Time in Ethiopia

For the first time since I started this blog, I have left it for more than three months...

So sorry, but I had never experienced a period of time so busy...

Today's blog, I recap my time in Ethiopia since my colleague's wedding and a weekend trip to Lake Langano.

In terms of work, firstly, it was very challenging because I could not gather the information needed for my biggest task...

However, thanks to my bosses and colleagues, I could visit 6 districts in 3 regions and leave some outcomes by the end of my three month internship.

I have earned not only further knowledge and experience in the domain of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) but also great experience with local people who are so generous that they let an Asian stranger to look at the toilets and water storage at their place.

Homemade shower (He does not take shower like this everyday, this was just demonstration...)

For the WASH facility observation, we went into people's yard and field (of course with them or with their permission)

Very powerful and kind women in a village.

I loved the old lady left side of me with her big smile and her great hospitality.

Kids probably from South Sudan in a village close to the border with the country (South Sudanese usually have much darker skin than Ethiopian)

Kids playing at school in the afternoon when there is no class for them (double shift for younger grade and older grade in one day)

 Highlands in this country are often located over 2000m altitude.

I think the roads are in general in better condition in Ethiopia than Burkina.

In one region, goats have their own house while in another, cows sleep in the same house as their owners.

I presented what I learned and produced at the end of my internship in front of my bosses and colleagues in WASH team at UNICEF Ethiopia.

After that, they offered me a huge chocolate cake and a traditional shawl.

I also enjoyed my private time with my roommates and friends at capital.

We went out almost every weekend to eat, drink, dance and watch European champions league...

Local alcohol (not really my cup of tea...) at a Ethiopian restaurant.

With traditional dance and music

On the way of hiking to the top of a hill where the capital Addis Ababa started originally. (quite good exercise to walk up for poorly trained foreigners for highlands lol)

Then the thing that I always do in a new country is to try local drink and food (culture).

Like tea in the UK and green tea in Japan, in Ethiopia, many people drink coffee (called Buna in Amhalic) after meal.

In my house, there was a 3D picture hung on a wall.

Local wine (not bad but funny to see it in a beer bottle)

Grilled or fried beef (called Tips/Tups) with spicy sauce and bread or Injera.

Fresh and very rich juice (from the top, mango, papaya, avocado and mango).

DELICIOUS!!!

A sort of crepe that especially Muslims eat often for their breakfast with honey.

They can be served in two ways: One as an entire crepe, another cut in small pieces and put in a ball.

The locals add scramble eggs in it (too much for me...)

I really appreciate Japanese Committee for UNICEF for giving me such a great opportunity .

A brief report on my experience in Ethiopia will be uploaded very soon on the website of the Committee. If you are interested, please check it out although it will be in Japanese.

Out of Addis

Last weekend, for the first time, I got out of the capital, Addis.

I went to Lake Langano, about 200 km from the capital in the South, with the newlywed couple, their friend and my roommate. 

Until the Saturday morning, the day of departure, we were not sure exactly what time and with which car we were leaving...

But this is Africa! lol

Although the distance is 200km, you cannot reach in 2 hours...

The condition of the road is one of the best apparently in the country but the drivers on the road are very bad, plus, animals like cows, donkeys, sheep and dogs come out on the road without any hesitation.

If by accident you hit any of these (domestic) animals, you will pay a lot to compensate their loss for not only the animal itself but also the future income from the livestock.

Fortunately, our driver, my roommate was well experienced and prudent so we had even a close call for any accident although we saw several totally destroyed trucks on the roadside and one accident between a car and a donkey. 

Sign in Amharic

The landscape of suburbs and countryside seemed quite similar to the one of Burkina.

The electric pole made with a tree supported by another trunk

Right now is just before the rainy season thus there is little vegetation.

On the other hand, there are also certain things that I have never seen in Burkina.

In small towns on the way, there were so many these three wheel cars that you may see many in Asia.

Trees in unique flat shape 

Not only in rural area but also in Addis, I see very often ladies using an umbrella to avoid the strong sun like Japanese ladies :)

The water of Langano lake is brown...which makes you think it dirty.

However, in fact, it is because of magnesium in the water and it is the only lake in Ethiopia where you can safely swim in without taking any risk of getting the Schistosomiasis which can makes you blind.

Ethiopia is an inland country like Burkina so such water area is very popular for holidays.

I did only put my feet and not swim though...

We played very much on beach side.

The area of Langano is lowland with temperature of about 30 degrees.

So although normally I do not drink or enjoy beer but it was so good (well, for alcohol, you do not really have other choices)!

St. George Beer: one of the most popular beer in Ethiopia

Luckily or by chance, the day when we were there was the night moon was the closest to the Earth.

Under such a bright moon, we did campfire, danced and had really fun.

It was such a relaxing weekend.

Nearby this lake, there is a forest reserve where you can find so many wild animals including a large number of endemic birds only in Ethiopia and/or Eritrea.

We only stayed nearby the lake so we saw only some types of birds. 

On the way back to Addis, we got a few storms,

But we bought cheap but fresh veggies from the local farmers and

we could see (apparently quite famous) Secretarybird.

Next time, I would love to stay 2 or 3 nights and enjoy the hiking in the reserve :)

Life in Addis

On 14th April, I finally put my step in East Africa.

Ethiopia

I started working as an intern at UNICEF Ethiopia office for the next three months.

The work of UNICEF is mainly office-based.

I have had rather field-based experience so I am not sure how much I would like this type of work in development.

But let's see.

I like trying new things and also I think more and more that local people who know the country, culture and language would be more suited for field-based work than absolute foreigners like me.

In addition, as part of UNICEF which supports the country at national level, I can have chance to participate in policy making and a wider-scale development programmes, which can be very challenging but also exciting.

This week is still my second week at office and in the country.

However, I know more or less my main tasks for the coming three months to complete.

This is very different from volunteering experience in Burkina Faso and I am very excited to take this challenge.

I will write about it more later once the work plan is approved/confirmed.

Today, I would like to talk about more off-work aspect.

On my second day in Addis Ababa, I was already invited to an Ethiopian's house because the day (Sunday) was Ethiopian Easter and the guy who is a friend of my 1st house owner is Christian.

I tried the Ethiopian staple food, Injera.

You eat it with the sauce, called wat,  cooked with lots of spicy spices.

The bread on the right side of the photo is a holly bread prepared for such religious occasions.

I also tasted a home-made local alcohol.

  

On this Saturday (1 week since my arrival), I moved to a new house.

You might think I am selfish but I am lazy and do not want to cook every evening after work. Of course there is no convenient store with prepared food although you could eat out.

I prefer rather cooking once a lot and eat for a following couple of days. The 1st house where I stayed did not have a fridge. And luckily I was offered another house with a fridge, a bigger room and cheaper rent.

So I did not hesitate to move.

For the next three months, I am going to live with 2 Germans who work for a private company which is developing a wind power farm in Ethiopia.

I do not know very well the geography of the city of Addis Ababa.

So I am a bit scared of taking public transport such as bus, minibus (with wagon) or taxi (in the order of low price).

At the same time, the city is quite big so difficult to walk from the one end to the other.

I do not even know where I live exactly or which area of the city I want to go...

Besides, not everyone speaks English, which is not a surprise. Like in Burkina Faso, each ethnic group has their own language and the country has an official language called Amharic.

Thus, if people realise that I as a foreigner do not know the area, they could try to rip me off.

But lats week one night, I had no choice but try a minibus to get back home from the area I had no idea where I was.

I was just told that from the spot, I could take a minibus toward the area of my house.

But no bus toward that direction came for 30-40 minutes while minibuses kept passing for other directions.

I could take a taxi but again, I have to negotiate the price and as I know nothing about the city, I am a foreign woman, I did not want to take any risk of being taken to somewhere else.

I started really worrying what to do. So finally I talked to two men waiting for a minibus and luckily they were waiting to take a bus for the same direction.

We waited together but no bus came so finally we took three different buses to get to the area.

They were really really nice and one of them even paid the fee of two buses for me...

I was not even sure of the exact place of my (1st) house so really they saved me!

Of course, not everyone can be so kind and it is risky to trust everyone but I really appreciated their generosity.

On Sunday, another generous Ethiopian who is the other intern in WASH section at UNICEF invited me to her wedding.

Although we have known each other since less than one week, she invited me to her special day of her life and furthermore, she gave me the role of flower girl!

As you can see from the photo below, the role of flower girls is often for very young girls...

However, I would not get such a chance anymore so I was very happy to take that and I could experience the entire day of an Ethiopian wedding from inside.

The bride and bridemaids started the day from 7am for the hairsetting and makeup then some photoshoots at the bride's house.

Then in the afternoon finally the groom arrived at her house with his best men.

The bridemaids and other ladies refused the entry of the men into the bride's house by singing and dancing.

However, the men sang them back and gradually managed to get into the house.

Then the groom offered a flower bouquet to the bride to imply the formal propose of marriage.

More photoshoots...

These days in Ethiopia, at least in Addis, the couple hires a professional cameraman and photographers to take the whole day of their wedding.

Very often they hire several BMWs to drive around the city and stop in front of Hilton hotel (I do not know why this spot but they say because it is nice) then sing, dance, celebrate with champagne and take more photos.

In the evening around 6-7pm, finally the wedding dinner party.

Her wedding was relatively small for Ethiopians with 120 invited.

In general, approximately 300-400, or even 700 people can be invited.

The food for celebration is also Injera!

At such a special day, there were so many different types of sauce for it.

Only at the wedding, people can enjoy fresh meet (often beeef) hung and a chef cut some for you.

However, other Ethiopians told me that people ate them with lots of spice to kill bacterias so I did not try it to avoid any risk...

After meal, let's dance!

In West Africa, including Burkina, the main part of body with which you dance is your hips while in Ethiopia, it is your sholders! They move them very quickly or in different ways.

I could not even imitate them...lol

It is hard to see how they dance on static photos but you see people's armes put on their hips and more their sholders.

While a break from the dance, the parents of both side offer bottles of wiskey to the newlywood.

Why? I do not know...

Then cakecut then more dance.

It lasted until 11pm.

I was very very happy to see a beautiful couple who seemed so happy and also to be part of such a special and cultural occasion.

I wish them a happyand long married life☆

Easter holiday

The month of March passed so quickly although I was not particularly busy of anything...

Yes, a shame,

I did not write even a blog during the month...

BUT!

This blog is the 100th blog since 2008!

So this is a sort of accomplishment, isn't it ?!

I have the will to keep writing this blog thanks to YOU who tell me that YOU look forward to reading my blog regularly and YOU are interested in following my life!

Thank you so much for your support!

April normally indicates the arrival of spring.

This year, yes in England, it has been so sunny and warm since a couple of weeks while in Japan, no, the winter does not seem to want to leave from the country... 

Nevertheless in Japan, in April, a new year starts for (most of) all companies and schools.

People take a sort of new resolution of this year and start working fresh.

My spring is also approaching.

Although my job hunting has not brought any fruit yet, I got the chance to do a three-month internship with UNICEF.

So mid-April, I am heading to Ethiopia to gain more work experience, particularly in the WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) sector. 

What exactly I am going to do there?

I do not know... So keep following my blog, please!

I will surely talk about my life and work there (more frequently than once a month, I promise.)

While preparing my trip, my best friend from University in Japan came to Brighton to visit us with her family.

I attempted to visit them several times but every time, it was bad timing and I have never made it.

So I was really happy for their visit. 

During their stay in Brighton, they were sooooo lucky to have always nice sun above us!

We took them to beautiful Seven Sisters

with our homemade Afternoon Tea picnic

Enjoyed the sun at the Brighton Beach

Had fun at the attraction park on the Brighton Pier like children

Me and my friend got on a roller coaster of a ghost house. At the beginning, it was a bit scary but suddenly the coaster stopped and we were stuck for about 5 minutes.

In the end, a technician came over and told us that the operation computer broke and we needed to get out by emergency exit.

Well, this gave us the impression of how old all the machines in this park are...
 

Anyway, I am quite sure that they got the best impression of Brighton from this visit ♪ 

From 6th until 9th April, it is the Easter holiday and a long weekend in England.

We have had several Easter eggs before this holiday..

Instead, on 6th as the start of the weekend and my birthday, Ben prepared an excellent dinner for me :)

With the arrival of spring, I get older.

This year,  I put much more efforts to advance my (professional) life with my age!