Cultural Moments

September 30, 2013

In continuing to embrace adapting to this culture I figured I would report some of the highlights. Last Thursday was the Orthodox Christian holiday Meskal “The Finding of the True Cross”, which like all holidays here involves eating doro wat, drinking buna, eating kolo and socializing. In addition a giant cross is burned. Yay! I had the fun of inviting myself to go with my compound “sister” visiting from Addis, to the celebration. We ended up meeting her brother Johannes (and my neighbor), one of the nicest people I have ever known, and going out for tibs (roasted meat) and beer first. I had a lot of fun with them talking with them in my broken Amharic and their broken English. I listened as they talked about family issues, which answered some questions that had been building about my “compound family”. Anyway we left and headed up the hill to where a huge crowd of people stood in their lovely nutella’s (not the chocolate but the traditional white scarf). As it started to get dark a huge cross made of Eucalyptus branches was lit on fire. I enjoyed playing with the kids, taking photos and surprising people that I could speak tinish Amharic. A lovely cultural ceremony.

Me in my "Habasha" libs (Ethiopian clothes)

Lovely ladies

The burning of the cross

Cutie!!!

My other lovely cultural moment was today when I went to the home of my counterpart Gobezie and his wife Tigist, who are quickly becoming my second adopted family. Her 35 year old sister suddenly died last week of a heart attack and they were in mourning. Ethiopians address death by erecting a large tent in their yard and sit in it mourning for days. Friends and neighbors drift by and sit to pay their respects, talk and console each other. I found it to be very touching and powerful as we sat watching the emotions of sadness, reflection, memory, connection and joy pass over us. One elderly man came and started wailing and crying deeply which of course led me to cry a bit reflecting on all those who have mourned under the tent, the sadness of a young life cut short, and the pain of loss that everyone faces. A precious moment.

Walking back home I gave a banana to two of my favorite little girls and enjoyed talking with some high school girls. Now that school is back in session the kids are everywhere and I am learning the joy in talking with them pushing both of our language skills. This afternoon I snuk out before a looming rain storm and collected some old manure in preparation for making a garden with Mogus the guard tomorrow. Some young boys even helped me even though they thought I was crazy collecting poo! Ah the joy in embracing being different!

PS- As of tomorrow I have been in Ethiopia for 1 year!!! Crazy!!!

And so the wheel turns...

September 22, 2013

I’m not usually one to complain but I feel like writing about some of the challenges I face working as a Peace Corps Volunteer. But first it is important to remember that one of the goals of Peace Corps is basic cultural exchange (I had to refrain from using the word “simple” because cultural exchange is not simple). Partially by default I am spending more of my time in this area. Yesterday is a nice example. In the morning I went with fellow PCV Devin and a well-known local man who he is working with to a woman’s home here in Goba that had a bee colony located in the gap between the window and shutter of her home. It was perfect to view an active hive through the window without disturbing the bees at all. The woman was very nice and insisted that we stay for buna, which turned into eating a meal of injera and ciga wat (spicy meat in a red sauce). A common, classic example of the kindness Ethiopians show to strangers here. As we were leaving the told me to come back at any time, which I think I will, partially just to see the progress of the bees.

The afternoon was also filled cultural integration meaning drinking buna, eating kolo (roasted barley), and baso (a barley powder). My friend Tigist took me over to her sister’s house, and then later to her neighbors house where there was a gathering of 10 women socializing. I enjoyed mostly listening and watching. I was able to understand that a young female teacher had just died and they all donated some money to help the family. At end of the gathering the hostess brought out a tray of huge slices of bread and everyone took one to bring home. I did too and made a delicious grilled cheese sandwich for dinner, and lunch today. (Again thank you Erik for your package of cheese!!!)

So on the social exchange part I feel like I’m doing a good job, and truly enjoying it, especially as my language skills get a little better. On the “work” level things continue to be an up- hill climb. I really am seeing how crucial it is to find and work with another motivated person, like Devin has done in finding a guy to work with bees. Ato Gossa has several bee hives living inside his house and has become the “Bee King” of Robe. Devin is now helping him to purchase some transitional bee hives and start a training center for teaching people how to raise bees with a transitional hive. The transitional hive is a simpler version of the “modern” hive that most people use.

On the other side of the spectrum last week I went out into field 10km with some guys from the Agricultural Office to “help” them give training on using modern hives. It was a beautiful area, full of native trees and flowers and a small cluster of Gojo bet homes, classic mud and thatch roof. The sad part was how these very rural, very poor, people invested a lot of money for this fancy new hive, brought it in by horse back, and won’t be able to use it to its full potential due to additional expensive equipment and technical expertise that is required. The Ag office gave a 2 hour training talking about the hives but did not address the topic of how to get bees to use the hive, and how to process the honey at the end. Now the hives are sitting waiting for an expensive wax mold and sheets to be made so that the hive is functional. I am tempted to play the rich ferengi role and just purchase the wax to see if I can help save this project…

Sigh. I will keep following the process and see how it turns out but sadly I am highly skeptical…

Another example of disappointment and frustration in potential good projects is the tree planting along the main road in Goba. I had actually attended a training on “Project Design Management” and worked with Gobezie to strategize how to do this project. Once we got back to Goba we talked to the city municipality to present the idea and they essentially said that since I did not have any money to provide that they did not need my help. The university in Robe had plans to do a community development project and ended up providing lots of trees. It is interesting to simply observe how this project evolves, with fences of every shape and form being erected before the trees are planted… In a way it is humorous to see what happens (a funny example is the toilet seat cover being painted to advertise a hotel- this is especially funny because it is rare to find toilet seats on actual toilets but I guess they work better as decoration…). On the other hand it is sad to see a project that I feel like I could have helped with, teaching how to plan and carry out a project, unfold so haphazardly. Certainly it is a lesson for me in the value of recognizing when to be assertive, forceful and maybe obnoxious in promoting myself vs. sitting back and letting things be done the Ethiopian way. (And a personal lesson in confidence and arrogance. Judgment of a culture that is so different from what I am used to.) At least in Goba the trees will survive, in Robe they planted a ton of trees, without fences and within a few days all the trees had been eaten by the ever abundant roaming goats, sheep and cows.

One more disappointment to report: I met with the default leader of the Bale Beauty Nature Club today to discuss its fate only to hear him say that the club members don’t care anymore, as shown by the fact that he was partially high and spacy from chewing a local drug Khat. Last week I went up the property of the club and talked with the guard, a very nice, hard- working guy, a retired soldier (with nasty battle scars to prove it). He was discouraged because he had not been paid for the past month and therefore had no money to buy food for his family to celebrate the New Year holiday. So sad. 

So these are a few of my frustrations. Luckily today I got a package from my Dad that had a “Life is Good” t-shirt that said “Powered by Optimism”. Hopefully when I wear it I can walk the talk. On a positive note walking through town today I met a student who invited me to come back to the Youth Environment Club and help lead a discussion on environment. Perfect lesson in following the energy and going with the flow. And so the wheel turns in the life of a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ethiopia. 

Bee Training in rural village

Gojo Bet, traditional home

Bee habitat in the Bale Mountains

Happy New Year's!!! It's now 2006!

Happy New Year! For those of you who didn't know it is now 2006 and New Years eve is really on September 10, my birthday. That is according to the Ethiopian calendar, yet another thing to get confused about. But it makes for a good celebration and since it fell on a Wednesday that means no work for the whole week. For my birthday I had a fun day of exploring the woods and finally finding an elusive waterfall I had been searching for. It was so refreshing to be out in the woods, with two fellow PCV’s, exploring new gorgeous terrain, undisturbed. The waterfall was about 100 feet high tucked in a narrow canyon. As we traveled farther upstream the walls got tighter showing beautiful unique columnar rock formations. Even the plants were stunning and exotic looking and I was in nature geek heaven! The grand finale was founding a patch of wild bamboo that I had been hoping to see as well.

For dinner my other Peace Corps friends came over and they cooked me a delicious Mexican burrito meal- beans, veggie taco mix, and cheese! (Thank you Erik!) In celebration for the New Year we burned the traditional “chuba”, three bundles of Eucalyptus branches and my compound family joined the fun. What a lovely day.

The next day, New Year’s Day, we were making breakfast when a swarm of girls showed up at my door singing and dancing. As the tradition goes kids go door to door singing and giving flowers (or more commonly hand drawings of flowers), in exchange for a little money. I opened my door and they flooded into my little home singing, dancing and drumming away! Then the celebration continued for the next few days eating the celebratory doro wat (a delicious spicy chicken sauce) and drinking copious amounts of buna (coffee). The custom is that guests get the most food so I have eaten enormous amounts of injera and other foods. Today I even ate, and mostly enjoyed gunfo the traditional barley paste. A true sign that I am adapting. This afternoon I spent at my counterpart Gobezie’s home chatting and listening to a group of women all in Amharic. Small joyful steps. A refreshing affirmation of the kindness and generosity of the people here.

Another fun tidbit was yesterday afternoon I was having buna with my compound family when big hail storm hit. We sat cozily around the charcoal stove drinking coffee listening to the torrent outside. When I left all the gutter drain pipes had piles of hail that looked just like snow. My 8 year old neighbor Emabet and I had fun throwing snow balls and freezing our hands! Next time I will try to make a snowman here in Ethiopia! Imagine that!

Good thing for lovely personal interactions, the true meaning of being a Peace Corps Volunteer. Tomorrow I continue the uphill climb of trying to do something work like and productive….

Waterfall fun!

Canyon adventuring

Secret canyon

Birthday celebrations at my home

The dancing girls, also in my home

Snow? Holy hail balls!

A few photos of August

My lovely little compound calf Pearl decided she like the taste of my drapes. Moments later she walked into the house and pranced over into my room. Whoops.

My little buddy I found in my garden. Did you know Ethiopians are terrified of frogs! 

A lovely moment of peace (before the storm) at the nature club along the Tagona River

Last week I rode my bike up to the Bale Beauty Nature Club site to collect a few trees for my compound "mom". Here is my "gobez" duct- tape way of transporting them back the 5km- yay for cardboard boxes. (And for my new electric kettle that heats water in a jiffy!)

Yesterday I had the unexpected joy of dashing into the Senetti Plateau with my local PC environment friends. 

Ah the wonders of Giant Lobelia on the Plateau. 

As we hiked back to the car we hustled to avoid the huge menacing storm approaching. Driving away the storm hit and soon the entire plateau was coated in hail. It was beautiful all white mixed with the red dirt road. So close to snow- I was delighted!

The amazing pizza I just ate!!! WOW! (Whoda thunk you can cook pizza in a skillet!)

The latest version of my yard, thanks to my bored landlord Afork. Complete with hammock in the back. My own little bit of paradise. (maybe he needs a spoon to keep him happy- ha! so bad!)

A glimpse of a perfect day

Thursday August 29, 2013

Long distracted, drifting, returning, drifting, returning, meditation

Friendly hellos

Quick easy banking, while a lady shows me the funny graphic on her phone

Elderly man praying with a mala

Good timing meeting a smiling Gobezie

Spontaneous inspiring meeting with a previously “door closed” project to plant trees and grow seeds

Warm greetings with good people

Bee boxes on the porch leading to blossoming project potential

Smiling at a young girl bring a beam of joy

Serendipitous buna with new University environment teacher, fun enlightened political discussion

Surprise package from Erik!

Friendly conversation with shimageles (elder men)

A kind offer from a stranger to carry my package results in meeting smart (English speaking) environment teacher at the Senetti elementary, more great future potential

Pearl, the calf, letting me stroke her neck

An afternoon of rainstorms drinking freshly hand roasted buna

Beeecoming a bee expert cozily by studying documents

Stomping in mud puddles with some kids in my 2 dollar Habasha plastic boots

Thoughts of how much I love being in Ethiopia as I walk down the street

Making the most kick ass pizza with garden spinach and cilantro (and cheese and salami!) that makes me utter expletives in delight

Skyping with Erik

Content gratuitous peaceful meditation

Apathy and Confidence

Sunday August 25, 2013

This weekend was spent with my good friends and fellow Peace Corps Volunteers at their new home. They recently moved sites, away from their tiny town of 4,000 to the nearby University town of Robe, 14 km from Goba. We had a nice time sitting and talking, largely about the challenges that Ethiopia and we face. In is in this mood that I continue the reflection.

First on my mind is the continued impact of government dictated careers. I mentioned before that an Ethiopians career is determined by their high school test scores, sending them to a preselected university to study a preselected field. (And sadly the ones who fail the test are assigned the job of being elementary and middle school teachers). Once you graduate, or if, as the majority of girls face sexual harassment from their professors, if lucky you are assigned a government job somewhere in the country. This can mean getting placed in the smallest of towns, away from your family, doing a job that you have no interest in.  Hense the apathy and lack of enthusiasm to do work.

This is what I see every time I climb the hill in Goba to check in at the Agricultural Office, bored, uninspired people biding their time at their job. Everyone sees the huge challenges the country faces so a common solution is to attend the endless administrative meetings to discuss and debate the issues. Which, from what I have been told, rarely accomplish anything. Yikes. This is one of the many reasons that I continue to struggle in finding any sort of real work project.

When you have been commanded and directed your whole life it is no wonder that when someone (a small female ferengi) asks you what you think and how you would address an issue that the answer would be a blank stare or to blame the government.  Why is it so much easier to come up with excuses rather than solutions? As I reflect on my own internal metamorphosis I think part of the answer is confidence. The inner belief that you are valuable, intelligent, special and fully capable to not only survive but to thrive in life. If everyone felt this, the world would be a different place.

Instead we see 12 year old girls giving birth as a result of being raped, streets flooded due to lack of infrastructure, the disappearance of the last remaining 5% of Ethiopian forest, boredom, criticism and frustration….well maybe I’m projecting the last one. But things can be pretty dire here and sitting around trying to figure out how to help is quite a challenge. As I already mentioned I’m not working on a project, and am slowly trying to piece my information and contacts together to formulate something that will help. I knew this would be part of the process but it can be quite a head trip.

It means lots of free time in which to think, reflect and ponder. As well as meditate, of which I am doing and enjoying a lot. Which brings me back to reflecting on the question how do you cultivate confidence in yourself and others? Cultivate enthusiasm, determination, motivation?  I fluctuate between the answers of acceptance and inspiration. Acceptance of the complexity of how life is, of the many influences and factors that bring each of us to this moment, as it is. Balanced with the wisdom of inspired action, trying something new and being willing to fail, to learn, to grow. Imagination that a different reality is possible and that I, you, and we can make it happen. It is in finding this balance, the ebb and flow of action and reflection that I find myself.  A continual wave often pounding, sometimes easing me against the shore of perspective truth and insight.

But that is life right? No matter where we are. Or who we are. And when I drop the internal American “work = success” pressure I can relax and enjoy being here, being me, and seeing little changes.

In the meantime, when the tide is out and I am content I dink around in my garden, go for exploratory walks and try to study Amharic, knowing how crucial it is for connection and exchange. Or simple etiquette as my 70 year old, slightly perverted, neighbor Ato Kasai recently helped me learn the importance of pronouncing a rolling “r” when saying yibirdal “it is cold” to avoid the accidental embarrassment of saying yibidal “that was good sex”. Oops!

I also really enjoy baking things like cinnamon date bread, of which I am going to go eat a warm slice of right now.  (Thanks Dad for the walnuts and Mom for the coconut!)

The British Group

August 12, 2013

….so the English high school group…funny how things can fade from the mind so quickly. It’s been two weeks since they were here and reflecting back I wonder why I was so anxious and stressed at the time. Probably because I didn’t know it would all work out so well.

So a little background info- the Bale Beauty Nature Club is a local club that has some land (2.5 hectare) along the Tagona river, as well as a building in town that is used by students as a study hall and library. The club is largely run by a guy named Ayoub, who sadly has disappeared to America for the last month. (He had a two week visa, but has been there for over a month now…hum…). Fortunately his 2^nd in command guy Esmeal really stepped up and helped make the week a success, even while fasting during the day for Ramadam. The British group came with the assistance of a company that organizes “environment working vacations”, and this was a first time trial run for coming to Ethiopia. In total it was 7 high school girls, 2 teachers and a guy representing the company.

They showed up on a Saturday, the first real rainy day of the rain season. The original plan was for them to camp at the site but after sitting inside all day waiting for the rain to stop it was decided to have them stay in the class rooms at the club office. Lucky for them this was an option! Sunday we headed up to the site carrying paint, tools and a bag of compost (made by yours truly) ready to get to work. First I had one group work on finishing the compost toilet by splitting bamboo for siding, while the other group painted rocks yellow and made cairns to demarcate a trail. The day went smoothly and we all got a lot of work done.

The rest of the week was filled with pouring cement into molds to make fuel efficient stoves, shopping at the Wednesday market, picking Eucalyptus leaves for an essential oil processing plant, a tour of the medicinal plant seed bank, digging a garden at the club office, painting a mural and planting trees seeds to later give the community as an alternative fuel source (using the compost as an fertilizer). And to top it off on Friday a group of women came and performed some cultural dances and we had a big meat and veggie cookout over a fire as we continued to dance to the many different cultural songs. The group had a great time and I learned that I can be a good leader and organizer. I was with the group for the majority of the of the week and felt like a tour guide but also learned a lot and got some good work done.

In talking with them I learned that doing environment based working vacations is a hugely popular thing in England, especially for high school students and that it is a growing business. It was interesting for me to reflect on because, in truth, we did more work in this one week than I have done in the past six months. Idealistically it sounds great to come to a developing country to do volunteer work, but as I am learning, it’s not so simple. It takes a lot of time to organize and to identify what is really helpful and sustainable. Ethiopia is in the state it is due to many complicated reasons that a band aid and shovel won’t fix overnight.

For example a while ago I had the idea to plant trees along the main road in Goba. That idea stalled when I the town officials realized I didn’t have money to buy the trees and that they had some sort of plan to do it already. Now last week a crew of students were out digging holes all geared up to plant trees on the main road. Yesterday I spoke with the town official in charge and he said they might have some trees to plant, but not of the right species, and that next year they might have money to put fences around the trees….so we will see. I’m in the precarious position of being highly skeptical this will work, and not quite sure how to step in and assist. Yet another example of good intentions but misguided actions. Hum. I guess that’s part of my role here is to try to guide the actions to sustainable success.

Fortunately after weeks of doing other activities I feel like I am finally able to focus on some of my project ideas and feel like other doors keep opening. I will follow the momentum as long as it lasts.

On a side note I made the most amazing huckleberry coconut scones yesterday with berries provided by my dear friend Heather that she dried last year before I left Sandpoint, and I also received a lovely package of art and chocolate from the dear Emily Baker. Thank you dear friends and to my family for providing much appreciated mental support! Love to all!!!