Food and water

One of the other team members, Joan, mentioned something the other day about how thankful she is for unlimited clean water. Here, we are only drinking bottled or boiled water - including for brushing our teeth.  There aren't always a lot of options during meals that are 'diet', so I find myself drinking a lot more water than I usually do. It's also very dry and often dusty, so water is the thirst-quencher I'm looking for. I find I get into a bit of a hoarding mode when it comes to having enough bottled water available. What is 'enough'? What if I get thirsty at night? What if I run out and don't have any for brushing my teeth? What if we can't find any on a long drive? What if, like this morning, my mouth is so dry during training I feel like I can barely speak?

It's kind of eye opening. I mean, I know that not everyone has enough water - let alone clean and safe water. I think of it at home sometimes when I'm doing dishes or the sprinklers are on. But here, it's kind of an in-your-face reality. I don't think the locals are affected by any lurking bugs in the water we've been exposed to so far - they know these bugs! But our stomachs do not and it means that we have to be careful when we think about choosing what we eat or drink - were those yummy-looking fruits and vegetables washed in water that wasn't boiled or from a bottle? What about the ice in my drink? At the Hilton, we were pretty confident everything was OK. Today I decided to eat the cabbage salad during lunch at the training and so far, so good.

Now, on to the fun stuff - the food! The food here, on the whole, has been pretty good. Yes, it's injera at breakfast, lunch and dinner, but there have been other options thankfully. After my bout with whatever that was on Sunday, I'm having a hard time getting back to the injera. What's injera, you ask?  It's made from a grain - usually something called tef - but sometimes from barley or other grains. It's fermented so has a sour flavor, and then is made into a very thin and spongy circle. They cut it into sections, roll it up to serve, and then lay some down on their plate before adding the rest of the food. More is taken to eat with - it's kind of like a utensil. Ethiopian meals are eaten with your hands - your right hand, specifically - and the injera serves as a vehicle to get the food from the plate to your mouth. You tear off a piece, kind of wrap it around the bite you want, and shove it in your mouth. For those of us without a lot of practice, it can be kind of messy.

The tibs (strips of meat in sauce) has been one of my favorites - I've only tried the beef, and it's definitely well done, but generally it's a pretty decent dish. I haven't tried any of the 'wot' dishes yet and there are lots of mystery things I see in the lunch buffets. Plus the super spicy berber sauce. Since there are 'fasting' days (Wed and Fri?) they have a lot of vegetables, rice and pasta which is nice.  There's this one lentil-based dish that is my favorite - I hope I find out what it's called before we leave. It's all very colorful - beets, green beans, carrots, the red berber sauce, spinach, potatoes, and more! Plus they have wonderful breads here - probably because of the Italian influence. I think that influences the lovely little cookies and cakes they have out at tea time, as well.

I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting something - like all the Western food we've had available, the great Italian lunch we had in Addis before coming to Adama, and the cheeseburger I had for dinner tonight - but maybe I'll sneak things in to other posts along the way. Initially I also wanted to mention smells in the post, but it's probably worthy of a completely separate post of it's own!

2 kinds of injera, berber sauce, and some tibs along with rice and  ?

lunch buffet at the hotel where we are training in Adama

'Western' meal of roast chicken and vegetables from Kelly's in Adama

had to add this one in - Coca Light (Diet Coke) in Amharic

Training Day 1

Today was training day 1 here in Adama. Before I get to that, though, I had a pretty much 'lost' day yesterday. Our first night here I woke up at 2:30 am and was pretty ill all night and most of the rest of the day. I was worried it was from dinner and since 4 out of 5 of us had the same thing, that would have taken the whole team out!  Turns out it was just me, and thankfully I was on the mend by about 7 pm. I wasn't too helpful when we went to the training site to set up the room and assemble the tote bags with the training binders, etc. I think it was Deman who helped make me feel better when she joked during a photo op. The 4 volunteers had our company T-shirts on and asked her and Getachew, the EHNRI training coordinator, to get in the photo. When we said they should get in the middle, Deman shot back, "Why? Because we are black?". We all howled with laughter. I'm sure this will be the joke of the trip - in fact, it came up again today already!

So, back to training today. Somehow I slept well last night and wasn't up tossing and turning, being nervous about the presentations today. That probably helped things go as smoothly as they did. We were up early and at the hotel a few doors down well before 8 am, doing the final set up and settling ourselves down. We started with 21 students (we were expecting 30), but by the end of the day we had 25. I was surprised that only 4 of those were women - I figured it would be more evenly matched based on photos from the previous pilot trainings. Another obvious difference was the participation rate in our group - apparently in past sessions the students had been too shy to say much until a couple of days into training. Today, we had no trouble getting a great level of engagement during the various activities, and there were even some heated (but good-spirited) discussions.  It's very gratifying teaching a group of people who are so interested and willing to learn. Our group is a little bit different, being higher level managers and/or trainers from regional centers versus the local health care workers in the other sessions. Our training this week is a Training of Trainers session so these students are expected to go back to their regional centers and deliver this material to other groups, making the program sustainable once our involvement in the SRS program is over.  We also have 2 CARDNO external consultants observing - they are a 3rd party group assessing our public/private partnership and this was one trip they were able to coordinate with.

Overall, it was a great day and makes me excited for the rest of the training this week, lab assessments and prep work for some of the new 'trainers' next week, and finally observing and mentoring the trainers when they in turn deliver this material at another region the following week.  Off to review materials for tomorrow's sessions....

Today's joke came about after I had climbed the 4 flights of stairs back up to the training room after the break and as soon as I sat down, Deman asked me to fetch her a cup of coffee. Debbie asked, "Why? Because she's white?"...

The photos below show the students working on various parts of the Process Mapping activity, which can be a bit confusing and difficult, but makes for great team building and discussion opportunities.

Adventures in Adama

I'm falling behind on blogging - sometimes because I'm too tired, sometimes because the internet connection is so slow it's painful... This was supposed to be posted yesterday.

Yesterday we made the trek from Addis to Adama - we were expecting worse, but it only took us about 2 hours to get here, even with the Saturday traffic. Our driver said that this is the road to Djibouti where there are major ports, so it's quite busy. Lots of huge trucks - lots of overwhelming fumes. We followed the 'China road' which is in excellent condition almost all the way here. I think this means it's another projected funded by or contracted out to the Chinese.

I jotted down some impressions along the way.  As we were leaving mid-city, Avril was blaring from our driver's speakers - as Adrian called it, we were definitely in the 'party bus'! I also saw they had kind of bus lines in the middle lanes of the highway in the outskirts of town.  It's very pastoral - lots of agriculture going on. Comments in the bus were that it looked like central California. There were Brahma bulls and cows all over the roadsides, along with donkeys and goats. We also started to see donkey carts as a mode of transportation (and some little 3 wheel taxis!). Then the dwellings changed and there were more of what we are told are the typical rural round huts with mud/straw walls and thatched roofs.

The hotel looked pretty good upon arrival with a very nice lobby area and a pool, but based on the rooms, it's a far cry from the Hilton - which itself needed some updating.  Pretty small, no storage, 3 hangers, 2 outlets (both occupied) and mosquito netting over the bed. Wow - we've finally made it to something closer to the REAL Ethiopia!  And did I mention, the rate is around $27 a night - more than 10x less than the Hilton. So it keeps looking better - except for the crazy road noise.

Oh, don't let me forget. After practicing the Process Mapping exercise for a couple of hours, Friday night Deman took us to a cultural restaurant for dinner. We ate from an Ethiopian buffet, compete with a hand-washer at the beginning of the line! There was typical Ethiopian music and dancing - definitely the best part of the evening.

Thanksgiving in Addis

Back home it's still technically Thanksgiving - here it's already Friday morning. Yesterday was a busy and exciting day! 

We finally met Deman, our local Global Health participant in the SRS training volunteer program from the Nairobi office. She took us to the EHNRI office (Ethiopian Health & Nutrition Research Institute), which houses the local CDC building among others.  We were in search of the 56 boxes of training materials sent over from the US so that we could assemble and organize the materials for the Train the Trainer session next week, plus the subsequent 6 regional trainings to follow. We ended up moving all the boxes out of the crowded lab they were in to better get into everything. And in the end, we schlepped them all back into the lab in a much more organized fashion!

After all that work, we picked up some wayward luggage at the airport and then did some shopping in a neighborhood market area. We all got some nice souvenirs & gifts to bring home.  Deman was kind enough to find us somewhere to celebrate Thanksgiving with a buffet dinner at a nearby hotel, so apparently if you look hard enough, you can find a little bit of home wherever you are.

I'm also adding a few links to the blog so check those out if you're interested.

Tourist day

This morning I was woken up by the front desk calling to see why I wasn't down at the shuttle to the airport... geez, I just got here! At least that meant I didn't oversleep and miss meeting the gals for breakfast and our quick tour of the hotel grounds - tennis courts, huge swimming pool, mini golf, basketball court - all kinds of stuff!   We had a bunch of housekeeping to do after that - we all needed to exchange some money, Debbie & Joan both had to change rooms, and I had to find evidence that I really did book my first night's stay on points....   Anyhow, after a late start we finally met up with our driver, Sami, and got off to see some of Addis!

First impressions - bustling, noisy, chaotic city of ~ 5 million where vehicles have no traffic lights or signs (or laws?) to obey and everyone does what ever they want. Thank goodness Sami is a great driver! California smog checks are obviously not happening here - the exhaust fumes are pretty hard on the nose and lungs.

He took us past the palace, Piazza, the University and the roundabout Siddist Kilo (Yekatit 12 Monument) up a sharply winding road onto the Entoto Mountain. We passed a lot of women going down, carrying huge bundles of eucalyptus wood branches on their backs. Apparently they cut the wood and carry it into town to home or the market to sell and it gets used for cooking fires. There is eucalyptus everywhere, so not sure why they have to go all the way up and carry it all the way back down - there might be plantations where it is 'farmed', perhaps. I found this link reading someone else's blog - check it out for more info on the Women Wood Fuel Carriers: http://go.worldbank.org/S9UF4PDRN0

Sami let us out to take some photos from a high vantage point and we all got in a bit of a situation that started when I took a photo of one woman's donkeys. She asked for money for taking the photo - I had just got some changed to Birr and had no idea what the small bills were worth. I gave her something and she wasn't happy - apparently 1 photo = 10 Birr. In any case, I guess I did get her included in an earlier shot so not that big of a deal. Poor Joan got surrounded by other women, though - but we all made it out OK and the women got a few extra Birr this morning.

We went up higher and ended up at our goal of the Entoto Maryam Church. 50 Birr each for entrance, not including the museum, and we didn't get to go inside because there was a service going on. Our self-appointed guide did take us around back to see the very modest palace of the Emporer Melenik & his wife Taitu. It was a collection of mud and stick buildings with high and intricate ceilings, hand hewn wooden floors, and thatched roofs. I think one was a living room, one was a dining room and storage area for meat and other foods, and one was maybe a living quarters. The floors, ceilings and inner walls were supposedly original from the 1880;s. We also saw one of the 'ladies' or nuns in the monastery area behind the church along with all the spices and foods set out to dry in the sun, an old guard and his 3 sheep, a small barley field, and beside the current working church, the small, round church that is supposed to be the first built in Addis.  Tombs for Haile Selassie, Melenik and Taitu (all now moved to another location) and for some aristocratic families are also there.  Reading the guidebook, looks like we missed out on seeing a 13th century rockhewn church that was only another 2 km away.

After coming down the mountain, we drove through the Mercato - the biggest shopping area in Addis. I had been picturing a pedestrian area with open sided stalls, but not so. While there are a ton of pedestrians, they are all competing with the cars, trucks and 'blue donkeys' (taxi minibuses) that clog the roads of the Mercato area. It's HUGE and has sections for everything under the sun - produce, textiles, jewelry, shoes, clothes, spices, building & construction supplies, and what our driver called the most dangerous area with all the, um, reclaimed car parts! It wasn't really somewhere we could get out and roam around, so we just took in the sights from the car.  From the Mercato, he drove us by the huge and very new-looking American Embassy, and later the Canadian Embassy with a Canadian flag painted on the gate.  Then he pointed out the almost complete, shiny new and very tall headquarters of the African Union. It's quite a modern and impressive campus - and it's a gift from the Chinese government. On the way back to the hotel, we also saw the UN offices, the Sheraton which was all decorated for Christmas, and a lovely park that was all gated and looked like it might have been closed to the public.

Pretty good first day! Tomorrow we probably have some of the morning off, but after that it's time to start prepping for the upcoming week of training.

We're here!

Just a quick post - Joan, Debbie & I made it safe & sound, luggage and all, after a very long day. Actually, close to 2 days, I guess - definitely 2 days considering the time change. 11 hours ahead for Debbie & I, and 9 hours ahead for Joan.

Flights were long but uneventful. Hotel in Addis is clean but definitely in need of a makeover - this is more like the Hilton from 30+ years ago in terms of style. Smoking is wherever, whenever, but at least they have non-smoking rooms which helps a little.

We really haven't seen anything much yet - it was dark when we arrived (about 9 pm local time) and now that it's 1 am local time, I'm popping the sleeping pill to help me sleep through this first night since back home it's 2 pm....

Tomorrow is our 'sightseeing/vacation' day before the real work starts so hopefully we'll be able to take advantage of most of the day and explore!

The adventure (really) starts today!

After a mostly sleepless night, I've made it to the airport - according to Susan, who's been on a couple of these trips before, I've just passed the biggest, most important hurdle. I'm thinking the upcoming ~11 hr flight for leg 2 of the journey will be the biggest hurdle in the next however many hours until we touch down in Addis. But thankfully I have some little sleeping pills which should help out :o)

Hopefully I have everything I'll need. My checked bag was 5 lbs overweight, so I'm now carrying at least 50 in my rollerboard carry-on I'm guessing. I had to transfer over 2 of the clinical microbiology text books to have my checked bag meet the requirements. In any case, I'm loaded down like never before for my carry-on luggage!

I'm excited to be meeting my fellow traveller, Debbie, at LAX. Then we connect with Joan in Frankfurt for the last leg. I said my somewhat tearful goodbye Elliott early this morning - I miss him already. So on with the adventure, then!

This is probably the last post from this side - next one will most likely be from Addis tomorrow if I can manage to log on before crashing for the night.

Ethiopia time

During orientation for the trip, we heard about 'Ethiopia time' from past volunteers and others. Apparently it's not just something like 'island time' where people might show up late for everything, but also an actual step back in time.  They follow a Ge'ez calendar based on the Coptic calendar, which has 12 months of 30 days plus 5 or 6 extra days sprinkled in.

This means that over time they have fallen behind our Gregorian calendar and it's actually 2004 in Ethiopia! New Year's Day is almost always September 11th of our calendar do 2004 is still young over there.  Speaking of young, does that mean I can drop 7 years off my age while I'm there?

More importantly, I think I could use a little bit of Ethiopian time to make sure I'm ready for this adventure. I can't believe it's starting on Monday!! That's 11 Hadar 2004 in Ethiopian time :o)

Weekend trip before THE trip

Since I'm leaving my poor hubby & our little pup, Domino, alone for 4 weeks, I thought a little weekend getaway was in order. It was actually part of Elliott's birthday present (along with tickets to the Packer game last weekend).  I booked us a couple of nights at a pet-friendly beach hotel in Dana Point.

Because the weather was supposed to be rainy we changed our plans and only stayed Friday night, but managed to do a few fun things on Saturday before the rain came down.  After breakfast we headed to Doheney State Beach. It was pretty much deserted so we let Domino run around off-leash chasing birds, Elliott, and sniffing everything in sight.  When we'd had enough of that we drove south to San Clemente and sat outside at our favorite little cheese/wine/beer shop.  After enjoying a cheese plate & some libations, the rain started coming down so it was time to head home. It was Domino's first road trip of any consequence and I think she did pretty well with all the upheaval.

Since we weren't gone all weekend, I made reservations for the beer week small plate dinner at the best little chocolate shop in town and we had a great evening out, indulging in some of the amazing food Will thought up for November's menu.

Today dawned sunny & bright so we went out for a 30 mile bike ride along the coast with Fred this morning - we'll see if I get out again next weekend before taking off for Addis. Then, list in hand, I went out yet again to try to finish shopping for the trip. I struck out at the first stop, but managed to get a bunch of things crossed of the list. 7 shopping days left!

It was a good weekend - over too quickly as usual. One more before Debbie, Joan & I head off on our adventure, volunteering in Ethiopia.

Missing the holiday panic

So the other day I realized that not only will I be missing out on spending Thanksgiving with my hubby - which should be our first Thanksgiving as a married couple - I'm going to miss all the holiday craziness, good and bad.  If you don't already know, Christmas is indeed one of my favorite times of the year. I wonder if Christmas happens in Ethiopia? "Do they know it's Christmas time at all?" comes to mind for some reason. Thank goodness for Google. Looks like the Ethiopian Orthodox Church celebrates Ganna (celebration of Christ's birth) on January 7th. And they play a stick & ball game, also called ganna, that is somewhat like hockey (without the ice) - I'll probably feel right at home! Hopefully we'll get to see some of the buildup to the local customs and celebrations before we leave.

I'm seriously thinking of taking all my Christmas cards with the envelopes pre-addressed and sending them from Ethiopia pretty much the first day I get there! Or more likely, the first day I find somewhere to buy stamps.  That means I better start working on that ASAP. Hmmm... curriculum or Christmas cards?

I'll also miss the company party (a sacrifice I can handle!), but I'm trying to convince Elliott he really should go without me - after all, his best friend will be there.  My colleagues were very considerate and they are waiting until the day after I get back to hold the annual dept. party.

Unless Elliott decides to put up the tree while I'm gone, I'm guessing this might be a tree-less year, but we'll see how energetic I feel when I get back. I hear there is a great silver market in Addis, so the fam better be OK with lots of gifts - that will arrive late in Canada, of course - of the silver variety!

All in all, I think it'll be a pretty fair trade-off - discover a new culture and miss out on some of the traditions of home.  And be doing a little something to help improve the quality of the health care systems while I'm at it.

Reading list

I'm leading the discussion tonight at book club. Knowing I was going to Ethiopia, Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb was my choice. The author spent a year in Ethiopia and the book (fiction) takes place half in London, England and half in Ethiopia, all in the recent past. I really enjoyed Gibb's writing and Lilly, the main character's story. According to the Literary Review of Canada, it is ".. a novel that is culturally sensitive, consummately researched and deeply compassionate... richly imagined, full of sensuous detail and arresting imagery... Gibb has smuggled Western readers into the centre of lives they might never otherwise come into contact with, let alone understand."

Other reading I'd recommend:

• Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese. Also a work of fiction, split between Ethiopia and New York City.
• Into Africa: a guide to Sub-Saharan Culture & Diversity - Yale Richmond, Phyllis Gestrin (non-fiction)
• 28 Stories of AIDS in Africa - Stephanie Nolan (non-fiction)
• Ethiopia - Philip Briggs (Bradt Travel Guide)

14 days and counting until I start the 3-stage flight to Addis!


I have all my shots, my visa is in process, and the flights & accommodations are booked. What I'm most nervous about now is getting comfortable enough with the curriculum before we get there. And the packing of course!