Home Sweet Home

Well... a lot has happened since I last wrote I don’t really know where to begin. So I think I will start with more recent events and work backwards. I moved to my new home in Ambo on Friday. It was a 3 hour drive from Addis, although half of that was just getting out of the sprawling suburbs. Once we left Addis and entered the countryside the road was smooth and the scenery spectacular. At times the landscape looked so very English with field up on field of green and rolling hills. I travelled with the 3 VSO volunteers going to Nekemte (as Ambo is on the way). When we got to Ambo University we were greeted by the President of the University and the Vice President, Ato Lakow (who I had already met a few days before at the partnership day). The president took the others straight to a hotel for lunch while I went with Ato Lakow to look at one of the two houses they were able to offer me. It was HUGE! 3 bedrooms and a large kitchen and dining room. However, it was very dirty, the walls were all bright turquoise, the compound was run down and did not look at all secure. Ato Lakow seemed very keen I took this house without seeing the other one and we dumped my belongings there before heading to meet the others for lunch. I knew I should be extremely grateful for the accommodation – it was certainly more than the minimal guidelines set by VSO but I didn’t feel happy about it at all!

After lunch I asked to see the other house and Ato Lakow was very obliging. I can’t tell you how relieved I felt as I walked up the path to the other house (which I am now living in). The garden was gorgeous with loads of flowers, the house had a cute little veranda with a white fence. Inside the walls were mostly white and although the house was still embarrassingly big for one person I didn’t feel as lost in it as the previous one. It felt a lot safer as the landlord lives within the compound with his wife and they have a dog to guard it. I couldn’t keep the grin off my face! Later that day, when the reality of the fact that I would be in this house for 2 years hit me and I was all alone, I started to notice the cracks in the walls, the plant growing through the ceiling, the broken toilet and the fact that my kitchen sink was filthy and not functioning but at that moment it seemed like the best place in the world. Later still I would find fleas in my bed and on the sofa and feel overwhelmed by the fact that it took 4 hours to put together my water filter and fill it with boiling water.

After moving my belongings from one house to the other I was given a tour of the university campus by Ato Taye (my counterpart within the university who I also met on the partnership day). I was feeling quite overwhelmed and found it hard to take in the hundreds of people he introduced me to. It is hard enough remembering names when they are names you are familiar with but all these names sound so foreign at the moment. I was really impressed by the campus. It has only newly become a university after years of being an agricultural college- therefore there is a real mix of old and new and incomplete buildings. The English department was in a tiny building which looked like an old scout hut but was set in a lovely wooded area and had stunning views for miles around. In contrast there was a brand spanking new auditorium which seats up to 3000 people. I seem to be the only person in the university who has been designated a teaching room and feel very privileged, and although it has a broken door it seems more than adequate. As more buildings are being completed in the next few months it may be that I will move into a new block along with the English department.

Having spent 24 hours a day with a group of 34 volunteers for the last 10 days doing our ‘In Country Training’ (ICT) I was finding it hard to adjust to being the only ‘ferengi’. I was therefore really lucky that Ruth (who helped with the Higher Diploma Training in Addis) happened to be staying in Ambo for the weekend and had agreed to meet me at 4pm. Over the next few days she was invaluable as she put my mind at ease in terms of what to do during my first few days on the job. She, and her Ethiopian colleague Bekele, were also very patient as they helped me buy everything I needed to set up my home- from food to pots and pans to plug adapters. I’m not sure how I would have coped alone. She also helped me put all my petty concerns about my house into perspective as she described her living arrangements over the last 2 years. Her current house is much better than the last but still has no running water. She has one room which she uses as a living/ bedroom and then an open courtyard where she cooks. Her toilet is a hole in the ground the only plug she has for her electric hob is next to the toilet (which considering there is a lack of water isn’t exactly ideal when it comes to hygiene or just a pleasant cooking environment!). In comparison I live in a palace!

I arrived in Ambo just in time for the Ethiopian Festival ‘Meskel’. This festival celebrates the finding of the true cross and involves lots of bonfires.

My Landlord and wife kindly invited me to join them in lighting a small bonfire in the garden. I was given a large bundle of branches to add to the other two and we chatted in broken English as we watched the bundles shrink in the flames. This morning they insisted I joined them for a special breakfast to celebrate Meskel with them. So... my first meal of the day included Ingera, Tibs and Doro Wot. Ingera is the spongey sour pancake type thing which they use to scoop up the other food. The Tibs was finely chopped meat swimming in butter (this is apparently a huge treat but I can’t say I warmed to it immediately). The Doro Wot is a very spicy stew served with chicken on the bone and egg. It tastes similar to Chicken Madras but slightly sour. We washed it down with a local fermented honey drink (non alcoholic) which again was an interesting experience. The meal was then followed by a traditional coffee ceremony, where they roast the coffee beans and grind them before boiling them up with water and serving, all the while wafting insence around. My landlord (Dani) is from Ambo and so is Oromo, his wife (Burtay) is from Addis and so Amharic. The local language is Afan Oromo but they communicate with each other in Amharic. They made me laugh when they introduced me to their dog (Bobbeie)and said that although he was born Oromo he only speaks Amharic (as they always tell the dog to sit, fetch, go etc in Amharic).

I am feeling a little torn about which is the most sensible language for me to try and learn. We had 6 hours of each language during our ICT (apparently they condensed a 60 hour course into those 6 hours so needless to say most of it went in one ear and out the other!). Afan Oromo is the easier of the two as it does not have masculine and feminine form of each noun and verb like Amharic and the script is written in Latin script which makes it easier to recognise as you go about town. The Oromo people are also very proud of their culture and so the local people would be very pleased to hear me speak their tongue. However, Amharic is the national language and is spoken most widely in the university as the lecturers and students come from all over the country. It would also be the more useful language to learn if I want to travel around Ethiopia. Oh the dilemma... I do really think I must chose one though as juggling two languages plus a full time job could be too much.

I have my first day at the University tomorrow and who knows quite what is in store. I feel so blessed to have found such a lovely landlord and home and to have had Ruth here this weekend to help me settle in. It is now 10.30 and I am struggling to get into the habit of going to bed early which seems to be the norm here. I think exhaustion will set in soon though as I have been woken each morning at 5am by local churches carrying out their services by loudspeaker (I’m hoping this is just because it is Meskel and that it doesn’t happen every day!).