Navigating Addis

The Lonely Planet describes Addis as “massive and incoherent” going on to liken it to a sprawling 250-sq-km injera. Injera— the ethnic bread on which most dishes are served— with its pockmarked surface, certainly does provide an excellent metaphor for the state of many roads. At the same time, there are significant road improvement projects, courtesy of the Chinese. This causes its own problems, as most drivers feel liberated to travel at totally inappropriate speeds given their driving skills and the state of the vehicles.

Gender equality, or lack thereof, is a significant issue in many walks of life here. That said there do seem to be a surprising number of women drivers. Relax, this is no segue to the usual comments about women drivers; to the contrary they do generally exhibit more tolerance toward other road users. Neither group demonstrates much patience, and as many roads don’t have serviceable pedestrian pathways the major “road users” are pedestrians; the mix puts Ethiopia at the top of the road casualty table, at least in Africa.

The city transportation system is equally as complex as the city itself: The few remaining decrepit government buses, which run along a limited number of traditional routes display numbers, but no destination indicators, and have no defined bus stops. The private buses display no information of any kind relying instead on the ticket collectors calls. Then there are the “line taxis” aka matatus. Again the only way to determine the destination is to interpret the auctioneer-like calls of the fare collector. There are “contract taxis” or “Lada-taxis” (for the obvious reason) aka regular taxis are everywhere! All “taxis” for some unknown reason are painted dark blue with white roofs. Most taxis are communist era Ladas with a very occasional pre-communist Peugeot; line taxis are almost exclusively Toyotas as are the vast majority of other cars and trucks.

Edited and posted by Elspeth, who LOVES Ladas.

What's in a name?

The work week begins with the standard staff meeting. In the main it is filled with the usual office minutia: confirming the emergency duty officer for the week, discussing trips scheduled, upcoming meetings etc. Nonetheless, it is brief and to the point. One agenda item followed closely by all, however, is the weekly “security/political briefing”. These run the gamut from tribal cattle rustling and resultant unrest, to fighting following border incursions. The weeks since my arrival have seen “increased incidents of Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD)” with steadily increasing confirmed deaths. The difference between AWD and cholera? Politics.

For similar reasons it is “resettlement” and not ethnic cleansing. Hence the report was that some 10,000 Amharans are being “evacuated” from the Southern Nation and Nationalist’s Peoples Region (SNNPR) and are being resettled in Amhara. Ethiopia is divided into eleven autonomous regions, each with a president and a parliament. The Amharans had been resettled in the region now designated as the SNNPR during the previous regimes. With over 50 different languages spoken in the SNNPR (over 80 in the countrywide) the region could hardly be considered ethnically united. Haille Selassie, an Amharan, imposed Amharic as the national language. The leaders of the communist regime that deposed him, also Amharans, engaged in a wholesale resettlement program. The only surprise is probably that it didn’t happen earlier.

“Declaring a famine is a political decision. While it can galvanize public opinion and bring millions into aid programs, it is widely seen as a political failure. President George Bush challenged his officials to avoid the word, a policy known as "No famine on my watch". Ethiopia's Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission is charged with preventing famines of the 1984-85 type, the sort that bring down governments, argued Tufts University academics Sue Lautze and Angela Raven-Roberts in a 2004 paper. Dismissing the warning signals, Ethiopia's Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, said earlier this month that there was no danger of famine this year. And Berhanu Kebede, Ethiopia's ambassador to Britain, said at the weekend: ‘We are addressing the problem. Food is in the pipeline.’”

The above piece is excerpted from an article in the UK newspaper The Independent, which can be found here.

Edited and posted by Elspeth, whose father needs to learn to use quotation marks (inverted commas, whatever) better, and to leaven his stories of death and disease with chicken sightings.

Feast or Fasting?

Fasting appears to be an Ethiopian Orthodox congregant’s lot in life. There are a total of six periods of fasting, in addition to every Wednesday and Friday. Fasting takes the form of abstaining from eating meat, fish or dairy. One result is that restaurants serve excellent vegetarian dishes. Conversely, on the feast days the menus are a veritable carnivore’s delight. This weekend celebrated the end of one of the two-week fasts. The reason for the fast/festival is obscure enough that no one I asked could explain its origin. This weekend also saw college graduation ceremonies; evidence the number of parties in the restaurant wearing graduation gowns.

I know it will surprise some to learn that since arriving, my diet has been wholly vegetarian. Not that I am complaining. That, however, was fully rectified on Sunday with a helping of kitfo, a form of Ethiopian-style steak tartare – delicious! Washed down with a generous, albeit the smallest they serve, glass of tej honey wine. A brewed concoction bright yellow in color and slightly syrupy in consistency with a slightly earthy taste and higher-than-average alcohol content, honey wine completes the traditional feast.

Elspeth, who is a vegetarian, edited and approved of this post.

Michael Jackson?

14th August

Today is our day to observe the blackout. The timing and allotment of power has shown some flexibility in the past few days, particularly when matters of national pride are involved. National pride in Ethiopia can be summed up in two words – distance running.

The one sporting event to challenge the supremacy of Manchester United or Arsenal (yes Arsenal) in TV audience ratings is any major athletic event featuring Ethiopian runners. No surprise then that electricity might be available for everyone to be able to see the 10k event at the athletics world championship last weekend. This, especially following a TV announcer’s observations during the last world championships, following a rout by the Ethiopians, that it was a pity that half of the country was unable to witness the event due to the lack of electricity. The federal government and the power company apparently took that to heart over the weekend. And, yes Ethiopia did prevail in the men’s 10k. It will be interesting to see if there is sufficient capacity when the marathons are contested this weekend. But, back to Michael Jackson.

One of the few establishments in the immediate neighborhood with electricity, courtesy of it’s own generator, is the local bar. Nothing grand here but with light, cold beer, edible samosas and satellite TV it is quite a draw, especially as it is dark by seven. Away from any form of artificial light, on a moonless evening it is dark. Thankfully I remembered to take a flashlight. My bobbing light signaled my approach to a bunch of kids halfway along the road/track, and had them serenading me the remainder of the way home. The song and dance routine, accompanied by beating time on a concrete slab with long sticks, was continued outside the gate; a performance somewhere between raucous Christmas caroling and trick-or-treat. Obviously I had no idea what they were singing about, with the exception of a regular reference to Michael Jackson – go figure. All in all, the performance was well worth the 40 cents they were delighted acquire. They slowly disappeared into the almost total darkness singing and dancing some tribute to Michael Jackson.

Predictably the occasion for the outburst of singing had nothing to do with the recent demise of said pop singer but was related to a religious event having something to do with a saint and a mountain. The connection between the two and the singing was not clear, but then try explaining Halloween aka All Hallows Eve to someone unfamiliar with the ritual.

”Today” is now almost three weeks ago. Since when the internet has either just not been available or so unreliable as to make a blog entry impossible, meaning Elspeth had to post this for me, blame editing mistakes on her.

“Woke last night to the sound of thunder”

August 13, 2009
The electricity supply in Addis is very reliable. In this sector of the city we reliably have electricity on odd numbered days and reliably none on even numbered days. Today is our day. Combined with the sound of thunder and heavy rain outside I have returned to bed huddled under a blanket and enjoying a cup of hot tea. Yesterday was the first day we didn’t see any rain; hopefully we are not destined to make up for it today. Already there are hopeful signs the rain is abating and will be dry soon. Ethiopia’s claim is the country with “13 months of sunshine”.

This is wintertime, so some rain and clouds should be expected, and yes we have seen a reasonable amount of sunshine. One would not suffer vitamin D deficiency in this climate. But 13 months? Yes. Officially Ethiopia still observes the Julian calendar. New Years Day is coming up in a little less than a month – September 11th. Prior to which we will have the 13th month of just five days, then celebrate the start of 2002. As if that is not enough to get ones head around, days here start at daybreak. What’s so unusual about that you might ask, except that we have grown up accepting that days start at midnight. Ask someone for the time here and be prepared to add six.

The storm has already passed, the sun is trying to make an appearance, the many birds are back in full song and my tea is finished. It must be time for a warm shower!

August 14, 2009
Yesterday was a pleasantly warm day with no more rain. That is until very early this morning (or very late last night on Ethiopian time) when the heavens opened. Not sure whether it was the flashes of light or the sound like someone dumping a load of gravel on the roof that woke me up. For 15-20 minutes we were treated to quite a storm. Again early morning the birds are back to singing.

Later the same morning
Little wonder it sounded like gravel being dumped on the roof. The streets are littered with piles of pea-gravel sized hail!

Now it is real or “And now for something completely different”

For the past couple of weeks I have been preparing to head for Ethiopia. Only now, somewhere over Africa between Amman and Addis at goodness knows what time (Seattle or local doesn’t matter) the “what am I doing” here point of reality once again is sinking in. Since returning from Nairobi every minute seems to have been consumed with all manner of business related to the rentals. Goodness knows what would have happened had we remained in Kilifi. The yard at the Queen Anne Hill house would have grown wild for yet another year for starters. It is amazing how much greenery, basically left to it’s own devises, grows in the span of 3-4 years! Five truck loads of greenery “recycled” and two loads of bark spread around, the place looks much smarter. A new coat of paint outside also helps. So, now the chance to think what next?

In the immortal words of Mont Python – “Now for something completely different”: The climate in Addis, being even higher in elevation than Nairobi, will be temperate, far different from the steamy coast of Kenya. Ethiopian culture, history, politics and tribal characteristics etc. will all be a new experience. Arriving in Addis will feel distinctly different from the experience of arriving in Nairobi. Nairobi was more akin to going home. As I was being driven from the Nairobi airport to the hotel the driver was pointing out the various places of interest – few had changed. “This is State House Road, home of the President” – yes but the more interesting landmark for me is the apartment building we just passed where I lived for a year in the mid-70s. Now I have no idea what to expect. Still with VSO, but working out in the Ethiopian VSO office, I will get to see the operation from the other side. To satisfy the requirements of a large Canadian grant supporting activities in 15 countries CUSO-VSO (the Canadian affiliate) is instituting a more standardized methodology for the monitoring and evaluation of the programs it will support. Delloite and Touche are providing the majority of volunteers to assist the country sites. Ethiopia is amongst a few countries they declined to send their employees.

Oopps, we are presumably approaching the monsoon effects the pilot eluded to earlier. More later….

Random Thoughts on Leaving Kenya

The following are a collection of random thoughts I jotted down whilst sitting in Nairobi.

Why are there more expatriates working in Kenya now than in 1975 (at the time of the troubles the UN alone drew up evacuation plans for almost 10,000)?

Why do hundreds (literally) of government officials have to drive high-end turbo Mercedes saloons?

Why do the hundreds (if not thousands) of NGOs drive brand new expensive four-wheel drive vehicles – to drive around the city?

How do thousands of Kenyans acquire enough money to afford cars that cost more than 60% of the populace will earn in a lifetime?

And, why have those with the fancy cars allowed the transportation infrastructure to erode (in some places virtually disappear) such that any journey takes at least twice as long as in the mid-70s?

What happened to mandatory free primary education with almost 100% enrollment, were now only those that can afford the school fees send their children to school?

Why is there consistent pessimism that come 2012 (next elections) there will be a repeat of the troubles following the last election?

Why does the electricity go out so regularly in a city with so much visible wealth parading the city streets?

Why when Swahili is the country’s official language, are parliament proceedings again conducted in English?

Reflecting on these random thoughts the differences to Ethiopia are already striking.