school, a clinic and a few other programs… The first thing we actually did when we arrived there was to pick some passionfruit and eat them… they were just perfect! Like all the fruits we had so far… and the avocado juice I had once again this morning! Then we met the staff – great warm people – and visited the school first… grade 1 and grade 2 classes take place in the morning… the age of the students vary a lot… but one thing that didn’t vary was their smiles… It is still hard to describe how we felt to be introduced to them… What should they think about us… What are we... Anyway, they tried to impress us when their teacher asked them different things in amharic and all the students raised their hand at the same time…

After, we went to a clinic… which was a little more shocking for me… to hear about what the government allow them to do and not to do… the medicine they have… and that the people have to pay to get there – if not, it would be to crowded… They set the price at 3 birr for an appointment with the physician… only 3 birr… how many visits did we eat at the portuguese reataurant? The price starts at 10 birr for an appointment with the doctor…

I had many questions to ask but quit very fast… I wanted to know more about polio – a disease that so many people we see on the streets have… a disease that as a canadian I was vaccinated for when I was born… here so many people seem to have it… and they don’t have access to any treatment or at least an other place than the street to live in… most of them just can’t move since their legs are totally destroyed… and here comes the image of the iceberg… what we see is always the smallest part… I was wondering if this country had a plan to get rid of this disease… the doctor said that there was a big campain going on to immunize all the kids… we wanted to know since when this had started… and then it got confusing – we couldn’t really have a clear answer and we were told that it had been going for maybe 40 years… or so… but this doesn’t match with what we see… then we were told that there is another type of the same disease coming from other countries…

In the afternoon, in our truck, we went to the italian piazza… a place that kept some italian inspiration… mostly shoe stores and jewelleries… that contrast probably too much with the living condition of the people met in those streets…

I was totally exhausted yesterday… We already saw almost all the clichés about Africa… the kids running after a truck begging for anything they can get… and all the other ones… I still feel really good being here – these people are still so welcoming to us – always nice – so respectful and polite – the weather is perfect so far… this is actually spring – the best time of the year to be here… I was looking for a book in some bookstores – the little prince in amharic version – but coulnd’t find it… (actually, our two project managers also used to collect this book in different languages…) I just know that this place is crowded with so many little princes and little princesses – who will probably be as useful for me as I will be for them…

We’re leaving to buy some food and some other stuff in a few minutes… tomorrow, we will finally leave this capital city – and arrive on Saturday in our community where our presence will start to make sense…

To be continued…