I know I like to make you wait for my blog entries.\u00a0 Let\u2019s pretend it has something to do with building the anticipation and leave it at that.\u00a0 However, on this occasion I feel the need to share, but a short time after the previous entry.<\/p>\n
So much happens here that it is impossible to put it all down in a blog and don\u2019t worry I will have forgotten most of it by the time I come back and shall hopefully avoid boring you with endless tales of Ethiopia (although it has been a truly amazing experience so far \u2013 see I\u2019m getting it out of my system now).\u00a0 Note I am not making any promises!<\/p>\n
So Christmas day, by which I mean that celebrated in the Gregorian calendar and not the Julian one\u2026 Let\u2019s keep it simple, the day that everyone else on the planet recognises as Christmas day started (as predicted yesterday) as a normal everyday day (hmm, can I fit \u201cday\u201d into this sentence a couple more times?) here in Adola.\u00a0 It was bright and clear and I awoke at 6.45 having planned to be well awake and ready for the arrival of my new serategna at, as I anticipated, about 7.30.\u00a0 In true Ethiopian style she didn\u2019t arrive at that time; contrary to Ethiopian style she arrived at 6.50.\u00a0 I coped.<\/p>\n
For the first time since arriving in Ethiopia, I had injera for breakfast.\u00a0 Injera is the local staple \u2013 sort of like their bread although it is a more a sort of thin spongy product, which I realise I am not selling as particularly appetizing.\u00a0 However, at times it can be positively delicious and at others not so much there seem to be several factors involved in this which I won\u2019t go into now (bet you can\u2019t wait for the Blog all about the wonders of injera).<\/p>\n
Now, the thing about injera is it\u2019s incredibly filling- like nothing else I have known.\u00a0 And there were two of these served up for my breakfast (along with a sauce called wot \u2013 no jokes please).\u00a0 I managed to get through about 1 \u00bd and felt quite proud of myself.<\/p>\n
I had a busy morning observing lessons from participants on the course I am running here.\u00a0 They have four sessions in the morning and someone I managed to be observing in all of them.\u00a0 Lunch time came around and I wasn\u2019t really hungry \u2013 still full from breakfast.\u00a0 However, my lunch had been prepared and so I tucked in, wisely only taking one piece of injera.\u00a0 I managed to eat most of it, but subsequently felt extremely full.\u00a0 Suddenly I realised that inadvertently I had managed to fulfil one Christmas activity \u2013 eating until you can\u2019t move.\u00a0 Perhaps I was getting into the Christmas spirit after all.<\/p>\n
This evening I was expressing disbelief at how anyone could eat injera twice in one day, only to be cheerily informed by my colleagues that sometimes they eat it three times. \u00a0I told them they were crazy and refuse to believe it possible until I see it with my own eyes. I haven’t had dinner this evening – I probably won’t need to eat until sometime next week now.<\/p>\n
Back at the office (usually a two minute walk, but took about ten) I gave some feedback for the morning\u2019s observed classes and then headed at 4.30 to the ICT classes I had agreed to give.\u00a0 Probably not a wise move, but somehow I have picked up the Ethiopian habit of never saying no things (don\u2019t worry I will relearn by the time I am back in the UK).<\/p>\n
Within a few moments of arriving I realised that something was missing, and something that was really rather essential to the successful delivery of the lesson \u2013 namely the students.\u00a0 The local, who has been assigned to work with me on the ICT project, arrived shortly after and delivered the startling news: there was a protest by the students and they were refusing to attend classes.\u00a0 Now there had been some issues about spaces available for the ICT classes and several students had missed out.\u00a0 At first I thought this was the problem, but it transpired that the situation was much more serious \u2013 someone had written an inappropriate message in the toilets.\u00a0 The police were summoned (seriously) and the students were demanding that the college find out \u201cwho dunnit?\u201d There are over 600 students in the college and despite some attempts to match handwriting there has been no success.<\/p>\n
By now my curiosity was piqued \u2013 what could possibly have caused such an uproar and involved so many students.\u00a0 Initially I was only able to find out that it was some comment about the Guji Zone \u2013 the best way to describe this as the local \u2018county\u2019 where Adola is situated.\u00a0 Applying my finely honed investigative skills I was able to discover an approximate translation of the phrase, which I won\u2019t repeat here; my blog is not a toilet.<\/p>\n
In Ethiopia I have been frequently been shocked at the way they refer to each other- they are quite happy to call each other \u201cfat\u201d, \u201cgap-toothed\u201d and other such personal comments that would be totally unacceptable today in the UK and some of which would be considered racist.\u00a0 It has really taken some getting used to and I suppose that my surprise at the reaction to the graffiti was increased because of this.\u00a0 Clearly the students from the Guji zone were the most offended, and because of the location of the college they make up a significant number of the students.\u00a0 However, the response to the incident has probably actually given the rather stupid person who wrote the comment the fuss and attention he or she wanted.\u00a0 In addition it seems a bit extreme to refuse to attend classes because of this as it only damages their own education (and I am not just talking about the ICT classes here \u2013 which incidentally they do really need since almost all of them have never even used a computer before \u2013 but also all the classes for the evening sessions and that\u2019s just today).<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t envy the college management having to deal with this situation.\u00a0 This evening, when heading out with some colleagues to a local coffee shop a large group of students were holding a meeting in a nearby field.\u00a0 They were being watched over by several police officers and a contingent of soldiers.\u00a0 As we passed the meeting broke up and they started making their way back to the college.\u00a0 May companion suggested we cross to the other side of the road and as we did so I told him not to worry as he was with me and the students seem to like me! \u00a0Still VSO tell us to avoid such gatherings \u2013 not sure how I am going to do this since tomorrow they will be gathering on the campus and that\u2019s where I live.<\/p>\n
In unrelated news Father Christmas made a delivery to the guards at the gate.\u00a0 As we went out I noticed that they had acquired semi-automatic rifles.\u00a0 At first I thought this was in response to the \u201cdeveloping situation\u201d, but was told that they had been waiting for them since the college opened 15 months ago and it was just by coincidence they had arrived today.\u00a0 It made me think of the series \u2018Dad\u2019s Army\u2019 and how they started out with a variety of home-made weapons until their rifles arrived.\u00a0 Then I realised that was unfair; these guards are much older.\u00a0 Funnily enough it\u2019s actual made the campus seem less safe \u2013 still they seemed to be quite excited to have them; maybe that’s why!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I know I like to make you wait for my blog entries.\u00a0 Let\u2019s pretend it has something to do with building the anticipation and leave it at that.\u00a0 However, on this occasion I feel the need to share, but a … Continue reading