ETHIOPIA – WEEK 6 – LALIBELLA / GONDAR / ADDIS ABABA
More photos from week 6 are now available at http://picasaweb.google.com/Guenter.Blog/ETHIOPIAWEEK6LALIBELLAGONDARADDISAB
Day 36– 30th July
Our morning plan involved a trip to the base of the Simien mountains to see the Gelada-Baboons. When it quickly became clear that the entire 90 minute journey to the mountain was to be on a very, very rough road my still unhappy stomach rebelled. Curled up and lying down on the bus seat praying for the end to be near seemed to be the best way to pass time. We set off on our one trek along a narrow pathway clinging to the edge of the mountain. The views were spectacular - some of most beautiful mountain scenery I have seen. Wide open vistas of rugged mountain tops, dramatic cliffs and small pieces of flat land dotted in between. Several young men and boys soon joined us for reasons that would soon became apparent.
Within a short time our guide pointed out a group of a dozen or so baboons on a mountain top far below us. Hoping to get closer to them than a couple of miles we kept moving. Then - Gunshots - holy cow! Actually, no, just a regular cow. But, all of a sudden we saw men standing on the cliffs either side of us, waving long objects in the air. Our guide insisted it was OK and we moved on. Soon we arrived at the source of the shots - young boys waving 3 meter long whips in the air and cracking them with great skill to make very loud shot-like sounds. The local framers make these sounds to keep the baboons away from their crops and cows. It was amazing to watch and hear and sadly I think it was very effective because all we ever saw were the few baboons very far away on the mountain side. At this point Ronaldo thought the path was too dangerous to continue and turned back with one of the guides. Soon we were heading up and over the mountain and our "extra guides" jobs' began. I could now see how they understand their job description using whatever physical means possible to ensure that the farenji women did not fall of the mountain including full body grips and when possible and required both hands on farenji women's butts... (not on mine….) The aroma of a body unwashed for several months with arm's firmly grasped around me would have otherwise to take too long time to fade from my memory… If I am to answer the question what impressed me the most I would not go for the view (and that was absolutely stunning….) but for the smell – unwritten, unbelievable, unforgotten - those are the three "Un' words for this experience....
Katherine felt (again) already in the morning not too well, but managed the mountain route admirably. However, thereafter she had to pay the price and disappeared immediately in bed upon our return, from which she emerged only 17 hours later.
Ronaldo was also feeling tired and so remained finally only Anne Sophie and myself for an afternoon City trip. So we headed on shanks pony into the city, which is approx. 3 km away at the foot our hotel mountain. The first ‘stop’ was approximate after 500 m where we met a group of 8-12-year old lads, who had identified us easily as farenji and thus potential buyers of services of any kind. They saw me walking with the dirty pair of (mountain)shoes in my hand. Razor-sharp they concluded, that this pair was available for shoe-shine and offered their services. I agreed and we had waited in front of the shoe cleaner boys house. I can tell you it was not boring for us; The crowd of young children grew and I was spotted by a perhaps 7-year old boy, who said he wanted to be my negotiator (maybe expecting a commission) and wanted to negotiate the price for shoe shine for me (the shoe cleaner being approx. 15 years. On the shoe shine boys demand of 10 Birr (0.8 €) I answered indignantly that even in the city (we were somewhat outside accommodated) shoe shine for 3 Birr would be available and I would be ready to pay 5 Birr. 5 seconds and 6 m run later, my negotiator came with the message: "NO problem - 5 Birr is o.k.' at the end I paid 10 Birr and the boy beamed with joy : -)
Afterwards we went with two of the little boys further along the road along direction downtown Gondar. During our walk we were chased by many other little boys and girls but we told them , that they were only allowed to stay with us, if they were friends of our two small friends – that was never the case and this held us away from further attempts of approximation… We were led well and felt like a good team … apropos team we also spoke on our way a lot about football teams (not so much of interest for Anne-Sophie but the more for those guys). At the end we were gently asked if we could sponsor a ball. As we have seen their shoes during our walk we agreed to be sponsors but less so for a ball and rather for new shoes. That was very good for several reasons:: 1. the shoes were definitely for them, whils the ball might have changed ownership involuntarily into other older boy hands; 2. The shoes were something that they could use obviously urgently; 3. The 2 pair of shoes was around 30 % cheaper than a quality ball...
We went then afterwards to a cafe, in which we met with a group of young female students. One of these students was our contact person and the sister of Abraham, the World vision employee from Asossa. The other three girls were here best friends Speaking with them and getting to know their views was completely differently from what Anne-Sophie and myself expected and they had some very interesting opinions in particular over the fact that the youth of Ethiopia (to which they still belonged beyond any doubt as 18/19-old girls) is influenced too much by foreign cultures in particular western cultures. It was a good and deep discussion and Anne Sophie and me enjoyed that thoroughly. Around 6pm we walked back and tried to find our hotel ….. On the way Anne Sophie spotted a parking car with the "gtz" sign and a German flag. I went closer and saw the driver sitting in the car who immediately asked whether I was from Germany.... The driver noted, that within the next 5 minutes heavy rain would start and offered at the same time to give us a lift back to the hotel – We gladly accepted and asked him only for a ride to the shoe-shine boys and new shoe owners and their brothers and sisters, which we have promised to have a cup of tea together – they were really happy that we kept our promise and came for tea and we had a happy tea our with them. After tea they insisted to walk us home to the hotel through the pouring rain (about 1 ½ km) uphill to the hotel. But we were not on our own. All family members accompanied us except the aunt... and all became very wet….
Day 37– 31st July
Katherine was up and as our plan was to leave Gonder after some sightseeing we checked out of the hotel, loaded our stuff on the bus and headed into town. As I have decided yesterday we first stopped at the Shoe-shiners and his sisters house and the girls stepped into our bus and with them more smelly body odour - and so our first task today was to go shoe shopping. All three girls (aged between 14 and 17) were very excited and tried really nice shoes on – unfortunately pumps and the like… I as the sponsor convinced them (observer might have called that forced them…) to buy sensible shoes such as sneakers. All three finally found there pair and gave me a huge smile as we headed of to our next site - We visited the Debre Berhan Selassie Church, one of the most celebrated in Ethiopia. The absolute highlight was the ceiling painted with 104 Ethiopian cherubs all with slightly different, quizzical expressions. The church dates back to the late 17th century but already is in a sad state of disrepair. So much could be done here to save some incredible historical art works.
Having heard multiple horror stories about the flights out of Gonder (both plane and seat availability, we confirmed our flight yesterday and today and headed early to the airport to ensure we at least were allocated seats.
Three hours later. Unnnnnnbelievable. The official story is that there were mechanical problems with today's plane too. Yeah, right. Ignoring the golden rule of don't shoot the messenger, we questioned the nice man at length and determined that in fact they never intended that we would actually board a plane today. The "mechanical issue" is that they are still flying people out from various locations that were on the cancelled flight two days ago. They filled the plane on earlier stops and thus there were was no room for us even if the plane had landed here. The "messenger" informed us that we are booked on the 12:50pm flight tomorrow and that is more than 100% guaranteed! I asked him whether that flight was full already. He flashed a smile and responded "oh yes of course but we will push them off for you". So, so far, we know that they have lied to passengers for two days now, let them think they will be on a flight, let them spend 4+ hours at the airport and then said "sorry - you stay another day". Definitely some of the least professional conduct I have experienced.
Tonight we spent a couple of hours trying to get some more work done and, specifically, plan our schedule for the next few weeks. There is a lot to be done in a relatively short time.
Day 38 – 1st August
Gondor, lovely Gondor. The midday flight was delayed (not a good sign) and only two seats were available. So much for our more than 100% guarantee…. Several other guests were also jockeying for these seats, including a Dutch couple who had also been scheduled to fly out yesterday and an American missionary couple who were scheduled to fly out today.
Finally, I managed to use my gentle German powers of persuasion and mentioning that one of us was still sick to get at least two of us for “sure” on the delayed flight. I suggested however, that all of us should go to the airport and that there we should further negotiate and so we got in line for the bus to the airport. The Dutch couple explained that they were anxious to return to Addis as their child was sick in hospital with meningitis. Oh dear. Katherine quietly suggested to us that this was a very contagious disease and that we should be very careful. We asked whether they had been in contact with the disease and their response was -"Well probably, but haven't you been immunized?" Uhhh, no idea…. – if, it has been a loooong time ago! They thought they were past the incubation period but nevertheless…… The American missionary group and our team suggested that they could take a separate car to the airport while we went in the bus. It turned out that our bus driver was Negar - our guide from two days ago who was now recovered from his illness. The American couple later told us that they had engaged Negar as their guide yesterday morning! Clearly he was not really sick, just sick of only earning one guiding fee at a time! When I went outside to ask Negar how he was feeling- Negar of course insisted he had been sick and that the American couple didn't know what they were talking about. Hmmmmm.
Things did not look good upon arrival at the airport. There was no time specified for our flight and apparently only six seats free on the plane, with eight passengers waiting. After a couple of hours of sitting around and a few interventions with the Airport Manager we were motioned over and given the good news that we and the Dutch couple, were to get on the plane. The American couple were more than understanding about the situation. In fact they took pity on Katherines physical misery and stood over her, their hands on her head and prayed for her health. It was very, very touching. In the end the Dutch couple got on the plane too; I hope their child recovers quickly and that they themselves were never infected.
Today also our Coach Anna has arrived who will stay for 3 days and we met her for dinner. It was a rather short dinner as we were really very tired and happy to go to bed.
Day 39 - 2nd August
We got up relatively early and apparently after another terrible night with her stomach it was time for Katherine to give in and go to the doctor… - she is a little stubborn. Actually the process in the hospital she went to was amazingly fast. She paid 40 Birr consultation fee (Euro 3,30) and after 2 hours the verdict was delivered. As suspected, a blood bacterial infection. Antibiotics should fix it. Meanwhile Anne-Sophie, Ronaldo and myself had started with Anna in our, three days/condensed into two, coaching session. We spent the afternoon with Samson and Belay working with coaching questions with Anna designed to help us think about our various points of view on sustainability, leadership and diversity. It was really interesting to hear the thoughts of our WV partners. It might be that this experience has been as eye opening for them as for us on the diversity issues, although from perhaps a different angle. We have become very used to working in groups of diverse people and have an appreciation of just how valuable different perspectives can be in enhancing the group's collective output. This is however a newer concept for them and they have been impressed in how such a diverse group can work in harmony with trust and openness. It was a great discussion.
For dinner night we went to a traditional Ethiopian restaurant Habeesha which featured traditional music and dancing. As we entered the doorman greeted us in an "authentic" American accent and the intensity of Ethiopian-ness of the décor, the western dress of the local crowd, and the waitress's explanation to us of Injera and Wat, could only promise a very cheesy evening. Fortunately, first impressions were not accurate. The traditional music was ok and at a soothing volume, something we had not yet experienced in Ethiopia (all music, television programmes, praying, chanting, wailing has been at ear splitting levels thus far). The food was good and the evening fun. The classic line of the evening was between Ronaldo and myself. Ronaldo pointed to one of the various unidentifiable pieces of meat and sauce piled onto the collective injera plate and asked "What is that?" I responded "Wat". "No, no…" protested Ronaldo.. "No, really” I said, “Wat", with a deadpan face. OK. Maybe you had to be there….. And, it would also help to know that Wat is a dish - often chicken in spicy sauce.
Day 40 - 3rd August
Friday was our group coaching day where Anna worked with us as a group on how we are progressing collectively. We started with an exercise where we each wrote down on a piece of paper what we appreciated about each of our team mates and then what we thought their developmental areas were. After about 20 minutes of contemplation, pen chewing, and fingernail tapping, we took turns being the "subject of discussion". So, for example, we started by Anne-Sophie telling Ronaldo what she valued about him and then Katherine and I did the same. Ronaldo then responded with his thoughts on our comments. Next Anne-Sophie told Ronaldo what she thought his developmental areas were and Katherine and I followed.
This was a really tough thing to do. We have now spent seven weeks basically living and working together and have another two to go. We like each other but all have our pluses and minuses and want to be constructive in our comments. It was an interesting morning. Apparently I need to be more thoughtful with some of my comments and interactions with people (teacher-style…) More work to be done there!
We took Anna to Restaurant Castellli and enjoyed decent pasta and terrible wine…
Day 41 - 4th August
Today was Saturday but due to the shortened workdays (late arrival ….) our individual coaching day and so we met at 8am for breakfast and then got to work. Each person spent one hour meeting alone with Anna while the other three people worked on various projects like figuring out a schedule next week that would enable us to get everything done for WV and catch up on the Ulysses development projects that we are sadly behind on.
My session focused on me and working in our team and has given me a lot to think about – more in less public places…
This afternoon we visited a friend of World Vision's - Salem. Salem and her husband are buyers of high end local products and are looking at creating an export market. The merchandise they had was overall the best quality I have seen in Ethiopia and I bought some beautiful items.
We bid Anna a fond farewell at the airport. On the one hand I was glad that we will be seeing her in less than a month in New York and on the other, sad that we are getting so close to the end of our journey.
As seems to be a daily event, I met more Germans this morning. These ones were part of a documentary crew from Germany that is making a film called "Live your Dream". The subject was the life of a couple who have chosen to immigrate to Ethiopia to open a bakery. The couple invited us to dinner at the "African Queens" restaurant. Brigitte and Alex are from a small village in Baden-Württemberg in Germany, have had relatively difficult lives and saw limited opportunities to improve their lot in life. As a result, Alex, who is a Master Baker, perused his profession's website for partnership opportunities in other countries to open a bakery. After considering opportunities in Canada, Turkey and Ethiopia, and deciding the Canadian emigration process was too difficult, they settled upon Turkey. After several months of negotiation and planning with their Turkish partners, literally the day before they shipped their possessions and boarding the plane, the partners withdrew the financing. Suddenly they were back to square one and Ethiopia looked verrrrrryyy attractive.
Eight months ago Alex and Brigitte repacked all their belongings in a shipping container and set off for Ethiopia. Just today, after eight months of bureaucracy, red tape and frustration they have received access to their container and so finally will be able to realize their dream of setting up a bakery. In Ethiopia.
15 years ago Alex and Brigitte met the African wife of Alex's uncle at his funeral in Germany. Two weeks ago Alex and Brigitte dined at the African Queens restaurant and as they were leaving they reviewed the guest book. To their surprise they found Alex’s uncles name there and who should now the owner and chef be? Asta - the African (actually Ethiopian) widow!!!
Asta was born and raised in Ethiopia and was one of the many refugees who fled to Germany during the Derg regime in Ethiopia in the 70s and 80s. Asta had dreams of becoming a doctor and a scientist but ultimately pursued gastronomy and became a chef. She met and married a German man and had two children with him before he died. A widow, in a foreign county with two young children and no family to rely on, Asta struggled for many years and ultimately decided to move back to Ethiopia with her children several years ago. Although 15 years out of Germany Asta spoke still a very nice German and delighted me with a German Sauerbraten (meat) with Spätzle (traditional local pasta)….. The meat was a boned beef leg, marinated in red wine, vinegar and raisins, and spätzle, a wheat based pasta. We rounded out the evening with Ouzo and meandered our way home to the hotel through the back streets of Addis, passing lots of interesting ladies of the night and their 'friends'.
Day 42 - 5th August
Today Katherine and I visited the Ethnological and National Museums. (We were both sick the day about a month ago when Anne Sophie and Ronaldo went there and so were in catch up tourist mode). The Ethnological museum is in the former palace of the Emperor Haile Selassie which is in the grounds of the Addis Ababa University.
We were both able to tie together many facts, stories, pictures and objects in the museum that we have seen in places all over the country. It was exciting to realize how comprehensive a view of Ethiopia our travels really have given us. The museum was organized into stages of life, birth, childhood, adulthood and death.
The childhood section contained storyboards of tales told to children to teach them morals and ethics including: sweet ones about lions and hyenas and clever monkeys and not coveting others possessions, weird ones about snakes and not telling lies and, very naughty ones about women's anatomy and the importance of sharing information!
Our museum guide, a middle aged Ethiopian man wearing a blue British racing cap, took great joy in explaining the evolution of music in Ethiopia via the bible. An instrument which looked a lot like a harp was explained to have one side representing the Old Testament, the other the New Testament, the bridging piece at the top depicting the union of the old and the new, and the 10 strings representing the Ten Commandments. The animal skin on the drums was said to have been used because it represented the scarring on Jesus' body. And so on and so on. This was all a bit a stretch for us and we spent several amusing minutes being completely irreverent and drawing parallels between the rest of the items in the room and the elements of the bible. "Look - it is a three pronged pitch fork - that must be to represent the holy trinity."
We finished up in the Emperor's bathroom - bizarrely part of the museum's exhibits and cordoned off - in all of its 1950's blue ceramic décor glory.
We then said hello to “Lucy” at the National Museum. Lucy is a fossilized hominid that is arguably the oldest human ancestor found. She is 3.5 million years old. 'tis good to be young. The National Museum is another example of a public facility that could do with some tender, loving, care. The paleontology exhibit was in the basement and to the side of the stairs leading down there was what looked like an archaeological dig - except that it was concrete and linoleum pieces being exhumed. Strange. …
We spent several hours tonight working on our "team story" presentation including selecting the photos we want to use (from our collective choice of 3000+!!!!!!!), some research on Ethiopian facts and development of the presentation format. After our intensive individual and team coaching sessions in the last couple of days, feelings were running a little high and we had an interesting and very painful discussion around roles, communication and feedback….
Our morning plan involved a trip to the base of the Simien mountains to see the Gelada-Baboons. When it quickly became clear that the entire 90 minute journey to the mountain was to be on a very, very rough road my still unhappy stomach rebelled. Curled up and lying down on the bus seat praying for the end to be near seemed to be the best way to pass time. We set off on our one trek along a narrow pathway clinging to the edge of the mountain. The views were spectacular - some of most beautiful mountain scenery I have seen. Wide open vistas of rugged mountain tops, dramatic cliffs and small pieces of flat land dotted in between. Several young men and boys soon joined us for reasons that would soon became apparent.
Within a short time our guide pointed out a group of a dozen or so baboons on a mountain top far below us. Hoping to get closer to them than a couple of miles we kept moving. Then - Gunshots - holy cow! Actually, no, just a regular cow. But, all of a sudden we saw men standing on the cliffs either side of us, waving long objects in the air. Our guide insisted it was OK and we moved on. Soon we arrived at the source of the shots - young boys waving 3 meter long whips in the air and cracking them with great skill to make very loud shot-like sounds. The local framers make these sounds to keep the baboons away from their crops and cows. It was amazing to watch and hear and sadly I think it was very effective because all we ever saw were the few baboons very far away on the mountain side. At this point Ronaldo thought the path was too dangerous to continue and turned back with one of the guides. Soon we were heading up and over the mountain and our "extra guides" jobs' began. I could now see how they understand their job description using whatever physical means possible to ensure that the farenji women did not fall of the mountain including full body grips and when possible and required both hands on farenji women's butts... (not on mine….) The aroma of a body unwashed for several months with arm's firmly grasped around me would have otherwise to take too long time to fade from my memory… If I am to answer the question what impressed me the most I would not go for the view (and that was absolutely stunning….) but for the smell – unwritten, unbelievable, unforgotten - those are the three "Un' words for this experience....
Katherine felt (again) already in the morning not too well, but managed the mountain route admirably. However, thereafter she had to pay the price and disappeared immediately in bed upon our return, from which she emerged only 17 hours later.
Ronaldo was also feeling tired and so remained finally only Anne Sophie and myself for an afternoon City trip. So we headed on shanks pony into the city, which is approx. 3 km away at the foot our hotel mountain. The first ‘stop’ was approximate after 500 m where we met a group of 8-12-year old lads, who had identified us easily as farenji and thus potential buyers of services of any kind. They saw me walking with the dirty pair of (mountain)shoes in my hand. Razor-sharp they concluded, that this pair was available for shoe-shine and offered their services. I agreed and we had waited in front of the shoe cleaner boys house. I can tell you it was not boring for us; The crowd of young children grew and I was spotted by a perhaps 7-year old boy, who said he wanted to be my negotiator (maybe expecting a commission) and wanted to negotiate the price for shoe shine for me (the shoe cleaner being approx. 15 years. On the shoe shine boys demand of 10 Birr (0.8 €) I answered indignantly that even in the city (we were somewhat outside accommodated) shoe shine for 3 Birr would be available and I would be ready to pay 5 Birr. 5 seconds and 6 m run later, my negotiator came with the message: "NO problem - 5 Birr is o.k.' at the end I paid 10 Birr and the boy beamed with joy : -)
Afterwards we went with two of the little boys further along the road along direction downtown Gondar. During our walk we were chased by many other little boys and girls but we told them , that they were only allowed to stay with us, if they were friends of our two small friends – that was never the case and this held us away from further attempts of approximation… We were led well and felt like a good team … apropos team we also spoke on our way a lot about football teams (not so much of interest for Anne-Sophie but the more for those guys). At the end we were gently asked if we could sponsor a ball. As we have seen their shoes during our walk we agreed to be sponsors but less so for a ball and rather for new shoes. That was very good for several reasons:: 1. the shoes were definitely for them, whils the ball might have changed ownership involuntarily into other older boy hands; 2. The shoes were something that they could use obviously urgently; 3. The 2 pair of shoes was around 30 % cheaper than a quality ball...
We went then afterwards to a cafe, in which we met with a group of young female students. One of these students was our contact person and the sister of Abraham, the World vision employee from Asossa. The other three girls were here best friends Speaking with them and getting to know their views was completely differently from what Anne-Sophie and myself expected and they had some very interesting opinions in particular over the fact that the youth of Ethiopia (to which they still belonged beyond any doubt as 18/19-old girls) is influenced too much by foreign cultures in particular western cultures. It was a good and deep discussion and Anne Sophie and me enjoyed that thoroughly. Around 6pm we walked back and tried to find our hotel ….. On the way Anne Sophie spotted a parking car with the "gtz" sign and a German flag. I went closer and saw the driver sitting in the car who immediately asked whether I was from Germany.... The driver noted, that within the next 5 minutes heavy rain would start and offered at the same time to give us a lift back to the hotel – We gladly accepted and asked him only for a ride to the shoe-shine boys and new shoe owners and their brothers and sisters, which we have promised to have a cup of tea together – they were really happy that we kept our promise and came for tea and we had a happy tea our with them. After tea they insisted to walk us home to the hotel through the pouring rain (about 1 ½ km) uphill to the hotel. But we were not on our own. All family members accompanied us except the aunt... and all became very wet….
Day 37– 31st July
Katherine was up and as our plan was to leave Gonder after some sightseeing we checked out of the hotel, loaded our stuff on the bus and headed into town. As I have decided yesterday we first stopped at the Shoe-shiners and his sisters house and the girls stepped into our bus and with them more smelly body odour - and so our first task today was to go shoe shopping. All three girls (aged between 14 and 17) were very excited and tried really nice shoes on – unfortunately pumps and the like… I as the sponsor convinced them (observer might have called that forced them…) to buy sensible shoes such as sneakers. All three finally found there pair and gave me a huge smile as we headed of to our next site - We visited the Debre Berhan Selassie Church, one of the most celebrated in Ethiopia. The absolute highlight was the ceiling painted with 104 Ethiopian cherubs all with slightly different, quizzical expressions. The church dates back to the late 17th century but already is in a sad state of disrepair. So much could be done here to save some incredible historical art works.
Having heard multiple horror stories about the flights out of Gonder (both plane and seat availability, we confirmed our flight yesterday and today and headed early to the airport to ensure we at least were allocated seats.
Three hours later. Unnnnnnbelievable. The official story is that there were mechanical problems with today's plane too. Yeah, right. Ignoring the golden rule of don't shoot the messenger, we questioned the nice man at length and determined that in fact they never intended that we would actually board a plane today. The "mechanical issue" is that they are still flying people out from various locations that were on the cancelled flight two days ago. They filled the plane on earlier stops and thus there were was no room for us even if the plane had landed here. The "messenger" informed us that we are booked on the 12:50pm flight tomorrow and that is more than 100% guaranteed! I asked him whether that flight was full already. He flashed a smile and responded "oh yes of course but we will push them off for you". So, so far, we know that they have lied to passengers for two days now, let them think they will be on a flight, let them spend 4+ hours at the airport and then said "sorry - you stay another day". Definitely some of the least professional conduct I have experienced.
Tonight we spent a couple of hours trying to get some more work done and, specifically, plan our schedule for the next few weeks. There is a lot to be done in a relatively short time.
Day 38 – 1st August
Gondor, lovely Gondor. The midday flight was delayed (not a good sign) and only two seats were available. So much for our more than 100% guarantee…. Several other guests were also jockeying for these seats, including a Dutch couple who had also been scheduled to fly out yesterday and an American missionary couple who were scheduled to fly out today.
Finally, I managed to use my gentle German powers of persuasion and mentioning that one of us was still sick to get at least two of us for “sure” on the delayed flight. I suggested however, that all of us should go to the airport and that there we should further negotiate and so we got in line for the bus to the airport. The Dutch couple explained that they were anxious to return to Addis as their child was sick in hospital with meningitis. Oh dear. Katherine quietly suggested to us that this was a very contagious disease and that we should be very careful. We asked whether they had been in contact with the disease and their response was -"Well probably, but haven't you been immunized?" Uhhh, no idea…. – if, it has been a loooong time ago! They thought they were past the incubation period but nevertheless…… The American missionary group and our team suggested that they could take a separate car to the airport while we went in the bus. It turned out that our bus driver was Negar - our guide from two days ago who was now recovered from his illness. The American couple later told us that they had engaged Negar as their guide yesterday morning! Clearly he was not really sick, just sick of only earning one guiding fee at a time! When I went outside to ask Negar how he was feeling- Negar of course insisted he had been sick and that the American couple didn't know what they were talking about. Hmmmmm.
Things did not look good upon arrival at the airport. There was no time specified for our flight and apparently only six seats free on the plane, with eight passengers waiting. After a couple of hours of sitting around and a few interventions with the Airport Manager we were motioned over and given the good news that we and the Dutch couple, were to get on the plane. The American couple were more than understanding about the situation. In fact they took pity on Katherines physical misery and stood over her, their hands on her head and prayed for her health. It was very, very touching. In the end the Dutch couple got on the plane too; I hope their child recovers quickly and that they themselves were never infected.
Today also our Coach Anna has arrived who will stay for 3 days and we met her for dinner. It was a rather short dinner as we were really very tired and happy to go to bed.
Day 39 - 2nd August
We got up relatively early and apparently after another terrible night with her stomach it was time for Katherine to give in and go to the doctor… - she is a little stubborn. Actually the process in the hospital she went to was amazingly fast. She paid 40 Birr consultation fee (Euro 3,30) and after 2 hours the verdict was delivered. As suspected, a blood bacterial infection. Antibiotics should fix it. Meanwhile Anne-Sophie, Ronaldo and myself had started with Anna in our, three days/condensed into two, coaching session. We spent the afternoon with Samson and Belay working with coaching questions with Anna designed to help us think about our various points of view on sustainability, leadership and diversity. It was really interesting to hear the thoughts of our WV partners. It might be that this experience has been as eye opening for them as for us on the diversity issues, although from perhaps a different angle. We have become very used to working in groups of diverse people and have an appreciation of just how valuable different perspectives can be in enhancing the group's collective output. This is however a newer concept for them and they have been impressed in how such a diverse group can work in harmony with trust and openness. It was a great discussion.
For dinner night we went to a traditional Ethiopian restaurant Habeesha which featured traditional music and dancing. As we entered the doorman greeted us in an "authentic" American accent and the intensity of Ethiopian-ness of the décor, the western dress of the local crowd, and the waitress's explanation to us of Injera and Wat, could only promise a very cheesy evening. Fortunately, first impressions were not accurate. The traditional music was ok and at a soothing volume, something we had not yet experienced in Ethiopia (all music, television programmes, praying, chanting, wailing has been at ear splitting levels thus far). The food was good and the evening fun. The classic line of the evening was between Ronaldo and myself. Ronaldo pointed to one of the various unidentifiable pieces of meat and sauce piled onto the collective injera plate and asked "What is that?" I responded "Wat". "No, no…" protested Ronaldo.. "No, really” I said, “Wat", with a deadpan face. OK. Maybe you had to be there….. And, it would also help to know that Wat is a dish - often chicken in spicy sauce.
Day 40 - 3rd August
Friday was our group coaching day where Anna worked with us as a group on how we are progressing collectively. We started with an exercise where we each wrote down on a piece of paper what we appreciated about each of our team mates and then what we thought their developmental areas were. After about 20 minutes of contemplation, pen chewing, and fingernail tapping, we took turns being the "subject of discussion". So, for example, we started by Anne-Sophie telling Ronaldo what she valued about him and then Katherine and I did the same. Ronaldo then responded with his thoughts on our comments. Next Anne-Sophie told Ronaldo what she thought his developmental areas were and Katherine and I followed.
This was a really tough thing to do. We have now spent seven weeks basically living and working together and have another two to go. We like each other but all have our pluses and minuses and want to be constructive in our comments. It was an interesting morning. Apparently I need to be more thoughtful with some of my comments and interactions with people (teacher-style…) More work to be done there!
We took Anna to Restaurant Castellli and enjoyed decent pasta and terrible wine…
Day 41 - 4th August
Today was Saturday but due to the shortened workdays (late arrival ….) our individual coaching day and so we met at 8am for breakfast and then got to work. Each person spent one hour meeting alone with Anna while the other three people worked on various projects like figuring out a schedule next week that would enable us to get everything done for WV and catch up on the Ulysses development projects that we are sadly behind on.
My session focused on me and working in our team and has given me a lot to think about – more in less public places…
This afternoon we visited a friend of World Vision's - Salem. Salem and her husband are buyers of high end local products and are looking at creating an export market. The merchandise they had was overall the best quality I have seen in Ethiopia and I bought some beautiful items.
We bid Anna a fond farewell at the airport. On the one hand I was glad that we will be seeing her in less than a month in New York and on the other, sad that we are getting so close to the end of our journey.
As seems to be a daily event, I met more Germans this morning. These ones were part of a documentary crew from Germany that is making a film called "Live your Dream". The subject was the life of a couple who have chosen to immigrate to Ethiopia to open a bakery. The couple invited us to dinner at the "African Queens" restaurant. Brigitte and Alex are from a small village in Baden-Württemberg in Germany, have had relatively difficult lives and saw limited opportunities to improve their lot in life. As a result, Alex, who is a Master Baker, perused his profession's website for partnership opportunities in other countries to open a bakery. After considering opportunities in Canada, Turkey and Ethiopia, and deciding the Canadian emigration process was too difficult, they settled upon Turkey. After several months of negotiation and planning with their Turkish partners, literally the day before they shipped their possessions and boarding the plane, the partners withdrew the financing. Suddenly they were back to square one and Ethiopia looked verrrrrryyy attractive.
Eight months ago Alex and Brigitte repacked all their belongings in a shipping container and set off for Ethiopia. Just today, after eight months of bureaucracy, red tape and frustration they have received access to their container and so finally will be able to realize their dream of setting up a bakery. In Ethiopia.
15 years ago Alex and Brigitte met the African wife of Alex's uncle at his funeral in Germany. Two weeks ago Alex and Brigitte dined at the African Queens restaurant and as they were leaving they reviewed the guest book. To their surprise they found Alex’s uncles name there and who should now the owner and chef be? Asta - the African (actually Ethiopian) widow!!!
Asta was born and raised in Ethiopia and was one of the many refugees who fled to Germany during the Derg regime in Ethiopia in the 70s and 80s. Asta had dreams of becoming a doctor and a scientist but ultimately pursued gastronomy and became a chef. She met and married a German man and had two children with him before he died. A widow, in a foreign county with two young children and no family to rely on, Asta struggled for many years and ultimately decided to move back to Ethiopia with her children several years ago. Although 15 years out of Germany Asta spoke still a very nice German and delighted me with a German Sauerbraten (meat) with Spätzle (traditional local pasta)….. The meat was a boned beef leg, marinated in red wine, vinegar and raisins, and spätzle, a wheat based pasta. We rounded out the evening with Ouzo and meandered our way home to the hotel through the back streets of Addis, passing lots of interesting ladies of the night and their 'friends'.
Day 42 - 5th August
Today Katherine and I visited the Ethnological and National Museums. (We were both sick the day about a month ago when Anne Sophie and Ronaldo went there and so were in catch up tourist mode). The Ethnological museum is in the former palace of the Emperor Haile Selassie which is in the grounds of the Addis Ababa University.
We were both able to tie together many facts, stories, pictures and objects in the museum that we have seen in places all over the country. It was exciting to realize how comprehensive a view of Ethiopia our travels really have given us. The museum was organized into stages of life, birth, childhood, adulthood and death.
The childhood section contained storyboards of tales told to children to teach them morals and ethics including: sweet ones about lions and hyenas and clever monkeys and not coveting others possessions, weird ones about snakes and not telling lies and, very naughty ones about women's anatomy and the importance of sharing information!
Our museum guide, a middle aged Ethiopian man wearing a blue British racing cap, took great joy in explaining the evolution of music in Ethiopia via the bible. An instrument which looked a lot like a harp was explained to have one side representing the Old Testament, the other the New Testament, the bridging piece at the top depicting the union of the old and the new, and the 10 strings representing the Ten Commandments. The animal skin on the drums was said to have been used because it represented the scarring on Jesus' body. And so on and so on. This was all a bit a stretch for us and we spent several amusing minutes being completely irreverent and drawing parallels between the rest of the items in the room and the elements of the bible. "Look - it is a three pronged pitch fork - that must be to represent the holy trinity."
We finished up in the Emperor's bathroom - bizarrely part of the museum's exhibits and cordoned off - in all of its 1950's blue ceramic décor glory.
We then said hello to “Lucy” at the National Museum. Lucy is a fossilized hominid that is arguably the oldest human ancestor found. She is 3.5 million years old. 'tis good to be young. The National Museum is another example of a public facility that could do with some tender, loving, care. The paleontology exhibit was in the basement and to the side of the stairs leading down there was what looked like an archaeological dig - except that it was concrete and linoleum pieces being exhumed. Strange. …
We spent several hours tonight working on our "team story" presentation including selecting the photos we want to use (from our collective choice of 3000+!!!!!!!), some research on Ethiopian facts and development of the presentation format. After our intensive individual and team coaching sessions in the last couple of days, feelings were running a little high and we had an interesting and very painful discussion around roles, communication and feedback….
No comments:
Post a Comment