Once upon a time in a land far, far away...

If it's not purple stamped, you're not coming in...

insomnikat — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 19:55:00 GMT

The last 2 months have mainly been spent getting an education in bureaucracy and mind reading. I am happy to say that I am now an expert (in bureaucracy)….and I have multiple purple stamps to prove it!

Basically, in Ethiopia you need a purple stamp to prove that every official document/letter/copy of anything is genuine; it’s to stop corruption apparently. You get a purple stamp when you’re an officially registered organisation; they cost 90birr and I’ve been seriously considering buying one (mainly to stamp the foreheads of useless government officials!!).

Mark came over to visit me on 22^nd August and I went to meet him in Addis so that I could get my visa/work permit/resident’s ID card sorted. I assumed that would take a week or so at the most….oh how wrong I was!

The Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, died on 20^th August and the government offices were closed for quite a few days over a number of weeks. So without sounding heartless, that was a tad annoying. The British Embassy charged me £50(!!) for the pleasure of authenticating my MA degree certificate (which had already cost me quite a lot of money to get in the first place I might add); and my manager had no clue whatsoever that he legally had to request permission for a foreign volunteer from the government, which he didn’t have. Great fun. So in a nutshell, it was a ball ache and at one point we had to explain to a guy in the Charities and Societies office how to do his job (well Ashenafi did, I just stood there trying not to look pissed off…which if you’ve ever met me you know that this is not really a quality I possess). He was saying that he was worried about signing my document and allowing me to stay in case he got in trouble. All I can say is GET SOME BALLS AND/OR A NEW JOB!

Meles Zenawi dying was a massive shock to everyone. The country still seems to be mourning him, although the wailing and really annoying repetitive mourning music has stopped (my least favourite of which consisted of a sort of cross between a panpipe and a flute playing the same bars of tune over and over and over and over…..for weeks). Murals/stickers/posters/TV adverts of him seemed to have popped up everywhere and now schools and hydroelectric dams now seem to be named after him too. So it kind of still feels like he’s around.

We were stuck in Addis for 3 weeks (3/4 of Mark’s whole holiday) but we managed to escape to Lalibela (loads of old churches which are beautiful but give you fleas). We managed to get to Bahir Dar just before Ethiopian New Year on 11th September, we got there and back within 29 hours(!!), missing New Year by 30mins. This was all possible thanks to our driver Goitom and his VERY fast Chat-fulled driving, he turned the whole trip into that scene from Fear and Loathing - "This is bat country!'; rambling incoherently and stopping to shout at farmers in their fields just to warn them that we were passing... It started off quite funny but after the 4th hour of driving with his hand constantly on the horn, it started to get a bit shit to say the least.

When Mark was here he helped me to make a short film for Mums for Mums and I got to try my hand at sound recording and interviewing which was fun. I’ve also been spending the last few weeks sorting out the website for them but it’s taking longer than I’d like as the internet’s quite slow.

We had no water for 3 weeks which was annoying but not as bad as some places nearby (namely Wukro), which according to my friend Rashad (peace corps volunteer living there) have only had water for 3 hours in the past 2 months (which was during the rainy season too I might add). Sort it out Water and Power! On the upside, the power cuts have become less frequent now the rains have stopped. Every (non-existent) cloud has a silver (imaginary) lining.

I've been on a few more road trips with work to Adwa and Adigrat, not far from the Eritrean border. It's really beautiful up there. Stunning mountains and scenery that's akin to Arizona or some other cowboy country. I really love Adwa, it's a lovely town (and the home of both Meles Zenawi and Mums for Mums founder, Tebereh).

K x

L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N

insomnikat — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 16:13:00 GMT

It’s been a while since I last blogged. I'm blaming a combination of the network in the office being down for about 3 weeks, not being arsed to walk around the corner to the internet café on an evening (mainly due to powercuts every evening) and it taking me a while to figure out how to use my internet dongle (silly word). Finally got it sorted and now I’m connected to ‘China Net’ via the ever-so lovely but quite unreliable Ethio Tel network. Ethiop Tel is the only telecommunications network in Ethiopia and it’s owned by the government, which is really annoying when they ‘fall out’ with certain sites or deem them to be unsuitable for their people. For the past 2 weeks the Al Jazeera English website’s been offline as I think, but can’t be sure as I can’t get on any of the sites that mention it, they criticised the government’s dealings with Muslim groups in the country. We’ve also had got no mobile network or internet for the past 24 hours as they’re both inexplicably down…it’s made me appreciate a little diversity in the markets, I hope it comes back soon as calling abroad from a payphone is silly expensive. Oh well, life goes on…

I finally moved out my ‘pension’ aka hotel on 17^th July (Huzzar!!). I moved in with a German lad called Julian who’s just about to start his final year of his economics undergrad in Munich. He’s here on an internship for 3 months with an NGO based in the US called Innovations for Poverty Action. He’s conducting research in to the methods households employ to save money. I’m also meant to be sharing with his supervisor, an American lad who’s been here 8 months but he’s in the final stages of his research and so he’s in the field every day. Julian’s a right laugh and has been entertaining me with constant whistling, singing and various tunes on Matt’s guitar, namely Blackbird, Leila and various classical pieces. They’re both really lovely and the house is nice and more importantly it has an oven!! I’ve been making a range of yummy baked and grilled dishes, plus I found a shop in town owned by an Italian bloke and he’s got mozzarella and mushrooms in this week, HEAVEN! In the past week we’ve also had another American guy move in called Joe, he’s here for a month conducting some research for his MA into reproductive health; he’s brought a Ukulele with him so the music continues. I’m going to be really sad when they all leave in the next few weeks :’o(

Work’s got more interesting and I’m getting busier and busier. I’ve managed to apply for about 5 funding opportunities for various HIV/AIDS, women’s empowerment and orphan and vulnerable children projects; and I’ve got a few more in the pipeline. We were even approached by another NGO to be the technical advisors and field researchers for a UN Women’s Empowerment Baseline survey but last week we were told we didn’t get it. I’m gutted about that as that would have been amazing to be involved in, but never mind life goes on…

Last month I went on a trip to Axum and Adwa to visit the other 2 Mums for Mums offices. They have an ICT centre in Adwa and drop-in centres in both towns, no skills training though. They mainly focus on HIV/AIDS prevention programs such as door-to-door education and sexual and reproductive health education. Whilst we were there I was also involved in a handover ceremony which was really exciting as it was the first time a funded project Mums for Mums facilitated has been handed over to the community. There were loads of community groups and government offices in attendance and the funders flew up from Addis for it. The project started life in 2006 and came to a close on 30^th June 2012, funded by the Consortium of Christian Relief Development Associations and Irish Aid it focused on HIV/AIDS prevention, support and education, Gender empowerment, reproductive and sexual health and environmental protection. It’s enabled Mums for Mums to set up door-to-door education programs, to reduce HIV/AIDS stigma in the area and to get a better idea of how many PLHIV there are. It’s also enabled capacity building between NGOs and government services to take place, to increase the awareness and use of health facilities by pregnant women and PLHIV and enabled bed-ridden PLHIV to receive hot meals and treatment. All in all a pretty ace project. I hope all the community groups and government offices continue working together... Mums for Mums will be involved in monitoring and evaluation over the coming years so I suppose we’ll find out soon.

I’ve started work on their website and have been teaching myself how to use Wordpress, I’ve only done a few things so far but it’s looking dead snazzy, in my humble opinion, thanks to their pre-set themes ;o) I’ve also just finished this quarter’s newsletter too which has a fantastically cheesy photo of your truly in it.

Mark’s coming out in 2 weeks (can’t wait!) and we’re going to make a short film about Mums for Mums and get lots of interviews for their website. Ashenafi’s really excited about that one. I’m looking forward to getting to do a bit of travelling with Mark and revisiting Bahir Dar, Adwa and Axum to so some filming with Mark’s ace camera ;o)

I’ve been helping Henok and Tsige, my mates at Mums for Mums, with their English and also giving them a few French lessons on a lunchtime as they both want to learn. That’s been fun. My Tigrinya lessons started about 3 weeks ago but I’ve now stopped them as my teacher pisses me off. The lessons cost me a month’s rent in 2 weeks which is very VERY pricy and which would be ok if he wasn’t always justifying the price by asking me how much my belongings cost and then saying ‘well in comparison to that my lessons are really cheap’. He’s always getting me to do things like read his CV or read through his book he’s written (in lesson time) but then he won’t take any input even though he asked for it and it eats in to my lesson time and tells me he can’t extend despite wasting 20mins of my lesson doing stuff for him! Last week he was arguing with me that in Britain we use the word ‘cheers’ for ‘goodbye’. I told him that it was only used for a toast and to say thanks and that we might from time to time say it as we’re leaving somewhere but that it still only means thanks. He told me I was wrong and that his American friend told him so. I’m was trying to decide whether I was being intolerant or whether he was actually being annoying, last week I decided life’s too short and started looking for a new teacher. I told him I wanted to stop our lessons and he tried to charge me 2 weeks severance pay (aka a month’s rent). I laughed and showed him the door. Farengi equals cash cow.

I’ve met a local woman who works for Save the Children USA and she’s just started her own research in to the provision of social protection services, i.e. who’s here in Tigray providing services for orphans and vulnerable children, women, the homeless, the elderly etc and what they’re doing and how successful they are. It sounds really interesting and I’m going to get involved with helping her conduct the field research which means that I get to go with her to interview loads of beneficiaries, government officials and NGO staff. That’ll be a great experience plus I said I can proof reading once she’s written it up.

My brain’s all engage and I’m really loving it here. I even met a French girl who works for the International Red Cross managing projects in the conflict zone around the Ethiopian/Eritrean border (she’s well hard!). More importantly she has a stash of goat’s cheese and has invited me for lunch sometime soon. I’m so friggin’ excited!!

Sorry about the essay! Big love! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ferengi! Ferengi! China! China!!

insomnikat — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 20:42:00 GMT

This week's been ace. Found out that there's a whole other side of town that I hadn't explored with loads of other restaurants. I've also found a place which sells pasterised milk from cows that live out the back of the cafe(!!!) so this morning I drank 3 glasses (much to the astonishment of the cafe staff. I've also found a place with safe salads, so yesterday I had salad and chips (huzzar!!), the restaurant staff couldn't get their heads round that one either....

I thought I'd mention the small amount of hassle I'm getting. It's nothing too terrible, it freaked me out last week but it's ok now. Ferengi's (pronounced Fa-ren-gee) is the name for any foreigners over here (and more recently as there seems to be quite a few Chinese contractors about, I've also had quite a few kids shouting 'China!' at me...) and as if I wasn't already massively aware that I'm a foreigner in a strange land, all the children/young folks seem to have to make me aware of it constantly by perpetually shouting it at me when I'm out and about. The kids are pretty cute about it as they like to run up to me and shake my hand and shout out all the English phrases they know, but I've had a few older lads shoulder barging past me at night....although it might be their way to show affection....(?!). It's not too bad in Mekelle when I'm walking about on my own, it just get a lot worse when I'm with one or more ferengis as I found out this week when I met a load of volunteers.

Being here has really made me realise that happiness in life is mostly all in the mind. I was unhappy last week as (apart from being freaked out) I just felt really self conscious and vulnerable with everyone staring at me all the time, this week I started the week by thinking 'well, this is what it must like to be Avril Lavigne in Ethiopia!', so for the first half of the week I thought I was famous as it kinda feels that way with everyone looking, commenting and screaming kids running up to me constantly. The second half of the week, especially when I've been eating, I've just thought "well they must be just staring at me as I'm so adept at eating Injera, they must think I'm a local!" Ha! I now feel proud when I'm eating local food alone! I'm sure it's not true but it makes for a more interesting time I can tell you!! I even said 'no autographs please' to a gang of kids that came up to me last night. Proper pissed myself about it too (funniest person ever...). Life's about the small things ;o)

A German couple walked in to the centre last week to do some volunteering and they know a bloke who's lived here for years, so he put me in touch with a British woman who's here doing VSO. She's been really great at showing me round and introducing me to other people, she even drew me a map of the city centre!! On Saturday she invited me to a social at an American bloke's house and we had cheese (yes real cheese!!!! - you can't get it here) and wine and played volleyball with a load of (kind of annoying but well meaning Peace Corps people). They all get together once a month (as they're living in tiny villages all across the region) to eat, drink and be merry! So that'll be nice.

I found a food and animal market this weekend! (the latter is MENTAL!!) I think once I'm in my own place I'm going to buy a chicken for dinner....you can only buy it live though so I might need to work up to that one!

One thing I've noticed about Mekelle is that the men seem to get all the 'fun' jobs in relation to the markets, they get to herd sheep/goats/cattle/camels/chickens - you name it, they herd it! They also get to drive about, use horses and traps, go to bars/restaurants with their friends etc.(I think one of the reasons I felt so odd eating on my own last week is that there are not that many women in restaurants, if they are they're with guys...). The women just get to carry everything else to the market on their backs, plus they seem to do the more back breaking work re construction and the men get to use donkeys/horses to pull everything. The women here are super hard.

Ethiopians seem to be VERY touchy-feely. It's a very common sight to see guys walk about holding hands/hugging/basically draped over each other, even the old fellas! There's a lot of propaganda in the news about Homosexuality though (it's punishable with 5 years in prison), which as a westerner I just find strange with the aforementioned grope-age going on.... http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/06/21/ethiopia-newspaper-warns-of-gay-infestation/, but at the same time journalists are being put in prison for speaking out against the ruling party, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF for 'short')http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18612896. It's a bit messed up....

Work's been really interesting. Last week we received an urgent proposal for funding and we only had 2 days to complete it. It's funding to help strengthen organizational capacity as in 2009 the Ethiopian Government introduced new legislation regarding how charities and NGOs are run which basically means that they have to become more self-sufficient and rely less on handouts. So basically they need to get a few consultants in to help redraft their existing policies and to create new ones where they don't already exist. I had to write a proposal with Ashenafi (boss guy) and then we had to dash across town to hand it to a flight attendant who was on the last flight to Addis that week. I'm not gonna lie, I felt like Bond/Jack Bauer!! Very cool indeed.

On Wednesday I went to a lecture at Mekelle university, it was the presentation of the first qualitative research ever to be conducted in this region re HIV/AIDS prevalence, previously all other stats were just mathematical equations of anticipated numbers. It was conducted by a bloke who's quite famous in the area (no idea what his name is though) as he used to be the Tigray Health Minister between 2005-2010, he left and decided that he was going to set up a research organisation which would work towards providing actual data about his people so that the government wouldn't have to guess where to send resources (as he said he did when he was boss...). It was really interesting and inspiring as I was only 1 of 30 people invited, the others included the first ever MA graduates in health stats in Tigray and their teacher. It was like a 'call to arms' to the newly qualified researchers to go out and find the truth. Very cool indeed.

I'm hoping to move out of my hotel this week as if I don't I'll probably die of sleep deprivation as a new cultural restaurant's opened up next door and every night they have the loudest band I've ever heard(!!) playing non-stop Tigrinya music until about 12.30pm. It doesn't help that every tune sounds pretty much the same (and that tune's not great....at all!), they just whack a massive double donk on to everything.

Oh and I killed my first scorpion on Wednesday too. I'm kicking ass all over the place!!

That's it for now. I should get my USB stick tomorrow/Sunday so I'll be able to actually post some pics!

Big love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Crash landed

insomnikat — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 23:47:00 GMT

Selam from Ethiopia!!

Well I made it here in one piece (physically, not mentally!!) after a 24 hour slog involving 2 tiny planes and one big plane and a 9 hour wait at Addis airport. I was collected by Henok who’s the Skills training manager at the Mums for Mums centre. He’d booked me in to a room just down the road from the centre, so we dropped my bags and then he took me in to town to change my Dollars in to Birr. We went to a café over the road for some (really addictive!!) Ethiopian coffee and then he had to leave me. I’m not going to lie, I was pretty freaked out, tired and hungry, many tears were had, especially as I couldn’t put up my mossy net and all I wanted to do was sleep!!

After many hours sleep and a meal of what I can only describe as being Honey pasta (I had to randomly point at something on the menu written entirely in Tigrinya) I was picked up by Henok and taken to the centre to meet everyone. Everyone’s really lovely and they made me feel so welcome. On Saturday I finally met the boss, Ashenafi, as M4M were holding a meeting with local stakeholders from all over the Tigray region regarding the promotion of Potato and Sweet Potato use. They’re working with the International Potato Centre to try to increase food security in the area during the rainy season and Sweet Potatoes seem to grow really well in the dry soil in the run up to the rains, plus they’re really nutritious and store really well (see, I’m already learning!!). The media were even there! Just before I came out tonight I saw myself on Ethiopian TV!! (The satellites are down as we had a MASSIVE storm this afternoon….I’m kinda glad or else I’d have been watching BBC World News and missed my TV debut!!).

The first week here was hard, really hard to be honest. I’ve been on my own for most of it as everyone at the centre’s really busy working during the day and then studying at night/looking after family, so I’ve had to navigate ordering random food on my own and getting used to everyone staring at me (which made me a little self-conscious when I was trying to master the art of eating Injera without looking like a special case!!). The shock officially subsided on Monday (although I don’t think I’ll ever get used to seeing such desperate hardship….plus there’s a horse that been worked to death that just staggers about in the middle of the main road – it massively tipped me over the edge on my second day as a Bajaj –local Tuk Tuk taxi- crashed in to it and just drove off!!).

I’ve finally grown some balls, manned up and got on with making a life for myself in Mekelle. It helped that I’m learning Tigrinya as everyone’s really shocked when I speak it. I feel like I’m settling in and last night I went for a meal with one of the girls from the centre called Tsige (finally a meal not on my own!!!). She’s really ace and next week I’m moving in to a flat near to her place, I can’t wait as the Christian Orthodox church doesn’t want me to get any sleep!! The church next to my hotel has a bloke preaching between about 10.30pm and midnight, and then he starts up again at 5am and goes on until I leave the hotel at 7am!! I think they’re punishing me for my non-religious views….I’ve already been told multiple times that I’m going to burn in hell by one of the ladies at the centre (I think she’s joking….I think). She’s very enthusiastic about the Bible and keeps asking me to talk to her about the stuff I know from the Bible…I’ve not done very well. Best I could do was to give her the entire ‘Joseph and the Technicolor dream coat plotline…songs and all!!

I’ll post some pictures in about 2 weeks, I’m waiting for my USB stick to arrive. I forgot mine and can’t get my pictures off my laptop!!

A list of mad things for you all:

The Christian Orthodox church and their calls to prayer - for about 2 hours between half 10 and midnight and then again from 5am until 8am. There's a church right next to my hotel so my first week's been fun sleep wise!
There doesn't seem to be a correct 'side of the road'
EVERYONE here lives with their parents and their parents cook for them
Everyone seems to love Manchester united but there's also some confusion when I tell them I'm from Manchester as they seem to think Manchester City and Manchester United are two separate places...
Avril Lavigne is massive here which is random and the guy who runs my hotel seems to love the Elton John song 'sorry seems to be the hardest word' loads, he plays it every morning at half 6!!
Cobbled streets are being laid everywhere, the whole city is busy and everyone I've spoken to has such massive aspirations for their lives, it's really inspiring!
Buildings are being built everyday too, scaffolding being used consists of just shit loads of thin branches which don't look strong enough. They even make ramps to connect each floor and then push horses and donkeys them.
Bajaj (tuk tuk taxi) drivers have no fear....or breaks!
Surprisingly they seem to eat pasta for breakfast here with honey and yogurt...not sure about that!
Over the past 3 days (and for the next 3 months) it's been chucking it down at about 2pm, the wind picks up, everyone disappears and there's a MASSIVE thunderstorm with sideways hail (I saw for the first time yesterday!). Then about an hour or so later it just disappears and the sun comes back out.
The time here is different. The day starts at 6am, so 6am 'European time' is midnight in Ethiopian time, therefore I start work at 2am (which is actually 8am...) gets a bit confusing!
The date here is different too, it's 14th Sanni 2004....so technically I'm 19 again!! Whoooo hooooo!

Right, I'll get better at posting and not make it such a long one next time.

Big love to everyone xxxxxxxxx