Life

Yesterday I saw something that I had never seen before….and hope to never see again.  I had originally planned to write about my first week in Ethiopia today, but I thought I would blog about what happened on our way home yesterday from a day trip. About 8 of us rented a van and went to Wenchi Crater Lake (I’ll try to post pictures soon – but here’s a link so you can get an idea of where we were- http://www.wenchi-crater-lake.com/about.php). The lake was absolutely beautiful and it was a treat to get out of the city and away from traffic and smog (my lungs thanked me!).

I haven’t written about traffic yet, but traffic in Addis (and larger towns) not only consists of cars in the road, but goats, cows, and people crossing at any given time. Crosswalks are non-existent here, and even if they were, no one would use them. In our first week, there have been COUNTLESS times where someone has walked in front of our vehicle and our driver has had to slam on his brakes to keep from hitting the person.

We were about 1.5 hours away from home, and as we came down a hill, the traffic was at a complete standstill and people were all over the road. I initially thought that a fight going on, but as we got closer, we realized what happened. There was a body in the road. The accident had just happened, and someone was bringing a sheet to lay over the body. Everyone from the village as coming out to see and the older women and men were crying and raising their hands to the heavens and saying things in Amharic.

We were stuck. There was nothing for us to do. And there was nowhere we could go. We were on a two lane road and people were surrounding the body and our van. Our driver turned the car off and we just sat and watched. There were no police. No ambulance. The body was lying on the street and residents of the village were paying their last respects.  

Finally an unmarked van was able to maneuver its way through the crowd (almost hitting several other people) and the side door opened. From the path that the vehicle made our driver was able to drive through the crowds and get back on the road to Addis.  As we passed the van, I looked out the window and saw the owner of the van and other men picking up the body and putting it in the van.

As we drove away, I couldn’t help think about life and how quickly it can be taken away.  We may have passed this person on our way to the lake, and he had no idea that his life would end later that day. My great-grandma turned 100 yesterday. Life can be short. Life can also be long. But I think it’s important to do the things you want to do today, because we aren’t promised tomorrow.  As Mark Twain said, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Also, please let me know if you’re not getting updates from my blog. Posting is sporadic due to internet outage, etc. I’ll try to update this afternoon and post a few pictures from yesterday.

Ethiopian Proverbs

Part of my job this summer is to work with the gender team at Save the Children USA on technical support. When I had my introduction to the topic, the Sr. Technical Advisor was explaining how gender norms create an unequal balance of power between women and men in Ethiopia. Verbal messages (poems, sayings, proverbs) can impact the society in a negative (or positive) way that encourage/discourage gender inequality and risky sexual behaviors that can lead to HIV transmission.

Here are a couple of my favorite Ethiopian proverbs and what the cultural assumptions are (as explained by the advisor): 

1. “A woman is born just to please a man” – This proverb assumes that women cannot say no to men…meaning women have less power in relationships than men. 
2.   “A lady is good when staying at home and a flame is strong in the oven” –promotes isolating women and limiting their access to information and health services. 
3.  “Both a girl and a masero (the smallest pot) can serve their purpose despite their size” - promotes cross generational relationships. 
4.  “A woman and a phone booth both work with a coin”  - assumes that if someone gives a woman money, the woman will do whatever is asked of her or it assumes that the only way to have a sexual relationship with a woman is to give her money. 
5.  “It is difficult to quit sex as much as avoiding urinating” - assumes that men cannot control their sexual desires.

 As you can tell, gender equality plays an important role in ensuring safe-sex practices. Going through these proverbs and understanding the cultural background and norms in Ethiopia has already been a learning process. It’s not something that can be changed overnight like educating populations on the importance of the use of condoms or  handing out vouchers for free clinic visits and medication.  As an M&E person, I questioned how one can measure a change in norms? The old beliefs still exist and will exist for a long time. Looks like I’ve got my hands full :)

Work Day #1

Don’t worry. I’m not gonna detail each day at work for the next 10 weeks, but I figured the first day deserved a post by itself.

Where to begin? How about midnight?! I went to bed Sunday night at around 9PM (still a little jet-lagged and dealing with the altitude), but I woke up around midnight to the barking of a couple of dogs in the neighborhood. Apparently all of us in the house were up from midnight – 3AM (when the dogs finally decided to stop barking – maybe they finally got tired?). A couple of street dogs were outside of the neighbor’s house and the neighbors have a dog they keep locked in a pen at night. Locked up dog was not happy about the two dogs on the street. And before long, dogs all over Addis were barking and chiming in. I wanted to open my window and scream at them to go home…but then I realized they probably wouldn’t understand me. If they bark again tonight, I’ve come up with a brilliant plan to start throwing shrimp out the window to get them hush-up. Unless we cook the shrimp tonight for dinner….then it’s green beans?

I quickly fell back asleep, but at 4AM I woke to the sound of prayers. No, not the Muslim call to prayer, but from the Ethiopian Orthodox church in the neighborhood. The church is praying for families in the neighborhood. How can I request that tomorrow morning they pray for the dogs to be quiet and for Meena to sleep? Thank you!

Fast forward to breakfast…our USAID contact met us for coffee/tea/bread/eggs and to discuss our itinerary. Two of the interns got sick last night from the Ethiopian food we had (yes mom, I ate with my hands – no silverware), so only 3 of us were going to work the first day. One intern is working at an organization by herself, but Whitney (MPH student from UNC-Chapel Hill) is working with me at Save the Children on the HIV prevention program. We didn’t know where we going (and neither did our driver). After a couple of calls to the Embassy, we finally found the office. It’s a pretty large compound – there’s even a cafeteria on site! We met with the team (our boss is in the States for the next few weeks), and basically spent the day reading reports. We had lunch with the staff (more Ethiopian food), and once we got back to the office, it felt like nap time. We lasted until about 2:30 and called our driver to pick us up. It’s kinda nice not having to drive – traffic is INSANE! There’s one junction that I want to stand on the corner and record the cars driving - it looks like the crazy videos you see on YouTube from Vietnam! Maybe I should put in a prayer request for vehicle safety tomorrow morning :)

Hello Africa! Nice to see you again!

Well, Africa, here I am! I knew I had arrived when I stepped off the plane and smelled the air...it’s hard to explain to someone who’s never traveled to Africa, but in my opinion, Africa has a smell of muggy, hot, construction, food, and sweat mixed all together. I’m sure my sweaty self was adding to the aroma after traveling for 24 plus hours, but let’s not jump ahead.

So I left Atlanta on Thursday night bound for Dubai. The flight was completely full – mostly Indian expats and American soldiers on their way to Afghanistan. I can usually sleep on long flights (this one took 14 hours), but after they passed out dinner and everyone was getting ready to go to sleep, they realized that they couldn’t dim the lights. At all. They called Atlanta in hopes of finding a “secret button” to press to turn off the lights (direct quote from one of the flight attendants – seriously). Alas, no secret button was found, and I attempted to sleep with the lights on. Fast-forward 14 hours and we land in Dubai. Because of my intricate flight itinerary, the folks in Atlanta weren’t able to check my bags all the way through to Addis Ababa, which meant I had to go through immigration in Dubai. After a couple of questions about what I’m doing in Dubai (trying to get my bags and get on another flight) and how long I’ll be there ( 3 hours sir, and counting), I’m finally able to pass through and get my bags.

Now, imagine me wandering around Dubai’s airport trying to find the Gulf Air ticket counter, with 2 rolling bags, a purse, a book bag and another bag on my shoulder. Moving from one building to another, I finally find the ticket counter and arrive drenched in sweat! It was HOT outside! How I’ll survive in August, I’m not sure, but we’ll think about that later.  I manage to get back to the terminal and wait for my flight to Bahrain. I was surprised to find the majority of the passengers being of Ethiopian descent – and very young. They were all carrying duty-free items from Dubai and my sense was that they travel to Dubai to shop for items they can’t get in Ethiopia. What happened next was very shocking.  While most airlines board by zone or row, Gulf Air only allowed the whites/Arabs/Asians to board first, before allowing anyone who was black to board. I was shocked, but followed the rules when the flight attendant started motioning me to move along.

The flight to Bahrain was about 45 minutes, but they were sure to get a meal in! The girl I sat next to looked at the sandwich with some sort of chicken hummus thing and said “Lebanese food”.  So we had Lebanese food on a flight from the United Arab Emirates to Bahrain, with 95% of the passengers being from Ethiopia. That’s culture my friends.

Boarding the flight to Addis Ababa from Bahrain was even less organized than by the color of our skin. It was a free-for-all.  Women were boarding the plane and had no idea where they were supposed to sit, so they just sat next to their friends...which caused much frustration for the flight attendants. Speaking of, the flight attendants from Bahrain to Addis could speak English, Thai, Mandarin, Arabic, German, Flemish (really?), and French. I was impressed with their ability to communicate with others on the flight – although this flight was 99.9 percent Ethiopian, and 2 white girls (including myself).  The girls on my row found it hilarious to order “icy whiskey” when dinner came around. When they realized they couldn’t just drink the whiskey, they got a coke and tried to drink it (didn’t drink much of it – I guess they just wanted to see if they could order it).

Once I arrived in Addis, and made it through immigration (which included picture taking and fingerprint sets), I found my bags relatively quickly, but that’s where “Take-charge Nabavi” stopped. My driver wasn’t there. And I didn’t have the phone number of the hotel (it’s brand new). AND I couldn’t get in touch with the 24-hour duty officer at the Embassy. I sat down in the airport and realized that this was the icing on the cake – I make it to Ethiopia by myself and the easiest part (finding a man holding a piece of paper with your name on it) was going to do me in. I waited an hour and a half. Finally I saw someone with a piece of paper that said “Ms. Meena Nabavi - USAID/Ethiopia”.  Relief! I sighed and the man carried my bags out to the car. My room is located near the airport – maybe only 5 minutes away. I met 2 of the other interns (briefly) and came up to my room. Not sure what my first day in Ethiopia will hold, but know that it’s only 8AM and my day is already off to a bang! I’m back in Africa!

'Twas the night before departure

The 24 hour countdown is on. Wow, time has flown by. I wrapped things up in Alabama, and drove to Atlanta on Monday to spend a few days with my parents and sisters before I depart from Atlanta-Hartsfield on Thursday night.

My suitcases are (sorta) packed - I'm gonna try to get things packed up and locked up tonight, and try to relax (as much as I can) tomorrow before I leave.

I fly from Atlanta to Dubai (direct - 14 hours) and then from Dubai to Bahrain (45 minutes) and then Bahrain to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (4.5 hours). I'll land in Addis at around 4AM Saturday morning (approx 9PM Friday night in Atlanta). The Embassy has arranged for a driver to pick me up from the airport and take me to the hotel. The key will be to not sleep all day Saturday, and only sleep Saturday night on order to start getting adjusted to the time change.

I hope to meet up with a few other interns on Saturday and do some sightseeing around Addis. So I guess I'll try to update on Saturday, assuming I make it to Ethiopia in one piece and have internet access. Positive thoughts!

Single Digits y'all - 9 days!

Wow. Time is flying by. And of course I feel completely unprepared for leaving. So many questions and still so much to do. Leaving an apartment for 10 weeks and making sure that everything is taken care of is taxing. On top of that I'm still working at school, taking a directed study class, and trying to see friends and family before I leave.

This weekend I went home, my "real" home - Winnsboro, Louisiana. For some reason I thought that Louisiana was a lot closer to Birmingham...after 3 hours in the car, I was still in Alabama! Plugged the address into the GPS and discovered that it was 350 miles and 5 hours away!

I was only able to spend 48 hours at home, but I got to see and spend time with close friends and family. My great-grandma, Mrs. Mary W. Townsend,  is turning 100 on June 16th, and since I won't be here for her birthday celebration, I wanted to make sure to wish her a happy birthday. 100 years old! A century! She's seen a lot! Will I make it that long? Maybe so if I learn not to stress so much. My great-grandma grew up going to school and working in the fields. She led the singing at church on Sundays and spent her adult life raising two children. Maybe it's time to get serious about farming...after Ethiopia, of course.

Sleep..What's that?

Wow. I really do hope this insomnia that I'm suffering from ends soon. I thought it was related to my exams, but those are done, so I'm not sure what's going on with my body right now. It's like I just woke up. I've been making business calls and paying bills - it's amazing - the wait time is non-existent at 2:00 AM!

The exciting news today was that I was finally cleared to travel! So, I've gone ahead and reserved my plane tickets - my total cost for roundtrip travel will be $337.80 USD! That's what talking to representatives at Delta at 1:30 AM will get you! I need to find a countdown ticker for this blog so I can keep track of how much time I have left ( and convince myself that I need sleep in order to function to get it all done)!