Bees n' shoes

Oh Ethiopia how I love you right now. I just got home from an extremely productive two hours. A few weeks ago I met the teacher for the “Environment and Tourism” department at the Technical College (which if you remember the Ethiopian school system is where you go if you fail the grade 10 exam). I ended up teaching a class about sustainable tourism and the value of the Bale Mountains to the 18 students, who probably understood about 15% of what I said but were very kind and enthusiastic. Anyway a few days ago I met with Argo the teacher and he introduced me to Merhetu, a local bee keeping expert who has a very good project idea.

Today I sat down with them and worked out the details of the proposal which is to place 8 modern and 2 transitional bee hives in the Bale Mountains at the site of a fancy new tourist lodge.  The site is ideal for bees because it is in the heart of the Harenna forest, lush, pristine and bursting with flowers. Once the hives are established they will start training surrounding community members how to work with the modern hives. This is important because the current “traditional” hives are inefficient and in the process of harvesting the honey the bees are killed. Also establishing a way to make money by protecting the forest is crucial for the sustainable management of this unique forest.

So basically I am helping them to formulate their plan then present it to Frankfurt Zoological Society who helps to coordinate management projects within the national park. It’s so nice to finally work with motivated people who have an idea and want assistance with it rather than me trying to rally up enthusiasm to do a project.

Which I am still trying to do with my “Doro Bet” project with the Tekyelemot Monastery but in a new version. The other day I finally managed to drag my fatigued and head cold ridden self up to the Agriculture office to talk about my plan. One guy I have worked with in the past played the arrogant “know it all” (a common personality type here) and proceeded to shoot down my plan with glee. But in hindsight he addressed some of the concerns I had been mulling over, and swallowing my pride I thanked him and left.  My next stop was the Farm Africa office (a great NGO), where Getachew confirmed my concerns but really supported the idea to just build a chicken coop, even saying he could purchase all the materials. So for now all systems are still a go!

Now onto the reason I started to write in the first place. Early this morning tragedy struck- the new puppy in my compound chewed up my Chaco, which for those who don’t know is the world’s greatest sandal that I wear daily and have had for 8 years. But due to Ethiopians resourcefulness I was able to take it to my favorite shoe shine boy and he sewed it up to a usable state and didn't even charge me! So here’s a big grateful grinning salute to all those kind, motivated, helpful Ethiopians out there- thank you! And of course a big hug and smile to all my family and friends back home who are there cheering me on. I truly appreciate you all.