‘Twas the night before Christmas when all through Adola
There wasn’t a sign that Christmas was here at all!
One of the pleasures of being in Ethiopia is that I have not been bombarded since sometime in October with Christmas music, and shops trying to sell me all kinds of rubbish for Christmas (they have plenty of rubbish to buy without needing a special occasion!). One of the most impressive contrasts is the lack of advertising everywhere and the complete absence of supermarkets here in this rural town.
Ethiopians don’t like much to plan too far ahead (usually no more than 10 minutes or so) when I gave a class focussing on time-management, the listed most things they had to do as important and urgent! This is probably true because everything gets left to the last minute so it becomes urgent. However, I quite like the spontaneity of things here and once you get used to it and expect it, it is possible to cope with it – even if it does mean frequent last minute changes. One of the benefits that came from this was a recent trip to Negele Borena, the main town of the Guji Zone (the area of Oromia Adola is in). Friday mid-afternoon, the vice-dean walked into my office and asked if I wanted to join him on a weekend trip there where he was giving a workshop. Naturally I accepted (after all it is considered very impolite to say “no” here!). His main reason was for watching the Ethiopia match on the Saturday – he seems to like my company for this. I think I have watched more football in the last 3 months than in the rest of my life- sometimes as many as 3 matches in one afternoon. If I’m not an expert by the end of time here, it will have been time wasted!
While it was pleasant to visit a new place Negele was not the most exciting town in the world and had little more to offer than Adola and without the comforts at home. Still the drive was beautiful and at times nerve-racking; the rains had made the unsealed sections of road a little challenging and seeing a bus sliding towards you, sideways down a muddy mountain road is quite an experience. Fortunately it was dry for the return trip and seemed like a different road and I had been that little bit closer to the Somali border :).
Tomorrow is Christmas day, but I will be at work. Don’t worry, this isn’t because the college is some Victorian institution run by an Ethiopian Ebenezer, nor is it because I am being more than usually “humbug” about the whole thing. Rather it is because Ethiopia doesn’t celebrate Christmas on 25th December. It is for them just a normal day in the week. Here Christmas, called Genna, occurs on the 7th January and this is not to be confused with Epiphany, because they have a separate celebration for that on the 19th January, called Timkat. And this is why this blog is just Part 1. For several reasons I have decided I will celebrate along with the locals; mainly because as the lone foreigner it would be a little strange to be walking around singing jingle bells, but also because I am here to experience Ethiopia and so it seems more fitting to celebrate with them.
Actually for a brief period I did have a companion here in Adola, a volunteer from the Netherlands who had come to work at the hospital. I guess this town was only big enough for the one of us and she made her way on to pastures new in less than a week. I feel the need to defend the town here to say that it wasn’t a fault with the wonderful local people, or the beautiful setting, rather it was a problem with the accommodation with which she was provided. Photos have made me appreciate all the more the place I have here on the college campus.
I have no idea what to expect from the Ethiopian celebration; certainly not turkey, mince pies and Christmas pudding. However, it will be the differences that will make Christmas, or Genna, this year something rather special.