Note to self:
So the problem with a blog is that you need to update it. As many of you know, I don’t always reply to email in a timely fashion, so I knew this would be a challenge. However, I do place some of the blame on the fact that the internet café here prevents me from logging on to blogger to post. As such, I have been writing this post since I arrived in Addis (in a word document) and it might be a dizzying and confusing array of facts, images, emotions and things you did not really want to know – but there you have it. It also might be really long, but then again, I am not known for my brevity.
And the story begins….
So after flying nearly 18 hours, I arrived in Africa . The plane was landing in Khartoum Sudan en route to our final destination in Addis Ababa , Ethiopia . The landscape was extremely familiar in that it reminded me of wide-open prairies that form the Saskatchewan landscape. It was like I came full circle.
I finally arrived in Addis last night. I took the most hideous luggage possible so that it would be easy to spot on the luggage belt and boy – it did not disappoint. The pink/grey/white plaid gym bags really stood out. After I picked up my bags, I met my supervisor Derbew Temesgen who arrived at the airport to pick me up. He was just as friendly as he sounded on the phone. He took me to his car, a vintage blue Volkswagen and we set out for the guest house where I would be staying for the next few days. I was almost certain that either my luggage would swallow his car whole or crush it like the anvil on one of those WB cartoons, but luckily we made it to the hostel in one piece.
I did not realize how cold it would be here. I mean people warned me that it was the rainy season, but especially at night, it gets quite damp and cold. Nothing like the Saskatchewan winters mind you, but then again, nothing truly ever is.
As luck would have it, the guest house is located next door to one of the larger shopping malls in Addis – the Friendship building. Yes, the irony of its title did not escape me. I was in a new city , unfamiliar surroundings and desperately craving any social interaction possible. Which brings me to my next observation…I have learnt that life without a cell phone or internet is strangely liberating and intensely confining all at the same time. There was no way for me to get word back home until the next day that I had arrived safely in Addis. Even then, it was by way of a two line email at an Internet Café with some seriously slow computers. Leading up to my departure, sending emails and making telephone calls had become a life function much like breathing or sleeping or eating, so this complete disconnect was going to take some getting used to.
My first weekend in Addis was very quiet. I have to admit that I was going a little stir-crazy in my hotel room. I essentially stayed in and nursed my cold, reading periodically and watching an episode of Dr. Phil after which I immediately remember why I don’t like him at all (it was the only English programming I could find).
I must admit however that the isolation typically associated with moving to a new place has been somewhat abated by the fact that the people (working at the hostel, at the store, in the cafes) I have met here are some of the warmest, most generous, friendly people ever. I get this sense that they are extremely proud of Ethiopia and extremely welcoming of visitors, taking it upon themselves to make you feel happy and comfortable. They take a genuine interest in you. They want to know about you and where you are from. Coming from a culture where the first response is to run when someone looks at you twice on the street, it is both heartwarming and surprising to have this genuine outpouring of affection from complete strangers.
I also discovered that buying groceries here is indeed more expensive than eating out at restaurants. Growing up with Superstore, you almost come to expect a large selection at rock-bottom prices. I have only experienced this reverse phenomenon once before and this was when I lived in New York , a city that also made eating in restaurants a cheaper alternative to buying groceries. With the large international population in Addis, there are a number of culinary options available and I look forward to exploring what the city has to offer!
Poverty
As expected, poverty is rampant and there are people of all ages begging in various parts of the city for money so they can buy food. This poverty has always affected me, especially during my trips to India and especially when it is young children and elderly people who are begging. Young children…who could have a future, who could make a difference if only they were given some support now. Elderly people, who have suffered through such adversity in their lives, personally and as a collective group to fight for the rights and experiences we so easily take for granted. That these people face this plight seems particularly cruel.
People warned me to always appear focused when I am walking, as if I know where I am going and don’t have time to stop. People warned me that providing assistance to one person would only draw unwanted attention and bring other people forward to ask for help. I have followed this advice so far, but my heart breaks for the people I see. I am also saddened that my very reaction amounts to ignoring their existence…to ignoring their plight. Imagine walking through life and feeling invisible. Imagine enduring this indignity every single day of your life. Imagine having no choice but to wake up and face this adversity again. Imagine if pity is the best you can expect from someone. Just imagine. I cannot even begin to go there.
Transport
Monday, I took my first ride in a mini-bus – which is a blue and white van that runs up and down the street. You hail it much like you would hail a yellow cab in New York City ! The only difference is that you get on and it picks up people along the way until the mini-bus is full to the rafters. Let me clarify – the Mini bus is essentially a Volkswagen van – it seats about 10 people or so (technically) but can often pack in many, many more people. MANY MORE. I often think of the contrast between a) the mini-bus where essentially you are friends with everyone because you are practically sitting on them and b) the city bus in Saskatoon where people literally choose every single corner on the bus, with some even standing, in order to avoid having to share a seat with someone they don’t know.
The mini-bus fare is 1.35 birr which amounts to about 13 cents. I noticed today after work that there is often no fixed route with drivers deviating from a standard course in order to attract new passengers. Once you are on the mini-bus, you simply go along for the ride which can take longer or shorter depending on how many people are on board. If there are very few people on board, the mini-bus will stop frequently (i.e every block) to get more people on. I figure that the best option is to choose the mini-bus with the most passengers because it will be less likely to stop along the way to pick up more people due to space constraints. When you want to get off the bus, you shout “Woraj Alla” and the bus driver will pull over. I wish we could yell Woraj Alla in Saskatoon and get the bus drivers to drop us off in front of our homes on days when it was -40C.
Furthermore, the mini bus drivers have assistants that collect money and sit with the passengers in the back. These assistants yell the name of the route at the stops so you can get on. I got on to the wrong bus today, because when I asked if the bus went to the Ambassador building (the landmark close to my office), I thought the bus driver said yes. However, a kind fellow passenger told me that he was just yelling the name of another route and that I should get off this bus and get on the next one.
Oh another thing – very few streets have official names here. There are street names and there are maps which include these names, but there are usually no street signs. You find your way around the city using landmarks. For example, “drop me off at the British Embassy!” This was a great bit of information that the previous intern, Stephanie gave me. Thanks Stephanie!
Life at the office…
Like I said, Monday was my first day at the office. I arrived to the EBA and met with the staff here. They are a warm group of people who have been really welcoming.
The work looks like it will be really interesting and engaging. I will be working on proposals for their continuing legal education programs, their legal aid clinics and their public education initiatives. I will help in establishing the structure of their law society (disciplinary framework and governing bodies and procedures) and will assist with their Strategic Plan. These are sort of vague notions at the moment, which I will explain further once I delve deeper into the work. I am impressed at the scope of the EBA’s projects and its commitment to social justice issues. It is really inspirational!
The office is quite small and there are 5 of us including me. There is the Executive Director, Derbew, his assistant, Mistere, the accounts manager, Betelehem, and the Program Officer, Tizita. The office has 3 rooms and I share a desk with the Executive Director. As I get further into my work, I will try to venture to the UN library to do some research and work from there.
I do have to say that I have some very big shoes to fill here. Both of the previous CBA lawyers in the Young Professionals Program that worked at the EBA, Asad Kiyani and Stephanie Vig, have impressed the people at the EBA. I have had a chance to review some of the work they did while they were here, and it is excellent! It will be quite daunting to fill their shoes. Members of the EBA Executive Committee and the EBA staff have been singing their praises and enjoyed working with both of them tremendously.
I am truly, madly and completely grateful to be here. People often view international work as a sacrifice. This cannot be further from the truth – we are gaining so much from being here, from working here, from living here. This experience is once in a lifetime. I am certain that during my time here, I will be challenged, sometimes frustrated and even craving my life back home. Heck, even in my postings in this blog, you will likely sense my frustration at certain issues or inconveniences, but from the bottom of my heart, I am grateful for this opportunity. Being here means the world to me. Thank you so much to the CBA and CIDA for making this possible!
Food
Hearkening back to my backpacking days, I am eating all of the free breakfast provided by the Guest House (Toast and Jam), having a personal pizza for lunch that I buy at the bakery and one more for supper. I did have some lasagna yesterday for what amounted to 2 dollars. I cannot wait to delve into the ingera – which I really loved when I had it at Ethiopian restaurants in Canada and the U.S.
I went for my first coffee/tea break with people from the office on Monday. As many of you may know, I don’t drink coffee or tea, so I indulged in my new “drink du jour” – namely 7 UP! I absolutely hate pop on most days, but it seems to be the only thing I can get when I am out at a restaurant here. Even though I do not drink coffee, Ethiopia is famous for its café, so I might have to try it out. They do have tons of chocolate croissants – Three Cheers for Pain Au Chocolat!
Fashion
I have to mention it here and now. I constantly feel like a slob here when it comes to my clothes. People here are so well dressed, have such a fantastic sense of fashion, and really know how to blend both western and African attire in a myriad of creative, inspired ways! I also love the beautiful, traditional scarves the women wrap in their hair in a variety of interesting ways.
I only packed one pair of dress shoes to wear to work and as expected on my very first day I stepped in a huge mud / mush puddle. My black shoes were covered in mud. I had no idea how to clean them off and was scraping them against a sidewalk. Suddenly, several people approached me and offered to shine my shoes. Apparently, this is quite common in Addis. On most of the street corners, especially during the rainy season (June – Mid September), there are several chairs/stools set up where you can sit down and people will clean your shoes and polish them too! It costs about 5 birr and is worth every penny!
Wednesday
Today I had my first Amharic lessons from a delightful man at the Ethiopian Bar Association, Ato Birhenmeskal [By the way, Ato means Mr. (used as a term of respect) and Weziro means Ms. (also a formal greeting/term of respect for women)], who taught me how to say the following phrases:
Come on – Na
Hello – Deehna
Indemin Nawo – How are you?
Tenaistilli – how are you?
Amezainnanoe – thank you
Betaunto – very good
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It was bound to happen. After work, I fell asleep on the mini-bus and nearly missed my stop. For those of you who don’t know, I am notorious for falling asleep on all forms of public transit. I fell asleep on the bus every morning on my way to work in Saskatoon . I fell asleep several times on the subway in New York . I fell asleep on the tube in London wearing my huge backpacker’s backpack on my way to Heathrow. Oh and get this, I fell asleep on the bus in Nice, standing up, wearing my backpack, surrounded by people. I seriously might as well just wear a sign that says, Hi, my name is Prasanna and I am a narcoleptic, please don’t mind me.
Thursday
I went for a walk at lunch today to visit the Sheraton which is apparently the Big Cheese in terms of Hotels in Addis. Boy, it did not disappoint. It is quite lovely – very classic. However, it was almost deceiving in that once you crossed the gates into the gardens leading to the hotel it was like you were in a completely different place….a manufactured oasis that is completely disconnected from the community in which it is situated. Even the roads (for a few blocks leading up to the hotel) were well manicured and relatively traffic-free. However, beyond those two blocks – the reality of life in a large urban centre in a developing country became readily apparent. There was a lane of small shops with many people selling clothes and art on the street. There were people begging for alms.
However, this stark contrast between poverty and opulence - this is not a phenomenon specific to Ethiopia . I have noticed this quite a bit in India too – these huge hotels, in providing a luxurious experience to their guests shelter them from the very place they have come to visit. The real world lies just beyond the gates of this urban oasis. I am not knocking these establishments – in fact, I have no doubt I will be visiting the Sheraton again very soon (there is apparently a great restaurant there). It just makes me wonder….that’s all.
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So I forgot to mention this a few days ago. There are virtually no ATMs here. I think I saw one in the Sheraton and one in the shopping mall, but that is it. Thank goodness Robyn Trask, a previous Canadian intern with the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association and Stephanie Vig warned me about this before I left. Thanks Robyn and Stephanie! As such, I brought mostly traveller’s cheques (TC). I went to the bank to cash some TC on Tuesday and was told that I am supposed to carry the purchase agreement with me and present it when I want to cash the TC. This was despite the fact that the purchase agreement clearly says not to carry it with the TC. I smiled and nodded, like the completely clueless person I have become as of late, and the bank manager assured me that he would take the risk and cash them for me just this one time.
Well today, I went back to the bank to cash some more TC because I will have to start looking for a place to live soon. This time, I went to the main branch of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia which is in one of the most beautiful old-world, gothic buildings ever, yet it was in the shape of a huge dome so it had this sort of cavernous feel to it. It would be a great place to host parties. In any event, the bank teller at this location told me the same thing about carrying the receipts if possible, but did not make it seem as mandatory as the guy at the first bank did. In any event, NOTE to SELF: if cashing TC, consider carrying the receipt.
Getting a cell phone – the Ultimate Mystery: How do they get the Caramel inside the Caramilk bar?
The search for the all-elusive technological gizmo known as the cellular telephone continues.
Who knew that finding an operational cell phone would be so difficult? Well, to be honest, I did have a sense that it might be tricky. The previous internet at the EBA, Stephanie had warned me that finding a SIM card might be tricky now that the Ethiopian Telecommunications had nationalized the sale of SIM cards and only sold them to people with Ethiopian IDs.
I thought it might still be possible to find a SIM card at the fancy hotels like the Hilton and the Sheraton, but to no avail. I bought my phone here on Saturday and have been searching every day for a SIM Card. The first day, I was told that only people with Ethiopian IDs could buy them. The second day, I brought my boss (a really kind and patient man who has been so generous in helping me get settled) to buy the SIM card for me, but they told us that they were sold out. They said to send a photocopy of my boss’s ID with me the next day.
The next day I showed up at the time the store owner told me to be there and was told to come back in the afternoon. I went to the office and my boss told me to go when they suggested. I did so and the store was closed.
I went to another branch of Ethiopian Telecommunications and stood in a line. When I got to the front door, they closed the door saying they were done for today. When I told him that I had been trying for several days to get a SIM card, he mocked me and did the whiny voice….you know the one that your older brother or a school bully would do to make you cry:
Oh….poor baby….waiting for 4 days for a SIM card….wah wah wah…..So sad….so sad…wah wah…what will you doo? OOOOOH no……that is toooo bad. Wah wah…
The next day I met the person at the store who sold me the cell phone in the first place and she said she would try and get her brother to buy a SIM card for me. I left her my phone and 400 birr and she asked me to come back the next day. I finally did and she said her brother could not get one. She returned my phone and my money and apologized.
So it looks like I may not have a cell phone. My only other option is to rent a SIM card which will cost me around 5 dollars per day and this SIM card only gives you a phone number (no airtime).
I have given the phone to a kind person who works at my hotel with the required 400 birr and she said she would try to get me the SIM card today. I will keep you posted. Needless to say, I do not have high hopes!
During this time of trying to find a SIM card, I was trying to find a pay phone that would let me make some local calls to start finding a house to rent in Addis or a place where I could make international calls to call my parents at home. Needless to say, this was difficult as well. I went from store to store and each person told me NO. In fact, my hostel would not even let me make local calls and I offered to pay them. At one point, I was walking in circles inside the mall looking desperately at anyone to let me use their phone. I must have appeared crazy. No joke. I felt like a character on one of those sitcoms who is having a nightmare in which everyone is laughing and pointing at you while a Simon and Garfunkel tune plays mockingly in the background. Eeps.
As soon as I get a cell phone or find a phone booth, I promise to call all of the people in Addis who were so helpful to me before I left Canada . I cannot wait to meet you all in person – talk to you soon Thomas, Susan, and Laura.
The Arts….
I have been trying to find information on where there are local Ethiopian musical/theatre performances. As many of you know, I am a huge music and theatre fan and one of the huge reasons I decided to go to grad school in New York was that it would be bring me closer to my one true love…theatre and music…and Broadway. I spoke with a few co-workers who told me that there are concerts in the City throughout the year. I cannot wait to find some music and theatre! I am also hoping that there might be an international choir of some sort that I could join. It would be fun to delve into singing again.
Also, apparently, Bollywood movies are really famous here too – so I might have to see a Bollywood movie in an Ethiopian theatre – talk about an intercultural experience! I will keep you posted. Any suggestions?
Yay! Mary and Eric are moving to Addis!
Mary Mitsios is a fellow Canadian who is working in the CBA Young Professionals Program. She has been placed with the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association and arrives in Addis today (Thursday). Her partner Eric arrives later this month. Once Mary gets here, we are all trying to find a place together! It will be wonderful to have Mary and Eric here and to be able to explore the city and learn about the culture with some friends. I cannot wait to see you guys!
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Visitors
So, I know I threw out the invite to come and visit – but I was serious – you are all welcome to visit! I promise to show you how to catch a mini-bus (my only discernible skill thus far and even this only has a 75% success rate) and we will eat like there is no tomorrow. Ethiopia is a beautiful, interesting, truly original place. The people are kind and friendly and there is so much to see. I would love to have visitors to explore the country with me! I will let you know my address and phone number as soon as I get them.
Miss you all!
Until next time….
Kindest regards,
Prasanna
Friday
So, today I had a great conversation with my boss, Ato Derbew about the different important festivals in Ethiopia , the various places to visit in Ethiopia , and activities that I should consider during my time here. He is arranging for me to meet with various disability rights organizations while I am here so I can see the type of work they do both on a broader legal, policy scale relating to disability rights, legal remedies and approaches, and advocacy strategies as well as on an individualized social, psychological counseling basis. He indicated that persons with disabilities often face the most extreme forms of marginalization, brutal violence, sexual abuse, and mistreatment and that their experiences are often so devastating.
As such, the EBA has entered into a partnership with an international NGO called Handicap International to provide specialized legal aid assistance to persons with disabilities. I really wanted to explore the legal and policy responses to disability rights issues in Africa . Given that disability rights issues have been so important to me both from an academic standpoint and a deeply personal level (as a person with a disability myself), I look forward to learning more about these issues through the work of the EBA and in meeting and volunteering with other organizations working in this area.
Ato Derbew also told me about the national observance of Muslim prayer every Friday between 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM. Apparently, during this time, all of the offices close and work stops in observance of this spiritual and significant holy time.
