Up-to-date-snippets

Weekend 17/18 Nov – Shopping and Walk

Put one lot of washing in and then headed for the market to make sure I got eggs. Unfortunately the market wasn't set up so I continued uphill and found a way to get down to the Beles River at the east of the town. It had big rocks, pebbles and sand. In the rainy season it must be much higher. I walked along part of the river and then back to the market, where I managed to get potatoes, limes and nine eggs! I walked back home, cleaned the kitchen and my room. The water was off so I couldn't finish my washing until later. I had franks and beans for lunch, which was good and then went to a coffee ceremony with the family. I watched more "Coast" and then later went for another walk west along the Beles. The river is orangey-brown all the time with carried mud, as it is quite fast-flowing. On the way back, near home, I saw a bees nest inside a concrete power pole and took pictures. I got too close and one came out and stung me on my
camera trigger finger, followed by another on the arm. I legged it as I remembered about the pheromone the stings give off to make the other bees attack, and at least one followed me almost to the gates of the college. I managed to get away with only two stings!

Night sounds and water

Normally I am woken some nights here by the local church "Calling to prayer". They use a PA system and sing/yell a chant over and over again. I think it's the Christian Orthodox Church. The worst ones are the 1am and 5am calls which I think are mainly on Sundays.

I was woken by a different sound this weekend. I heard gunshots, and quite a lot of them. There is a prison next to the college campus and apparently there was a break-out and around ten prisoners escaped. Well actually, about seven escaped because three were shot dead!

I am getting used to only having water a couple of hours twice a day but for the last two days it has not come on at all. All my reserves of cleaning water were used up by the end, so no washing of cooking equipment or me! Luckily it hasn't been quite so hot for the last few days and so I don't pong too much ....... don't ask about the toilet though!

Finally, the management have come up with a solution for my non-flushing toilet. Yesterday they gave me a can of air freshener - seriously, that's what they did - together with a can of "roach" spray for the termites in my roof which continue to drop piles of wood dust in certain areas of my room.

Viruses

The college computers are riddled with viruses. When I need to print something, I put the file on a memory stick, take it to a college computer and print. The next time I put the stick in my computer, my virus checker sounds an alert and finds lots of viruses on it. Luckily, my subscription to an anti-virus programme is still active and I have been downloading the latest up-dates since I've had an internet connection, but the college can't afford this. I found a copy of McAfee on one computer yesterday that was last updated in May 2005!!!!

VSO Visit to Gilgel Beles and Latest News

Email

I now have email at the College during the week, although only likely to be able to use it twice-a-week. I’m getting through my backlog!

Sat 10^th Nov

Up and do hand-washing before the water gets turned off. Walk to the market to try and get eggs before they run out. Also, if possible, big oranges (which are sweeter than the small ones), limes (to squeeze and add to water to make a lime drink), roasted peanuts sometimes and bananas.

Tue 13^th Nov

My supervisor from VSO Ethiopia in Addis arrived last night and today we had meetings and discussions about how it was all going, both personally – problems with the house etc and professionally – establishing a counterpart who will work with me and will be able to continue my work after I leave. It was very useful. Also, he bought a “rescue package” from another volunteer in Addis which includes franks, tuna, corned beef, sweets, biscuits etc – I had my first Mars Bar for about a month!

Wed 14^th Nov

My first teacher training in Ethiopia. I went to the local school in the afternoon, with a colleague who acted as translator. I ran a session on using a counting stick and number fans/cards for 21 teachers and the director (head.) It seemed to go fairly well – they understood some English and the rest was translated. There was a slight problem when I asked “What problems might there be using a count stick” and some interpreted it as “What problems are there with education in Ethiopia” and I got responses like “need more chairs”, “only works in Developed World” etc. Also at the end I was told, that in future training the teachers need incentives to come to training (i.e. money.) Overall though, for a first go, I think it went well and the evaluation sheets look like most enjoyed it and found it valuable. Next I need to go in and see if they are using any of the training in the class.

Creatures

Creatures found in kitchen so far: Gecko, Lizard, Toad, Frog, Ants, Weird furry caterpillar, cockroaches, black crickets.

Creatures found in bedroom: Spiders, Mouse, Ants, Mosquitoes, flies, cockroaches (two have fallen from the ceiling onto my mozzy net – good job I have it!) black crickets.

Other creatures in the house: Birds nesting in mud nests high up on the wall outside the toilet and outside my “kitchen.” A Swarm of bees came in one afternoon.

In the UK it really makes you jump when you lift up something on the floor and a spider or something shoots out. Here, already I am used to it. It happens so often, including opening my suitcase and a mouse ran across, that you almost expect it and it doesn’t make you jump much at all.

Psychology

VSO warn volunteers about problems they will face adapting to the new situation. There have been many times when I’ve thought “what am I doing here.” For example when you’re in a car full of people speaking a language you don’t understand and laughing and not including you; finding the toilet full of stuff without a flush; not wanting to eat injera and shiro wat again; not wanting to dissect meat from the local “selling meat out of the back window of their house (butchers).

Thoughts I have had (which are apparently quite common) include – thinking abut recklessly walking through long grass to get bitten by a snake, thinking about drinking dodgy water, thinking about not using anti-malarials – all to become ill and get taken back home. Of course I haven’t done any of these, and there are days (more frequently now) that it feels normal and ok to be here.

"My Day"

A typical day

0615 Wake up. Make coffee and have a biscuit and banana breakfast while listening to MP3 Player. Take multivitamin tablet. Get washed and dressed etc. Boil water ready for drinking.

0730 Mains water comes on, refill bottles, replace wash bowl and jug water etc

0745 Walk to work

0800 In office working!

0845 Go and buy a semosa-type thing, a plain doughnut and bread roll for lunch from the on-site café.

1000 Possibly visit the pit latrines (which are now locked because “workmen” have been using them incorrectly – how you use a hole incorrectly I’m not sure although there were a few piles of something on the floor and not in the hole!!! Now, with the toilets locked, the piles just appear outside on the grass!!)

1200 Walk home for lunch, possibly watch a bit of DVD (I’m watching “Coast” at the moment – I bought three series on DVD as I knew I would miss the sea) – Read – I’m reading DUNE at the moment. Maybe a sleep. Put boiled water into filter to drip through ready for evening – fresh drinking water. (Sometimes I go for lunch with colleagues in town)

1400 Back at work for the afternoon.

1730 or 1800 (depending on the day.) Go out for a meal occasionally, or home. The sun sets at 1808 at the moment, the earliest time the sun sets in the whole year.

1810 Cook food and eat while watching DVD. Clean up before the water goes off. Take Doxycycline (anti-malarial) tablet and make sure I don’t bend over for 30mins otherwise it can make ulcers in your oesophagus!

2000 Have a bowl “shower”. I have pretty much mastered having a hair-wash and full body wash in a bowl about 50cm across. Hair is just dipping your head in, then washing everything else involves crouching in the bowl and putting water on using a flannel and letting it flow down without too much dripping on the floor.

2100 Ready for bed, read and sleep usually around 2130-2200. (After carefully tucking mozzy net around bed.)

Gilgel Beles - Schools and Children

I've had my first bout of sickness and diarrhoea - not sure why as I've been very careful with cleaning, not eating anything suspect, etc - and it didn't help that I haven't got a flushing toilet!
The Dean and everyone went extra cautious on me and took me to the medical centre where I was made to drink two big cups of dehydration liquid (water with salt and sugar - disgusting) and given 300mg of a strong antibiotic. I spent the rest of the day at home sleeping. I had many visitors from the College after they found out I was ill, which was very kind, but all I wanted to do was sleep. Other than being tired , feeling nauseous through the day and a little odd the next day, I didn't have any more S and D! (I'm still being asked a week later if I am OK!) Anyway, I'm settling in and going out to the schools to observe lessons. I still need to improve my Amharic so that I can understand more. I have taught myself 25 out of 33 Amharic characters and each one has seven vowel variations.

Gilgel Beles

I went to the Post Office (open 2-5pm four days a week) to send a DVD and was surprised to find I had four items (some letters and DVDs) in my PO Box - some had only taken 9 days to get from the UK. Anyone can send me letters now - please get writing!!!

Schools

The children at school are graded according to their abilities rather than age so, for instance, there are eight year olds with 14 year olds. With such big classes - on average 60 pupils - it is impossible to observe all the children and so when they are told something, if they don't understand, nothing can be done about it and the teacher just has to go on to the next thing. Also, Amharic is not the first language of all the children so it is more difficult for them. They have maths, Amharic, natural sciences, geography and history, etc. At the start of the Amharic lesson they sing a song to help them learn the Amharic sounds. Most lessons are from books and are very impersonal and not child centred. Something I have been asked to do is to suggest ways to make lessons more interactive. The children have just one exercise book for all the lessons and use biros (probably cheaper than pencils?). The children are well behaved and when they are at break in the playground, it could be a school anywhere in the world with the chatter and noise of them playing; you don't notice the language. Some children don't go to school and I see them carrying huge loads; bags of grain and sugar to the market. There is new accommodation being built and unlike in Britain when a lorry delivers a load and dumper trucks carry it around, it appears that mostly women move the breeze blocks and bricks around the site.

House

The family sharing the house with me seem to have an eleven-year old girl staying sometimes (I think the sister of the mother) and she makes the coffee and the breakfast for them in the morning, rushes off to school and then does household chores and looks after the baby, often carrying it on her back, in the afternoon. We can still only get water from a shared outside sink where we do the washing, and that is for two hours twice a day. On Saturdays, I have to choose between doing my washing while the water is on or going to the market early. I did my washing this week and there were no eggs left at the market, which is my main source of protein. I did buy a piece of meat but it was mainly fat and wasn't too tasty. Chickens are available but you have to buy them live and deal with them yourself, which I don't fancy. Also sharing the house with me have been a mouse, a toad, ants (that carried off a piece of biscuit I had dropped) and a variety of insects, including a cockroach which landed on my mosquito net. It bothered me at first but you actually get used to seeing them.

I'll update again as soon as I can.

Gilgel Beles - 3 weeks in

Work
I am now visiting a cluster of school and observing lessons. At the Gilgel Beles Elementary School, I was taken round all the classes and said "good morning" when all the children stood and "sit down please" and they reply "thank you teacher". There can be up to 100 children in a class, sitting on low benches. The classrooms are very basic and varied. Some have mud floors, some have concrete and there are others with bamboo walls. There was a combined school assembly outside for over 1,000 children, the teacher speaking to them with a megaphone! As you would expect, there is a lack of resources and I have been making counting sticks and number fans for a maths class. I took a group of children and taught them addition and subtraction using Amharic - went well and managed to communicate even though I have very little amharic. Now I've got to train the teachers!

With my GPS I've been asked to make a map of the local area, with the location of the schools as there is nothing like it available. Also asked to teach English to two trainee teachers at the college, which may have a two-way effect of also improving my Amharic.

House
I'm settling into a routine, which begins soon after 6am with the start of the water filtering process - in all it takes four hours during the day. The college working hours are 8am - 6pm. After working, most of the evening is spent cooking, cleaning and washing myself in a bowl. Still no working shower or water from the basin, only water from a shared sink - where water is only available for two hours in the morning and two in the evening.

A family has now moved into another part of the house with me. The father is an academic and speaks limited English and they have a five-month old baby so I'm really glad I have a supply of ear plugs! I was invited to lunch one day with them.

Gilgel Beles
The locals are very friendly and I'm often asked in for coffee. There is a local "market" twice a week selling eggs, meat, potatoes, oranges, and pulses and lentils. I eat out occasionally but always it's injera and stew available, so not much variety.

At the weekend I did a long walk and saw my first giant millipede (25 cms long). The vegetation is green with huge flowers on banana trees. From Gilgel Beles the mountain region can be seen in the distance. There are some amazing views.

Visitors
I had two surprise visitors knocking on my door one night (whilst cooking pasta in the middle of a power cut!). They were Canadians working in Ethiopia for a similar organisation to VSO. One of their fathers put Gilgel Beles in a search engine, found my blog and traced me. I went out for a meal with them.

I'm keeping a diary and hope to take a bus to Chagne soon where I might get better email facilities.

Gilgel Beles - settling in

Just realised I spelt part of my Ethiopian address incorrectly. It should
be:

Mark Sidey
PO Box 47
Gilgel Beles
Metekel Zone
Ethiopia

Also to let you know that it's difficult to pick up or send emails at
present - there is either no connection or it is very, very slow and
expensive in the Internet Café. I'll catch up when I can.

I have been made welcome by the Dean at the College and have plenty of "followers" on the way to and from my home to work. It will take time to adjust to the working practices and things are inclined to happen on a day-to-day basis. In Gilgel Beles, there is a very limited supply of even
basic requirements, including food - a definite lack of protein - but I can get toilet tissue!

Early Days in Gilgel Beles (Con't)

Friday 19 October

Having asked the Dean for the day to sort out my house, it began with
a spectacular storm. I started to prepare my water filter which
involved boiling water in my kettle, then pouring it into my big
boiling pot and heating on the electric hob I was given by VSO. I had
to boil the "candles" which filter the water to sterilise them for
30mins. Then after that I had to install the tap (with was lubricated with
oil - nice!) and the candles. During installation, one snapped off
which was not good as it left a hole the water could pour through
without being filtered! I managed to block the hole with insulation
tape and hope a) it holds and b) it doesn't contaminate the water.

Next I had to boil water for five mins then wait for it to cool before
putting in the top of the filter. Then it takes a couple of hours to
filter through. Anyway, now I have boiled and filtered water to use.
During this time I was sorting other things in my room (which has a
bed, a desk, two chairs, a wardrobe with no shelves or hangers) and a
bedside cupboard but no curtains - out came the paper again!

I was exhausted and slept for a bit before heading to town for lunch.
I met the Dean on the way and he walked with me up the road to the
college (about 5-10mins from my house).

One of the first houses I came to in the village had a tiny window
with a few things for sale. I bought a pack of biscuits and was
invited in to the house for coffee. There were two young
children, a six year old, and two ten year olds who knew a few
English words (like body parts and animals) and the mum. We talked,
although I was way out of my league with Amharic. We learnt colours
and animals from each other and I was offered some spicy green stuff
on injera as well as the coffee. They showed me a tattered brown book
with some Amharic script and English words when I showed them my
Amharic phrase book. They were very kind, and it was just like talking
with French children, sharing language etc.

Next I went to one of the shops and bought a large bowl for washing
and a smaller one with a jug for washing myself + some cooking oil.
After that, to the hotel I have been to for the last few nights and
had a nice spaghetti + veg and meat sauce + Pespi (all for 10 birr -
about 50p)

Back at the house I tried to do some hand washing. A lot of dirt came
out, but my white shirt (that I used for days in the dusty conditions
of Addis) still looks brownish!!! (I'll have to look into hiring a
seretina - housekeeper.) I hung it out to dry, but with the humidity, it
will take ages I think.

The temp has been mid-20s in the house and the humidity dropped from
90% after the rain to 75% in the afternoon.

In the evening I made myself a cup of coffee using coffee grains -
it's ok without a cafetiere if you let the insoluble grinds sink to the
bottom. I also had one of my back-up instant noodles. As there wasn't
any light except in my kitchen and room, I have been using my
head-torch which is very useful.

Miscellaneous:

I used my umbrella I bought in Addis for the first time today to
protect me from the sun. I don't seem to have had any solar
sensitivity that occurs in some people taking my anti-malarial
tablets.

There are some very colourful birds with bright red heads that eat the
grass plants outside my room. There was a large lizard (about 30cm
long with tail) in the house around lunch and it was able to climb up
the wall and hide behind a cupboard. The ants have found my rubbish
bag in the toilet. I watched six ants carrying a large piece of biscuit I had dropped in the kitchen - I shall have to be careful as I currently have no brush or other cleaning materials! There are some birds building mud-nests inside the open bit of the house on the wall.

The location of my house is:

11d09.646'N 36d20.164'E at an altitude of 1010m

There are lots of quirks in the house. The toilet flushes (when it's
the timetable for water) but it doesn't stop and you have to turn off
the main valve on the wall. There is a weird powder that keeps
dropping on my stuff in my room. It maybe powdered wood, but I'm not sure why it's happening - termites maybe? My wardrobe door keeps opening. I tried to stick it with Duck tape, but in the middle of the night it sprang open waking me up. I have now wedged some cardboard under the front to tilt it slightly to keep it shut.

I now have a clean filtered water supply in bottles with their labels
on, and stored water in unlabelled bottles. When I am doing my teeth
for instance, I used filtered to wash my mouth out and clean the head
of the brush, but unfiltered to clean the handle and my hands.

The routine I will have to adopt is to boil water in morning, let it
cool (which takes ages) then put it in the filter. In all from filling
the pan to filtering all the water probably takes about 4 hours and
the water isn't really cool (room temp) until much later in the day.

Last night I had to wash using a bowl of water and jug - like the old
days in the UK maybe? All the taps rotate without opening any valves!

My breakfasts for the last few days have been biscuits.

None of the admin staff speak English; the academic staff speak some
English at varying levels. I seriously need to learn Amharic!

I will have to burn my rubbish (including toilet rubbish) soon.

I might have to wait until I go to Chagne to read emails and send more in the hope that connections are better there.

Early Days in Gilgel Beles

Wednesday 17 October

Set off from Bahar Dar at 0740. At first we had a smooth tarmac road and we got to Kosober at 0905. I took loads of pictures. The light was great. There were so many people walking along the road with sticks, goods, cattle etc (including young children.) The highest point we got to was 2600m. I talked a little with the driver using my Amaharic dictionary. After Kosober the road was not tarmaced and in many places would be impassable in a normal car. At 1020 we got to Chagne which looked like a shanty town – no paved road, corrugated iron shops. This started to give me a bit of foreboding if this was the big town I would use for supplies! I suggested stopping for a drink and I had tea and the driver and someone else in the car had injera. I asked about the toilets, was directed to a sign in Amharic and found what looked like a cattle shed. In here, with no lights, was basically a hole. (I hope it wasn't a well, because I used it!!)

We continued on to Gilgel Beles and dropped more altitude including some very steep twists and turns. We finally got there around 1110. First impression was of a town from a western movie: dusty roads, a few corrugated iron shops, cattle in the street. We went to a member of staff's house to drop off a freezer, then to the college where I met a number of people including the Dean Negussie, who told me he was leaving the next day and introduced me to the new Dean. I had a tour around and met Workneh who I would be working with. Then we were driven to the Dean's house where I had an injera lunch. We walked back to the college – the temperature was high and humid. My stomach was feeling a bit dodgy so I had a walk around the college, then back to the house where I got my bag. Afterward I went back to the college where after a while I was taken to a local hotel to spend the night (for 40 birr with a shower and toilet). They left and I walked out and found a shop and bought a few things including water which I was drastically low on. Then I got a Pepsi from the shop connected to the motel I was in and talked to a boy running it for quite a while. Back in my room I rested and nearly slept. It was 29C in the room and 61% humidity.

Later someone came to show me around the village. Some Gumuz children were pretending to ride motorbikes using sticks as handlebars and singing a song – very tunefully. Cattle followed us down the road. It was very dusty when trucks went by. Then we went to another hotel to eat. I had spaghetti and a spicy meat and some veg. I talked about the language to the guy and eventually at 1940 in the dark, got back to my room. Had a cold shower, sorted photos etc.

Thursday 18 October

In to "work" at 0800. I looked around the library – there are a relatively small number of text books on a variety of subjects. I was basically wandering around, then Workneh took me to the village. We ate a sort of triangular pasty with lentils and had a coffee. We went to the post office (which is just a room in a building) and the medical centre. He dropped me off at the Internet "Tele-center" where I tried to send an email but it failed to connect, sometimes because of inability to get a line and sometimes it just failed to log on.

I had lunch with the Dean again, then at 1400 I met up with the head of the English Language Improvement program who asked for some advice, but I didn't have much to offer as this is not my area.

I went back to the village. There are major excavation taking place on one of the roads on the way to the post office and I had to find my way down a little track.

I managed to purchase a PO Box for 28 birr.

My address in Ethiopia is:

Mark Sidey
PO Box 47
Gilgel Beles
Metekel Zone
Ethiopia

and I'd love to receive letters.

After the third attempt I managed to get an email connection for about 10 minutes before it dropped. It is quite expensive (relatively) – 50c per minute so an hour would be 30 birr or almost ¾ of my daily salary!

In the afternoon I was taken to my new home. It must've been left quite a while ago as there was mess all over the bare floors and walls. It was dusty, the toilet smelt and the shower and basin taps don't work. I really wondered what I was doing at this point.

It has two bedrooms, one of which I am using; a store room which I am using as a kitchen; a bathroom (shared); a living room which another will use and a kitchen which they will use. All the rooms are connected via an open central area with a water tap and large washing sink and a garden with flowers in. My house is called "Block 18" and is at the end of a row with three others. There are also three more opposite.

Later in the afternoon we managed to borrow a brush and some labour and my room and the room next to it, which will be my kitchen, were washed. We put up my mosquito net.

There is a timetable for water. It is only on for a couple of hours in the morning and evening – I need a storage container!

I started to sort my things out and then the Dean and friend came to take me to dinner. I didn't realise they were just doing it for me – they didn't eat! I had injera with bits of meat. Then we had a coffee – I had to ask for it yellum sookor (without sugar) as they all seem to put it in without asking.

On the way back it was almost pitch black in the town. We needed a torch. For the first time in my life I saw fireflies flashing their bioluminescence tails – very impressive.

Back at "home" I started cleaning a bit with the only thing I had available – some dettox wipes my mother had thought to pack. It was only a preliminary clean, but I unpacked my frying pan, saucepan, pot etc. There was only one light working (in my bedroom) but luckily I had some bulbs and with a bit of tweeking of the wires on one, managed to get my "kitchen" light going. The rest of the house including the toilet are dark. There was a toad in the open central area, also some spiders in the walls (about 4cm across so not too bad!)

A family is supposed to be moving in with me at some point, I don't know when.

I couldn't shower so had a quick wash and slept on top of my bed (it was about 28C).

Half-way there - Bahar Dar

I am on my way at last and have arrived at Bahar Dar. I flew over some amazing scenery and took lots of photos. The landscape was very green with many agricultural "plots" as it is the rainy season but have been told in June it's completely different and very brown. My luggage arrived 45 mins after me on a separate plane.

I am staying in a posh hotel at 270 Birr per night (a week's wages for me or £15 in English money). The altitude is 1800 metres. I will be driven to Gilgel Beles tomorrow - about a four hour drive by a driver with little English: should be interesting!

I walked out and saw Lake Tana this evening. I got lots of looks, giggles and "Hello Misters" but no real hassle. I actually found it quite amusing. There are flies and mossies around and now I will be very aware that they may be carrying malaria. I have a mosquito net over my bed. There has been a big thunderstorm.

This was dictated over the 'phone and I may not be able to do another entry for a while as I don't know what internet facilities there will be in Gilgel Beles. I'll catch up when I can. Watch this space!
Thanks for all the emails and 'phone calls so far.

Pictues during time in Addis

My upstairs room at uni, Is it a bird!

What is this?

Addis University

Fire celebrations! Sunset over Addis
Coffee morning

The lecture hall at uni, A local church
Another to identify?