Last entry from Gilgel Beles

This is probably (nothing is certain in Ethiopia!) the last entry from Gilgel Beles.

I’ve spent a couple of hours every afternoon rehearsing with the recorder groups ready for their performance at the parents’ day at the school on Sunday. One of the best players, a girl, has not been present and today I found out it is because she is helping with the corn planting in the fields at the moment. It’s a hard life for girls and women here in Ethiopia.

I’ve managed to finish off the last few admin things, tried as best I can to explain what I have left behind and what is happening next year, trying to get the college to hire the two guys who have been working with me. I have also added lots of my documents to the college computer, including recorder sheets and music. I’ve given recorder-related sheets and music to the local school and it will be interesting to find out how long any of it continues.

We’re well into the rainy season now, with very heavy downpours and storms at least every other day.

The water has been off for 3 days, and the electricity is off more than 50% of the time.

I think I am still blocking my feelings about leaving. Like I said before, I certainly won’t miss the lack of electricity and water etc, but I will miss the people, especially the ones I have worked closely with and the recorder group children. Maybe it will hit me on Monday after I have gone.

My plan is:

Fri 26 June: Last day at work

Sat 27: Clearing out the house and starting to pack (only 40kg and 2 cases back to the UK)

Sun 28: Parents’ day at local school + final packing

Mon 29: Driven (hopefully all the way) to Bahir Dar (5 hour drive – half on rough roads)

Tue 30: Day in Bahir Dar, then night flight to Addis Ababa

Wed 01 July: Get my police clearance (to say I haven’t committed any crimes in Ethiopia!)

Thu 02: Day in Addis

Fri 03: Exit Interview at VSO

Sat 04: 2am to Airport for 4:30 flight via Cairo to Heathrow.

My next entry will probably be from Addis on Wednesday or Thursday.

A Typical atypical day in Gilgel

Well the day started with me knowing that I had to sort out a recorder problem. Yesterday, I had been running the group through all the tunes we would perform in the parents’ day at the local school and one boy was significantly worse than the others – he started off well with the lessons, then a few months ago he seemed to stop practising. Anyway, he got upset and gave his recorder back to me saying he was going to quit. It is at these times that it becomes very frustrating that I cannot speak Amharic and try and talk him out of it. After this, another good player said he would quit because the first one had.

So back to the day: I had just sorted out someone to come to the school with me for translation purposes when I got asked by the Dean to go and sort out the continuing problem with the CPD Certificates.

Time for another flashback:

We had given out two certificates at the ceremony the other day. One for those who had completed the course (which includes showing some evidence they had filled in things in the manual and participated in the sessions, and also had an attendance of at least 80%.) and a “have participated in some elements of the course” for those who did not do this.

So, ready to visit the other school, I was then called in by the Vice Dean who the disgruntled teachers had called on next, obviously not getting a satisfactory answer from the Dean.

I got their manuals and the attendance register and showed them why they did not get the full certificate. They claimed the attendance register was falsified and that the sessions were informal at someone’s house and all sorts of other stuff. (This was all through translation by the way.) They also said they had not filled in the manuals because they were not told to… Even though it said in the book “complete this table” or “fill in this chart” etc. These sounded like excuses coming from young children.

Anyway we finally decided to go and speak to the facilitators who ran the sessions on Monday.

Next, the Vice Dean asked me for some photos of the college – some people were here with a song they had recorded about Benishangul Gumuz Region and had mentioned Gilgel Beles College in the lyrics or something. So they wanted photos to make a VCD (Video CD - Ethiopia’s cheaper equivalent of DVDs.)

It was now that I said I had to go to the school to sort out the recorder problem. I went with the translator and we did arrange for the recorder students to come to the college in the afternoon, even though the whole of Grades 1-4 were not at school – a Grade 4 girl had died and they were all at church mourning.

Back to college to sort out the photos, which in the usual array of miscommunication turning into: “they needed a video clip of the singer miming to the backing music.” I started getting a little suspicious as to the amount of time and how involved I would be getting in this and kept confirming that they had someone to edit this and put it together with the music (something I suspected I would have to do.) They said they had someone in Addis to do this.

So, I was told I would be videoing the guy for the 6 minutes of the song miming and dancing away in front of the college. But of course they hadn’t arranged anything to play the music back on for him to mime to, so after 10-15 mins we had arranged to borrow the coffee shop tape player and bought some batteries from town and were ready to record.

But of course that wasn’t all I had to video. We then had to get some students to dance around as I recorded the whole song again in a different location, followed by filming a mock classroom setup where the lead singer is giving “sight love” looks to a girl, another setup in a dormitory room, and more “we have nearly completed” scenarios. In the end I got away for lunch a 1pm (we had started at 11am and I normal go for lunch at 12 noon!!)

Then of course they had no way to get the 3Gb of Video Data back to Addis so I used one of my own blank DVDs to copy it for them after convincing them that it is not a DVD as in “DVD Player movie”, but just a Data DVD like a Data CD.

I used to laugh at the cheaply made pop videos I saw on ETV (Ethiopia Television) but now I know why they are like they are. They turn up without any kind of storyboard, or even a camera, find a hapless ferengi to film it for them etc etc

So, onto the next thing: recorders. The players arrived; I found someone to translate and help me convince the boy with a problem to continue, which I did, just started the lesson with the others when a guy turned up with a satellite dish for Göran which he needed to take to the house. (It was from the other Swede in the village who is leaving tomorrow morning early.) I managed to get someone to go in my place with the house key while I continued the lesson. A few minutes after that, a rather old Catholic priest (who I have met a few times from the mission) turned up to say the mission is closing for the summer and no-one will be there for me to say goodbye to (had I not got the invite before? – Of course not). He stayed and listened to the recorder playing / practicing for quite while.

I’m loosing the thread now, I’m sure you are if you’ve got this far, anyway, next the pop video guys are back asking for maps of the area to copy onto CD. Ok, I said, but at 5pm because I need to finish a recorder lesson with a teacher (who had turned up for his lesson.)

5pm came, I went to find the guys, and at that point the guy with the satellite dish turned up again with some more boxes for Göran – needing to get back into to the house (oh and collect payment for the dish – money which Göran gave me before he left.)

Luckily, again, I managed to find someone to give the key to and go with him.

[Oh, I just remembered, our clothes washer, who is supposed to come twice a week, came last Friday, was due at least to show today (one week later), but didn’t. I’m out of shirts, with the dampness in the air it’s now taking two days for stuff to dry, so that’s a job I’ve got tomorrow.]

So, back to the pop guys and the maps: I showed them the photos of the “OS-type” map I had, and some GPS maps I had made, but no, they didn’t actually want maps, they wanted “beautiful photos” of Gilgel Beles. So the next hour was spent going through my photos trying to find scenic views, pictures of the bridge, the college, and as the music is sort of a pop-i-fied version of Gumuz music, I was asked if I had any photos of Gumuz women with no clothes on top (which admitted they do sometimes do (or don’t) but I haven’t got any photos of that kind of thing.)

It poured with rain at some point during all this, making it hard to talk at times as the droplets hit the corrugated metal roof.

I finally called it a day as I said I have to go and pay for the dish (which was true.) They asked me for a meal as thanks (which I managed to get out of – Göran.)

Then it was home to dump my stuff, (managing to get to my room past the huge satellite dish now inside the house blocking my way to the toilet) collect the money to pay for the dish, and, umbrella up, in the still-raining, dusk-time, I set off.

So there I am, at the end of this long day tramping through the mud and rain in the near-twilight, trying not to slip as I pass next to the “Nest Houses” (local mud and stick houses with conical roves) near our back gate, hearing “abba” and “ferengi” eminating from the interiors.

I got back safely and now have pork hotdogs and peas (rare in a can from BD) for tea, cooked by electricity in the incandescent light for the first time in four days, instead of kerosene with a head-torch.

.... How was your day?

Amazing Storm

On Wednesday night there was another amazing storm. At around 1900 there was the high gusts of wind which usually signify an incoming big downpour. During the next 30 minutes, I estimate about 20mm of rain fell and the lighting was amazing. Each individual stroke was a multiple flash of maybe 5-10 rapid flashes, and there were whole sequences of strokes one following another right across the sky. Maybe more than one different stroke per second.

Unfortunately, most of the strokes were obscured by cloud, but every-so-often there was a stroke in the clear.

This picture is a composite image I made of one series of strikes over 1-2 seconds that went across the sky.

Usual problems with services + last signing lessons

Well the power was off all day yesterday from 05:00 and didn’t come back until 00:15 this morning. That lasted until lunchtime when first it went off, came back on at around 100V (instead of 220V) then kept flashing on and off, then went off completely.

The mobile network has been Yellum (there is non) for the last couple of days.

Water came back at last though. I do still get quite impressed when a few days ago I had collected enough rain water to do my washing and cleaning the dishes.

Had a really fun last session with the four children and teacher in the sign language class today, including introducing them to blow football (I had found a polystyrene ball. At first I used it to show the difference between “b” which doesn’t move the ball, and “p” which does when you speak it. Then it evolved into table blow-football!)

I also used a function on my digital camera where you can see the noise level and showed Ahmed / “Jermal” the different levels of noises and how it drops off at a distance. Interestingly, he showed his hand sign letters to the camera as he didn’t know the difference between sound letters and signed letters.

CPD Ceremony

After two years of battling for resources, getting teachers to train without a “perdiem” payment etc, we finally had a certificate presentation celebration today, for two schools-worth of teachers who have completed the 15 week, Ministry of Education CPD (Continuing Professional Development) course.

(The teachers from one of the local schools show off their certificates of course completion)

During the celebration, the Dean spoke, I spoke and then I had two of my best recorder players playing a few songs for entertainment. It went really well, and during feedback, the director of the local school said it was like I was a regular teacher at her school as I was in so often doing activities. The children had played very well and someone suggested expanding the program to other schools!

So all-in-all, not a bad finish to my time here.

Termite swarm

That was a crazy half an hour: It started when I heard a fluttering at my net over my window. I looked and saw a four-winged termite, each wing about 4cm.Within a minute I could see about eight, and five minutes after that, around every light there were at least 50 I guess. The fluttering noise was pretty loud; they were like hundreds of little helicopters.

Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement on the ground. Two toads had appeared from nowhere and were having the feast of their lives, licking up termites left, right and centre (that was for mum.) It was an amphibians’ smorgasbord (that was for Göran!)

Very soon after that, more and more of them were dropping to the ground and beginning to shed their wings. I think I idea is they roam around, find a mate and set up a new nest.

Finally, the fluttering has stopped, and it’s a return to the chirping, cheeping, buzzing noise that is the usual Ethiopian cacophony of night.

Penultimate Recorders and more power problems

It’s getting on for the last recorder lessons now. Because the school was being used for exams, I had all the players at the college. Judging by the reaction when they looked out the window, I think it was the first time some of them had been upstairs. Also, as a treat at the end, I gave them all a fizzy drink, and again, I don’t think it’s often (if ever) they get one of them. They seemed quite overwhelmed with it all. As you will see from the picture, some of them haven’t even got shoes.

I think working with the children: the maths class; whole class teaching and the recorder groups, is going to be what I will miss the most.

Electricity and Water

Following up my previous entry, just to check you were not thinking, electricity 80% of the time, what are you complaining about, you have to remember that that was an average. I repeated the same exercise for the last 20 days, and the average power cut per day then is almost 12 hours out of 24, or 50%.

Over those 20 days, the longest cut was 55 hours. Also, a fairly common pattern is off around 05:00 and back on at around 23:00. If I stayed here longer, I would definitely invest in a generator. The houses across the street and my neighbours are even worse off, they are on a different phase to my house and they haven’t had power all week.

Also, the water has been off a couple of days, and the generator at the college is broken, so today, what with no mains power as well, the place was pretty deserted. It’s a good excuse not to do anything when the computers are down. The secretaries just sit doing nothing all day in the offices. There are manual typewriters but I guess now the “rich” countries have spread their evil PCs to Ethiopia, there’s no going back to the old ways, after all, you can’t listen to music and play patience on a typewriter.

More cultural difference fun

I woke early this morning, and at around 06:45 as I was about to eat my breakfast, a head pops in my window and asks me to read a draft reference. He has his laptop with him, so for the next 20mins or so I check and edit the Ethiopian English into something a little more British. I’m guessing this has never happened to anyone in the UK?

I felt a little guilty doing it, as the reference was going to be used for about 10 different people in the college (so not an entirely personal document then!), none of whom, as far as I’ve seen, come anywhere close to this glowing superhuman idol mentioned in the text. Apparently they are completely up-to-date in their current field of study, are innovative and are open to new ideas; they work incredibly well in a team and show absolute dedication to their teaching. They would be a superb asset to any educational institution in the country.

Oh and more water came through the roof in my room tonight during another spectacular storm where at least 20mm rain fell in under an hour. The house was pretty flooded as well, what with the open roof portion.

False hope

I’ve written this before in a different way, but it’s an important issue effecting the development of Ethiopia (and I guess other poor* countries):

One of the reasons the country is not developing is because of “False Hope.”

I have based this opinion on many conversations I have had with instructors here in the college, other Ethiopian’s I have met during my travels, NGO workers and the findings of other VSO Volunteers. I am generalising, but this seems to be a very common theme in the country.

It seems that the goal of most people here is not to do things that would develop the country (e.g. learn trades that would improve and maintain the infrastructure, make agriculture more efficient etc) Instead they seem more concerned with how they can get as much for themselves as possible and this includes finding a way to emigrate to “rich” countries.

The reason they don’t try to develop is because they believe outsiders will come and solve the problems for them.

I’m not sure what order they should be in, but the three main outsiders that they believe will help them and change Ethiopia into a rich country are:

1: N.G.O.s (Foreign Non Government Organisations)

2: God

3: Obama

The first one (N.G.O.s) is based on experience. If they need a road or a bridge or electricity, or if they don’t plant enough crops and then there is a famine, don’t worry because some rich country will come along and lay the road, build the bridge or power station or drop bags of grain. Why bother planting and harvesting crops if all you have to do is wait for a plane to drop a bag of processed grain for you. The first thought isn’t “how can we solve this problem” it’s “someone from another country will come and solve the problem for us.”

Number 2 (God.) Well as an atheist, I would call this the first false hope. But I believe even Christians in foreign countries do not think that God is going to suddenly make Ethiopia a rich country with roads, stable power, food and clean water for everyone. Also, I’m sure foreign Christians would disagree with some of the arguments that I have heard along the lines of: “we don’t have to bother because God will come and sort it out.” I guess on the up side, religion does give a lot of hope to Ethiopians who do have a very hard existence; it also binds them together to a common cause. What I find very hard is that it also seems to be used as a control mechanism (like in Victorian times in the UK) with rules on what you can and cannot do and what and when you can eat. And these rules seem not to come from the bible, but from priests. I worry (worldwide) about organised religion and how unelected people, paraphrasing and selecting portions of the bible that fit their aims, can hold so much power. (But I digress – this is another issue.)

Number 3 (Obama.) You may laugh, but when Obama was elected, Ethiopia went crazy. I would even go so far as to say that some of the Ethiopians put Obama above God in the likelihood to save them. “Obama” bunabets, restaurants, Internet cafés and stationery shops sprang up everywhere as did the T-shirts and posters. I have had many conversations with Ethiopians asking “has he done anything yet?” “What do you think he will do?” “If American gives money to all the African nations, it won’t have any money for itself – is that going to happen?” but the false hope is very strong. Personally I think that Obama is the lightest “black” person I’ve ever seem, but that’s beside the point. I believe the U.S.A. is going to look after itself first and although it may donate the odd computer to Africa, it’s not going to make any real change here.

Well that’s pretty much the opinion I have developed over the two years being here. Hard as it is to say and depressing as it sounds, I believe that if Ethiopia (and other poor countries) continue in their attempt to become copies of rich countries, they are doomed to failure. They should concentrate on the foundations of their own society and develop themselves without external influence.

(Off course we’re all doomed anyway because of the oil running out and the greenhouse effect, it’s just that the Ethiopia will go down the pan first.)

*I decided that “poor” is the best description for countries like Ethiopia, even over the “VSO” and other NGO advice that this is not politically correct. They once called countries like Ethiopia “3^rd World” then “developing” and at the training I went to in England they said the latest name is now “south” – as in most of the poor countries are in the Southern Hemisphere and the “north” countries in the Northern Hemisphere are the rich ones. But, as Australia, for example, is in the “south” and also some of the poor countries are not developing (maybe because of wars etc), I think the financial “rich / poor” description is more accurate than any other term.

Electricity Stats

I know I’m a slave to statistics but I can’t help it. I just find it interesting…

Since 1^st Jan this year in my house in Gilgel (not counting the days I was away) the average time the power has been off is 4h40m per day which is around 19.5% or looking at it another way, the electricity is only on 80.5% of the time.

Of all the days during this period, there was either continuous power, or only very short cuts on 48% of the days. This means on 52% of the days there was a power cut of at least 30 minutes.

Sometimes the power cuts are due to “rationing” the limited generating capacity of the country (which is all hydro), sometimes due to technical problems and other times due to power poles being blown down in the wind, or in one case because someone cut a tree down onto the power lines!

And we complain in the UK if it goes off for 5 seconds!!!!

This does link into my case for development here. In the UK, we sorted out the power system over decades, then, only after it was stable did computers and other technology which rely on a steady power supply come along. Here they have all these computers donated by US-AID etc and are trying to use them on this unstable platform. Another example of trying to run before you can walk (or looking at it another way: foreigners not really thinking about what they are giving. I guess they get tax-breaks on computer systems, but not if they help build more hydro-electric plants and give training to people putting up power poles and operating the system.)