ETHIOPIA – WEEK 4 – ADDIS / ASSOSSA / HOMOSHA / URA

More photos from week 4 are now available at http://picasaweb.google.com/Guenter.Blog/ETHIOPIAWEEK4ADDISASSOSSAHOMOSHAURA

Day 22– 16th July

Monday morning and as Katherine was also feeling much better we had for the first time in 4 days a common breakfast. Good to be back as a team…. I had only tea, which is a sort of breakfast, but I try to improve my nutrition in the mornings to come.

This is the day Belaye went to London for his training – we are now closer cooperating with Samson for the next week or so. We met him in the office but unfortunately no separate room was available for us, so we sat together with 4 other WV employees in one room which made communication for us not really easy… Katherine did a very good job in further improving a draft document on the WV business development strategy which we got from Belay at our start. I was working for some time on the minutes of our last weeks meeting in Nazareth and I learned that also we took some notes something gets lost over a few days and we really need to do the minutes immediately after our meetings. But I finally managed and we both discussed the minutes and also Katherine’s improved document. Originally it was planned to have meetings with other NGO’s on their activities in the field of local market development but somehow that did not happen and we will ask Samson tomorrow morning to really take care of these meetings, as we consider them important for the project.

We finished at 6:30 pm and went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner as I wanted to still only eat some rice and that seemed the most appropriate place for that kind of dish…

I had a reasonable night and felt much better with my diet

Day 23– 17th July

Katherine was unfortunately feeling really sick again this morning (a nasty stomach bug and for Katherine that meant quite a bit of pain) and so we as a team felt responsible for her and split responsibilities – Ronaldo organized a hot water bottle, which is not as easy and quick as it sounds, Anne-Sophie supplied her drugs and me instead of going to the World Vision office I changed my ‘office’ to Katherine’s room and stayed with her for the day just in case it would get worse. It was a day off, as the internet was not working for me and Katherine slept fortunately a lot during the day, so I could do what Ulysses asks anyway – slow down and reflect….
I skipped lunch and had only dinner with Ronaldo and Anne-Sophie at 8pm when they returned from the WV office. They had worked the whole day on a presentation to be discussed with WV staff as well as with other stakeholders and produced some nice ideas and thought processes.

I hope Katherine will be fine tomorrow and can enjoy a sort of normal life…

Good night for now – it is 22:30 and I think it is time to sleep!


Day 24– 18th July

Got up at 7:15am and had breakfast at 8:30. Fortunately we were again accompanied by Katherine who we hope will now stay amongst us…

At 9:30 we had scheduled a meeting with SNV (Netherlands Development Program) who have according to their internet a lot of knowledge gained in the field of Business Development and Marketing in Ethiopia and in fact it was an excellent meeting with a ‘Marketing Facilitator’ by the name of Yohannes who told us about his last 18 months experience and the way how SNV operates in the value chain analysis and the lessons learned. It was interesting to hear, that even without a huge amount of funds and support (only € 8m over 5 years) a lot can be achieved with the right approach… The main issue here Yohannes told us is that Ethiopian people "Eat together, but don't talk". He sees SNV's role is to get people talking and sharing information.

We then went back to the World Vision office and discussed with World Vision issues from this morning as well as the presentation, which was prepared by Anne-Sophie and Ronaldo yesterday. We stayed and discussed until 7pm and left almost immediately for a restaurant called Aladin which turned out to be a farenji restaurant, at least it looked to us like one.

On my entrance I heard a guy speaking German and as I am not really shy I investigated further. It was a group of GTZ employees and interns who had a farewell party at this place. So in the spirit of getting as much contacts and information as possible I left my peers after dinner and decided to join the German group for a glass of wine …. It was an interesting discussion about the economy of Ethiopia, the shortcomings and opportunities of this country and so it was not easy for me to hear Anne-Sophie calling that a day and that our group was leaving…

Tomorrow we are off to Assosa (I saw four different spelling here in Ethiopia, so don’t be surprised if I use all four…) for 5 full days. Asosa is a small city with a population of approx 20.000. Asossa is located 680 km north-west of Addis and very close to the Sudanese border. We will be flying as the roads to Assossa are apparently too rough to drive on.

I am tired and I know I will sleep well that night !


Day 25– 19th July

As our flight was according to Samson not until 1.30pm we as a team agreed to meet at 9.30am for breakfast and to work on our journaling exercises until we had to leave for the airport at 11.30am. That was the plan.

I wanted to do some emailing before our leave so decided to be up at 7:30 and start the day early – that was a good idea as I prepared my suitcase, paid the bill and was ready for departure and went to the ‘business center’ (2 Computers), when Samson called around 9:27 and told me that the flight was 2 hours and 20 minutes earlier than expected – I immediately at 9.29 called my team mates and announced, "This is not a joke, the plane is at 11.10, we need to leave now." Ooops. Apparently, the WV communications people had not been very clear in their communications. Anne-Sophie managed quite well but Katherine and Ronaldo were running late for a 9.30 breakfast let alone an 11.10 departure. All three hurried up and raced downstairs to pay their bill - it took another 25 minutes… Each check out is the same and involves collating handwritten receipts of each laundry and meal charge, adding of totals, handwritten credit card vouchers, calls to Kenya to verify credit card charges and an excruciatingly slow printer. I have to admire the girl though; she completely kept her cool with four PwC partners and a frantic WV person breathing heavily down her neck under the very unhelpful watch of her unhelpful boss.

We piled into the car and headed towards the airport but just as we approached the entry of the airport Tesfaye took a sharp left and it was apparent we were heading to the office. What!!! Ahhh, the communications people had also not given Samson our tickets yet and Tesfaye didn't understand that he was supposed to bring them with him. At 10.50 we finally arrived at the airport and negotiated our way through the armed guards. Bags and passengers are screened and x-rayed even to walk into the airport and so as we are all lined up to get through this the ticket agent is telling us to "hurry up, we will miss the plane" . OK, I think we understood this already. Anyway, we raced through the airport and finally piled onto the plane which had apparently been kept waiting for us. Samson visibly relaxed for the first time….

The flight was 45 minutes to Jimma where we unloaded some passengers and refueled and then another 75 minutes to Asossa.

The Asosa airport was tiny and receives only a few flights a week. Guards with rifles were awaiting our arrival it appeared and photos are forbidden. I nevertheless managed to surreptitiously snap a few shots, although ended up on my butt in the mud at one point – don’t laugh !

We later found out that as Asosa is considered a border town for Sudan security in general is quite high. The luggage was unloaded onto a cart on the tarmac but we had to wait while the plane took off again. The ‘gate’ was then opened and we were free to drag our bags through the mud to the waiting obligatory Toyota 4WD. One side observation: Ethiopian society is quite strange in its approach to male/female roles. On the one hand, the women do the hard physical labour and on the other, women still are treated as much less than equal to men.

Asosa is very remote and there is still not an accessible road from Addis. The roads here are not bituminized and it was a bumpy ride into 'town". We soon arrived at the "Bamboo Paradise' Hotel. Perhaps paradise has been redefined…

As we check in the heavens open (over our paradise) and it absolutely pours! The gutters are flooded and water cascades through the various drainage moats around the rooms. We decide at 3pm that lunch is calling us and so set off on foot. Ronaldo and Anne Sophie in very sensible hiking shoes; Katherine, in completely useless mesh sneakers and me in my beautiful blue flip-flops and.

Lunch is recommended to be taken in a place which is a somewhat smelly empty restaurant. The only item in the menu today is injera. Perfect.; we all decided to go for the injera, thank you. Even better we had the shared plate on injera which means several bowls of lamb stew placed on a bed on injera that we all use our right hand to break up and sop up the lamb. Anne-Sophie, also not eating lamb normally did not show any larger concern and I don't think Ronaldo was feeling particularly enthusiastic but he seemed to enjoy the bread only for Katherine it seemed to be a home run…

The rain finally stopped and brilliant sunshine prevailed. Tesfaye, the ADP manager was busy in another meeting and so, while we waited, we strolled down the Asosa Main Street. The street comprised an interesting assortment of little shops selling shoes, ladies clothes, mixed goods and plastic buckets, and street vendors, including one man waving branches at the flies hovering over his pile of seven bananas for sale in the dirt. Donkeys waited patiently at the side of the road for their next load, shivering silently after the cold rain had soaked their thin little bodies through and through.

Katherine purchased a fabulous pair of sensible shoes in anticipation of our muddy foray into the field tomorrow. When we looked at the shoes we were not convinced these shoes are new ….

Our stroll down the street was attracting more and more tag-alongers - groups of the town's people gathering to stare at us, the farenji, and whisper behind their palms to each other on how odd we look and act. Tesfaye - the Assosa/Hoshumo ADP manager, arrived and we set off for the ADP. We met with him and his Marketing Development manager Abraham (a 6 month Econ. Grad) for several hours to talk about the intense geographic challenges faced by this ADP. Although the climate is relatively hospitable here with decent soil, good rainfall and adequate drainage, it is very difficult to link with the investors and markets given the remoteness. At one point we got quite excited thinking we had found the solution to their problems when they told us that the Sudanese demand for Ethiopian sheep was high and the prices were good. "Why not just breed sheep and forget the challenges of rotting mangoes" we asked? "It is difficult." "But, surely if demand is high and prices are good…" Eventually, - "It is illegal" Ahhhh….

At the end of our meeting we were rewarded with a magnificent sunset over view of the lush Asosa countryside, to the sounds of children singing in the next property.

Tonight we headed back to our luncheon restaurant where Samson had pre-ordered farenji-safe pasta. I can not remember having eaten so much spaghetti and bread so often in 3 weeks. It was actually quite good, especially with the addition of extra green chillies and berbere spices. We were ‘permitted’ to walk the 5 minute distance back to the hotel and enjoyed a sky sparkling with stars, including a very clear Southern Cross, which I have seen for the first time in my life !

We all said our goodnights and retired for the evening. Aaahhhh wonderful Ethiopia!


Day 26– 20th July

After yet another breakfast of omelettes and bread, at apparently the only restaurant in town that farenji can eat, we set off for our meeting with the Union manager in town. Before we tried to reschedule our Tuesday flight to Sunday but were left with little hope as the plane was apparently already fully booked. We were told to check again the next day….This took us about 45 minutes.

According to Ethiopian time management we were right on schedule, being now only an hour late… however, the manager arrived after us… zipping into the "courtyard" of the union offices on his motorbike. He looked less than happy to see us but after an hour of conversation he seemed to warm up to us. He described his very active union and the diversification of the farmers here compared to other areas of country. For instance, almost all farmers have mango growing on their land and as well as another crop, such as beans, sesame or oil seeds. Although mango is plentiful here and of good quality, the problem seems to be logistics and transportation. By the time the mango harvest reaches Addis most of it has perished. 1.000 mangos can sell for between 17 and 60 Bir (about € 1,50 to € 5). This obviously is not a viable business. The union is looking for ways to build a mango-processing plant here but the cost is prohibitive. The manager also talked at length about the challenges associated with the geographical distance, and the impact on prices and information that is shared. For instance, the local farmers recently had to kill many of their chickens as a result of bird flu scare - it later became apparent that the rest of the country knew about it and were taking appropriate steps but nobody knew in Assosa. The bamboo carpenters are also disadvantaged due to the high cost pf transporting their wares.

We then visited one of the Cooperative's, arriving into an eerily quiet village. The streets were desolate, except for a lone donkey and we were told that there was a village meeting being held elsewhere. Slowly some children began to emerge from the shadowy confines of their house and soon we were surrounded by giggling girls and boys. A couple of boys proudly showed us their three marbles and Samson and I engaged them in a game. Dressed in rags, playing with just three marbles and stick in the dirt, these little boys showed us some true joy.

We met with several members of the cooperative who told us about their progress and the challenges. The leader was a fascinating looking man; about 2 m tall, wearing blue medical garb, a white turban, leather boots about four sizes too big and lace less, a very fancy looking doubled faced watch and carrying a very precious red ghetto blaster. His face bore 3 long vertical scars down each cheek, as did several of the other men. We later heard that this was a manhood ritual for a tribe in the area and WV has been working to discourage the practice, with some success.

The cooperative deals with a huge variety of seed crops and also mango. Their ultimate goal is to buy an Isuzu truck (500,000 Birr about € 43,000) but they can't do that until they at least manage to be feeding everyone in the village. This will be an uphill battle for them. When we asked what we could do to help with their business and marketing plan, the response was not a request for money but rather a request to help them achieve food sustenance, i.e. so they can stand on their feet.

What was most clear today is that hope doesn't knock on the door here very often. Our visit caused great interest and we were viewed, I think, not with scepticism or cynicism, but with hope. Not so much hope for charity but hope for change.

We travelled later in the afternoon up a winding, very rough mountain road to see some bamboo carpenters. Children and their parents came running out to see us, waving and smiling. The way their eyes lit up when realized we were farenji was amazing and again, so touching. The views across the valleys to the mountains were awe-inspiring. I can see how God becomes much more real in a place when all you can see is what he created and man's impact is insignificant. At the bamboo group, we saw the same hope in the eyes of the local villagers; hope that perhaps we could bring something to their lives.

Late evening we walked through the streets in search of a phone to call Ronaldo's wife. We ended up at the government communication centre, again, a pre-Soviet looking building, with one phone that the operator used to dial up the requested number. Children followed us through the streets; occasionally reaching out to touch my arms and then dropping back giggling.

I then finally on my way not in a car but on foot saw a table tennis match and felt brought back in time and watched the two players in this environment playing. Soon I was spotted by a local guy and challenged by him to a match. He must have seen my eagerness in my eyes … I cheerfully accepted and soon we had drawn a crowd of spectators who were fascinated by a farenji playing on their grounds. Finally, in the growing darkness, the orange ball was lost and the match put on hold for another time… Katherine took a few pictures and the local boys were enamoured by Katherine’s camera and after each photo clambered to see the play back of themselves. Everyone had fun!

On the way "home" to Paradise, we stopped at the market to buy mosquito nets for Ronaldo and Katherine who had left theirs in Addis and then had to come up with some inventive ways to hang them. The hotel manager came in with a pair of pliers and some nails and, in typical Ethiopian style, began to randomly bang nails into the ceiling without regard to the dimensions of the net, or the damage he was doing to his ceiling (although admittedly, a few more dents and holes won't make any difference at all to the ambiance, or lack thereof, of these rooms. Some of the photos show the result.


Day 27– 21st July

The day started with omelette and bread at 8:30 and we then had another meeting with a representative of the local government regional Micro Finance Institute (Benishangul-Gumuz MFI). There is a fundamental conflict in roles with WV to extent that WV provides business inputs for free whereas the MFI would like to provide those on credit and develop a more sustainable business mindset in the community. The real challenge is, though, what you do with the poorest of the poor who don't even come close to qualifying for credit. The manager provided us willingly all answers to our questions and at the end of the day as there was no photocopier working also one page of the original of their loan and savings guidelines as this had the MFI’s objectives and vision on it….

Later we visited the local market. I will never think of farmers' markets in the same way again. This was not the Munich Viktualienmarkt or Warsaw Saturday market in any way, shape, or form. We were guided through the market, which apparently is on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Many hundreds of people, who were selling and buying all kind of vegetables, seeds and simple industrial products as well as empty tin cans, plastic bottles and empty bags.

It was hard to tell how big it was but it seemed we only touched a corner that seemed to stretch forever towards three others. At the edge were some low buildings, in the middle there were a series of stalls with thatched roves, the rest was an empty field where people congregated according to their wares for sale. At one end was the ox, cow and goat pen where the men stood around with their beasts negotiating carefully. Prices vary and the most expensive animal is an ox (around 2.500 Birr - approx. € 200). It almost could break a heart when a gout was sold and forced away from her mother or other relatives. It was often a fight which the gout could not win in the end…

The animal waste was steaming beautifully in the hot sun. Next door was the donkey yard, where the poor creatures were linked together, front legs tied down, end to end. It was a little awful to watch one donkey viciously attacking the other while a third donkey tried initially to defend the first and then gave up. Behind them sat the women and girls with their huge bundles of firewood. To the left was a grinding mill where farmers take their crops for grinding service. The lack of care in the measuring and grinding was terrible and the waste on the floor was painful to watch in such a poor community (even taking into account the amount that was scooped up from under people's feet and poured in with the cleanly ground product). Near them was the vegetable market. It appears our one and only restaurant was not quite telling the truth when they said there were no vegetables available. To the right were the various spices and chillies, taking up almost as much room as the vegetables. The vibrant colours of the women's clothes and the bright vegetables were in dramatic contrast against the mud and squalor. What was really shocking only three weeks ago - the sight of people crouched in mud, with their meagre produce piled in front them spilling into the dirt and animal waste - now seems merely to be business as usual.

We spent around 2 hours at the market, attracted many children and I was once more touched by the people I saw.

We had been hoping to fly back to Addis tomorrow Sunday given our formal work here is done. Unfortunately the flight is full (who would have thought, here….) and so we are confined here until Tuesday. Apparently everyone else wants to leave too.

Lunch was served in our usual place with the usual food. I am looking already now really forward to the Polish food with all its variety (bigos, pirogi, kielbasa, nalesniki hmmmm…)

As it very much looked like the daily rain at the end of our lunch, Katherine, Anne-Sophie and myself run to our Paradise while Ronaldo and Samson enjoyed another cup of coffee at the place. Feeling the first drops on our skin we reached the hotel ground and were safely in our rooms. Our two companions arrived approx 1 hour later…

We spent the afternoon working in the ADP. Although we accomplished a lot, it was more on an individual level and not as a team. With very short time in a formal office setting to get many things done where our time was not taken up with meetings (our first such time in 3 days) (including attempting to check emails at a rate of one per 45 minutes via ADP dial up) we managed to get through our to-do list, but perhaps not in the team and developmental way that we are supposed to be operating. We had a brief discussion in the car on the way back to the hotel but it seems also quite tough with the WV people around us all the time. I think I was not the only one frustrated tonight and hopefully we can rectify it is soon. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that we spend so much time in meetings, in transit and eating! With a set agenda and allocated time at our next opportunity to get some work done I hope we can make some progress.

At 8pm we met again for the dinner….. (for further information see yesterday and the day before yesterday) – you want to have more information and are to lazy to go back and checking- voila we enjoyed …. Yes, spaghetti and meat sauce for dinner at our restaurant (3rd dinner, 8th meal in row, but who is counting in this place….). We tried to convince Samson that we would pay the restaurant to buy some vegetables and cook them for us, but he insisted that the cooking method would not be safe. The menu for the 3 meals has been (and appears will be for another three days):
- Breakfast: - injera or omelettes and bread (not toast and no butter or accompaniments), with an endless round of Bunna (coffee) ordering with various returns of those cups containing 4 spoonfuls of sugar and requests for additional coffee to go into the cups of milk;
- Lunch- injera with lamb stew (just lamb, no vegetables), or spaghetti with sauce
- Dinner -spaghetti with meat sauce and piles of bread (no vegetables and no parmesan) and water or coke. Visions of potatoes, tomatoes and green vegetables dance before me….

We did manage to convince Samson that we would really like to go to the local church tomorrow. I am not sure he believes us but I truly do want to experience their faith and understand more about what keeps these people with so little so content with what little they have. We are now prepping ourselves for a 2 hour service (in Amharic and Omorian) tomorrow morning.

Good night !


Day 28– 22nd July

Breakfeast … and so on

Stop – there was now a change in the routine – we went to church. As it seems with all "meetings" in Ethiopia the start and end times are loosely defined. It was scheduled for 9 am we finally were picked up at 9:45 to find out that the church was only about 500m away…. We easily could have walked there in this time but that appears not to be the done thing. All four as a team for the first time to a Ethiopian mass (congregation: Assossa full Gospel Believers Church) together with the Word Vision staff Samson, Tesfaye and Abraham. To follow the service or to have something to read…our WV Homosha contact Abraham kindly presented us with our very own copies of New Testament (conveniently translated in English, German and French). It would be hard to miss the church- the loudspeaker out the front of the church pulsating with gospel music was a dead giveaway. We made our way inside and sat somewhat discretely in a pew at the back. The service started with gospel singing which lasted about 45 minutes. The emotion conveyed in the singing, handclapping and vocal calling (a little like battle cries) was palpable. Then the sermon started with one priest speaking in Amharic and another simultaneously translating into Omara; It was like watching one of those Christian revival shows, in duplicate. The sermon lasted a full 90 minutes. I immersed myself into my bible and read more of it than I have since a long time…. Just when we thought it was never going to end, people started to randomly get up and leave - with the priestly duo still ranting and raving. It is still not clear to me how the whole thing ends.

It was quite an experience as the two main impressions which left with me are the emotions, which people showed during the mass and the volume of the loudspeaker at the sermon…. we left half deaf, as the volume was insane; louder than most rock concerts. Our ears are still ringing.

We came back to our special Paradise and there we noticed for the 3rd time a strange thing – our waste, which we had collected the day before in our trash-bin was in front of our rooms in the garden… in my case that was only 5 airline baggage stickers and a plastic bag but as the Ethiopians don’t put there used toilet papers into the toilet and flush it (pipes are to narrow) we also found those things in front of our rooms – Ahhhh my dear Ethiopia – there I see room for improvement!

Lunch…. as usual

At the outskirts of town high up, a crop of rocks perch perilously on the hills. We spent a very pleasant couple of hours clambering up and around the rocks and taking in the amazing views of Asosa towards Sudan. We passed by a wedding. The bride was splendid in a huge white meringue dress and the bridesmaids in brilliant purple and red gowns. A group of ragamuffin boys quickly spotted us and followed us up

Dinner…. – no comments