The First Week

Okay well, just to make a disclaimer – I could never capture everything that I’ve experienced in the first week in a blog entry.  This culture and city and organization are far too rich for me ever to be able to document even in video, let alone in words.  The smells, the textures of the food, the spices, all of the sounds, the feel of the air, the pollution are all elements that have to be experienced firsthand.  But, I did promise everyone back home that I would try my best to bring Ethiopia to life for them, so this is my first attempt at that.

My first day of work was Monday.  Sarah and I treaded the 40 minute walk from our house to the Millennium Villages Project (MVP) building where Millennium Development Ethiopia (MDE), the organization with which I will be working, and the Center for National Health Development in Ethiopia (CNHDE).  It was a cool morning, about 60F and 15C, the sun was out along with the beggars. 

The minibuses were all packed full, but that didn’t deter the “yellers” from trying to recruit more riders.  Apparently, the law is that there should only be 12 people maximum in one minibus at anytime.  However, Sarah and I counted once and found 19 people crammed in like a can of sardines.  Watching people get into one of these things is seriously like going to the circus and watching the clowns jam into their itty-bitty car.  It’s rather comical, actually.

The secondary school students were walking toward their school from every direction, and you could find them in every single street making their ways to their final 2 or 3 days of classes.  By Friday there were no more teenagers populating the sidewalks in their forest green and white uniforms – the boys in the green pants and shirts and the girls wearing either green skirts or pants with white button-down shirts and green sweaters covering.   They all looked rather dignified. 

When we finally arrived at the office, we were amongst the first ones there that morning, showing up at about 8:45.  I first met Elsie and Leya, the two admins.  They are both fairly young, around 30, and it seems that they keep that place together.  I later met my Millennium supervisor, Birkti.  Since it is currently the end of the second quarter, the whole building is much like a beehive - people running around, rushing to finish quarterly reports and to compile data from the past three months.  In light of that Birkti simply set me up in my office (we’re not sure if this is my permanent spot while I’m here or if I’ll eventually move) on the first floor with all of the directors and the admins.  No pressure.  The photo below is of the view from Sarah's office.  It's a quiet street, but the activity is typical of Addis.

Sarah and I haven’t really figured out the whole cooking-in-Ethiopia situation yet, so we usually dine out for lunch.  On Monday, we went back to the main street to look for a restaurant where we could get a quick bite. There, we found the Malaria officer from CNHDE, Yihenew.  We sat down with him and just had what he had.  It was a injera, the Ethiopian bread that looks much like a very thin sponge, tan/grey in color, and is about 30 inches in diameter.  It folds up and rolls up and is used to gather the bits of prepared meats or vegetables that are placed on top of it. 

Anyway, Yihenew is an intelligent guy who loves to study malaria and especially its mosquito vector.  He knows more about mosquitoes than I would ever desire.  He told Sarah and I that one can tell if a mosquito is carrying malaria or not by how it positions itself when landed. Very practical.  I’ll have to take pictures of how he described it and then post them here to show the rest of the world how to avoid malaria-ridden mosquitoes.  Based upon the plethora of information that Yihenew has, I just might write a whole blog entry on malaria one day in the near future. 

On Tuesday I made my way to the U.S. Embassy here in Addis in order to have my transcripts authenticated yet again. This is becoming quite ridiculous.  Even though they have already been authenticated by the U.S. Secretary of State in Washington D.C., they have to get the seal of the U.S. Embassy here.  That was another $50.  Holy cow.  Nonetheless, my part in the process of acquiring a work/residence permit in Ethiopia is finished.  It’s now in the trusted hands of Hiwot, the Millennium finance czarina.  She knows the process here and will certainly do very well. 

 

Birkti, my supervisor here at MVP, was suddenly called to Kenya on Tuesday afternoon for the remainder of the week.  So, I helped Sarah out a bit with her tomato paste business plan in her absence Wednesday through Friday.  I’m sure that I’ll be making up that lost time on my own projects next week when Birkti returns.  



Arrival in Addis

So, when the plane landed after the 13 hour non-stop flight, I went through immigration and customs rather quickly.  Then I walked toward the huge crowd of people waiting for arrivals and thought, “Oh man.  There is no way that I’m ever going to find whoever came to pick me up (if any came at all..).  But, surely enough, Sarah, who I’ve never seen in person before, and Mole, one of Millennium’s drivers, were waiting for me in that crowd.  They greeted me with a hug and a bottle of water before we made our way to the car.  So great.  Sarah is super awesome and a super woman.   She totally took care of me.  We got to the house, I unpacked and chatted with Sarah for about an hour or so, and then I crashed.  I slept for maybe 2 hours and then woke up again.  I moseyed to the living room and began to read and then fell asleep again for another hour.  I also slept the entire night as well.  Jet lag really sank its teeth in and kept them in for about 3 days. 

My plane actually landed on Friday morning, so I had three days to get my life started here.  I ended up dedicating Friday to sleep.  On Saturday, Sarah took me to get set up with my internet and cell phone.   Getting the internet here is another long and tedious process.  You have to go through like 3 or 4 people and 3 or 4 photo ID’s just to get a wireless card and a cell phone.  Why they need copies of my passport and 2 photos is beyond me.  These services are pay-as-you-go, so when your sim card runs out on either of them you have to buy these little green plastic card strips that have a pin number on the back that you punch in to add money to your cards.  Not my favorite process, but this is how it goes…

On Sunday, Sarah and I went to the Ethiopian National Museum and saw Lucy (second picture below), the Australopithicus skeleton that was discovered in Ethiopia in 1974.  She’s named “Lucy” because when the archaeologists found her, they were listening to “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”  She was found in the Rift Valley in Ethiopia.  Apparently, 11 of the 12 pre-human “ancestral” skeletons have been found in Ethiopia, most if not all in the Rift Valley.  We then ate at an Ethiopian restaurant next to the museum called "Lucy Fast Food" where we had some very spicy traditional food.  While we were there, we both had our pictures taken with the artificial donkey and goat that were in the restaurant (last picture).  Seems normal, right?  It’s not like there aren’t enough of those animals crossing the street every 100 feet or anything… 

Later, we ended up finding my favorite nuns, the Missionaries of Charity.  They have a couple houses in Addis, but we found one that houses every type of poor person imaginable.  The complex is so big that they have two separate units on each side of a street.  One side of the street housed women with newborns and infants, abandoned children, children with mental and physical disabilities and women with mental illnesses and kids.  The other side of the street housed men and women with physical and mental disabilities.  There were separate rooms with residents with TB as well.  While Sarah and I were there, one of the men in their very sick unit actually died.  God love him and bring him Home.  I’m sure he suffered long and hard.  This is the reality of life in places like this that we in the "developed world" somehow are able to ignore.

Visiting this house really reminded me of my time in Calcutta where I worked with these Sisters in an orphanage and in a home for the dying.  These women dedicate their lives to serving the poorest of the poor in all corners and gutters of the world.  They live in some of the most lackluster locations that one can imagine, but they have such joy in doing the work that they do every day.  It’s staggering to see how much they do for so many people throughout the world.  They do it selflessly and they do it happily.

Then we went home and fought with the internet some more.  This is a constant battle that we’ll have to build some endurance against.  One minute it works, the next two hours it doesn’t.  Again.  Ethiopia has the 4^th worst internet in the world.  This is why my blog entries are usually late and overdue…  Please be patient with me.

Pre-Departure Logistics

Before one can travel to Africa, one must acquire a visa.  Mine was to be a business visa for obvious reasons.  But, aside from that, I also had to go through this whole ridiculous process in order to get a work permit for Ethiopia.  So, for anyone who would ever need a work permit, please take careful notes here. 

The first step is to get one of your college transcripts.  Then, have it notarized and authenticated by the secretary of state in the state in which it was issued (eg. If you graduated from Villanova, as in my case, have it notarized by a Pennsylvania notary and then send it or take it to Harrisburg to the Secretary of State to have them authenticate it).  Those are steps 2 and 3 respectively.  Next, step 4, this whole packet must be authenticated by the U.S. Secretary of State in Washington DC.  This can be done either by snail mail or by personally appearing in that office, which is only open from 7:30AM – 11AM M-F by the way.  After you finally get the signature from Hillary Rodham Clinton or whomever is the Secretary of State at that point, then you take this blessed mess of thrice-authenticated documents to the Ethiopian Embassy for its authentication – step 5.  What a run-around.  I’m going to make a flow chart for this thing.  If you plan on doing all of these steps via mail, be sure to first have at least 3 months for all its processing and also to visit all of the offices' websites so that all is in order before you send the document in or visit the offices.

I finally got this crazy visa and document authentication after three tries and trips to the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington D.C. and a eleventeen stories, one of which includes a protester who shows up almost daily with a canvas American flag lawn chair, a half-Ethiopian-half-American flag, and a megaphone.  This guy was intense.  He loved protesting the Ethiopian government.  When he would become tired, he would just take a 5 minute break and go sit under the tree by the sidewalk and take a drink or two of water and then proceed to go right back at it.  I saw him 2/3 times I was there.  God bless him.  He was exercising his freedom of speech outside the gates of the Ethiopian Embassy.  Gotta love America.

More Pre-Departure Festivities

So, the second-to-last of the “pre-departure festivities” was the high school graduation party for my youngest sister (but not the youngest child).  It was on Sunday, June 12^th, so only 4 days before I left for Addis Ababa.  It was a day full of family and friends, about 150 people total made their way to the party.  Growing up on a farm, we always have some kind of extensive and elaborate food ensemble at our parties, usually including pig-roasting and some hunky food since my dad’s side of the family is of eastern European descent (you should definitely be jealous!). 

 So, my older brother, Pete, always bestows the responsibility of the meat preparation upon himself.  He stays up all night keeping an eye on the fire and making sure that all is cooked to perfection.   He’s actually really, really good at it.  The past few times, he’s roasted a lamb along with the pig.  So when he preps the lamb, he cuts a hole in the meat and stuff a clove of garlic in the hole and fills it with peach schnapps.  For each bit of peach schnapps he gives to the lamb, he gives himself a shot as well.  He has a one man party in the drive way.  He is something else…  You can see him carving the roast beasts in one of the pictures below.

The party was not at all for me.  It was all about Natasha (who is also called “Nattie” and “Tash”).  She left for the National Guard for 5 months this morning, June 20^th, to do her bit of service for the U.S.  She’s off to her basic and specialized trainings in Missouri, so please keep her in your thoughts. 

I’ve attached a few pictures from the party here.  Enjoy!

Pre-Departure Festivities

So, I knew that I wanted to find some way to decompress and collect my thoughts before I left for the "Promised Land".  So, Julie Gulling and I partook in a very short, 4 days to be exact, service trip to Puerto Rico.  Essentially, when we left Philly, we hopped on the plane and knew only that we were to look for a Missionary of Charity Sister when we arrived in San Juan.  Our plans for accommodations, transportation, activities, etc. were completely open.  The Sisters arranged everything.  It was amazing.  We had no decisions to make, no stress, and no mirrors.  The whole lack-of-mirror thing may sound a bit strange but it is really liberating.  Everyone should try it sometime...

The next four days were filled with lots of painting of small wooden objects for a small child version of the city of Jerusalem, incredibly beautiful Masses, nuns singing, seeing the ocean essentially all day everyday, Julie learning some Spanish, lizards, rain, and one broken down school bus ("it was only the clutch").  I can honestly say that those were probably the best four days that I can remember.  Julie and I placed all of our trust in God that He would take care of us and place us exactly where we should go.  We gave that trip to Him, and He gave us the most beautiful time one can imagine in return. 

The video attached is of the course that the Sisters were taking while in Aguadilla.  They sang in about 4 languages total throughout their time there, but this one is only in Spanish.  * Take note that these nuns are from all over the world.  As Celine so appropriately described it, "this is like the Catholic United Nations."

Aside from the volunteering we did, we also had some time to do some sight seeing, thanks to the arrangements made by Sr. Violet.  We saw Rincon, Aguada, and Crash Boat amongst other places with Nydia and Julien, our Puerto Rican hosts and padres.  We were able to see places like the pictures below.  This was followed up by an awesome pizza dinner. We were really fortunate to have been placed with such a great couple.  

Our trip was not a typical Puerto Rico experience, but Julie and I would have never wanted it any other way.  When we arrived, we had the Lazy Song by Bruno Mars stuck in our heads, but when we left we were singing Jesus and Marian hymns.  It was a great retreat.  It allowed us to clear our heads and to refocus our thoughts and hearts to where they really needed to be.  It brought a sense of peace to us, and I know that was exactly what I was looking for before I depart for my next months in Ethiopia.