SLEEP DEPRIVATION!

My sleep deprivation comes from an unlikely source... the local  church. I think the local priests have the attitude that ‘if we are up and praying, the rest of you should be too’. Every morning they start their services at about 5am, while it is still dark, using a VERY loud speaker to project their service to the neighbourhood. The sound carries so well at that time in the morning it actually sounds like they are in your house with you shouting at the top of their voices. The services normally last for about 3 hours. They don’t take a break for the weekend either – in fact they often have longer services then (see below).

The first time this happened it woke me bolt upright but after a week or so I learned to block out the sound and drift back to sleep until about 7am. However... it seems they have cottoned on to this and are finding new ways of waking me up. The last few days they have been turning the volume up louder (I think to compete with another church that is a little further away). I have also noticed (quite hard not to really) that the last 2 weekends they have decided to go for all night prayer sessions starting at 10pm or midnight! I was told last weekend the all night prayer session was because it was the 7^th day of the month (according to the Ethiopian calendar) and therefore a particularly holy day. Every Sunday is also especially holy and therefore warrants loud prayers in the middle of the night (normally starting at about 2am).

I get the impression that rather than complain about this noise I am supposed to be grateful for all the prayers etc. I certainly don’t want to offend the locals. However, with my limited Amharic it is difficult to appreciate the sounds as I cannot make out any of the words. I have to say... I am impressed by their dedication to church with several church services available for people a day. However when people need to get up and work the next day it seems it would be kinder to let them sleep. As I said before... I am getting more used to it but when the noise goes on most of the night and I have only been able to drift in and out of sleep it can be difficult. Without sleep I am much more irrational and emotional! This morning I woke up (if you can call it that when you are not sure if you’ve been to sleep) feeling like I haven’t slept all weekend. My head is pounding! And so another week begins! Church willing... I will get an early night tonight and catch up my missing sleep.

Have I bitten off more than I can chew?

Today was quite manic! I somehow managed to organise things so that everything came at once! This morning I visited 2 local schools with the hope of providing a grant to improve facilities for them; this afternoon I facilitated my first HDP session and this evening I hosted 17 administrative staff in my home.

     The HDP (Higher Diploma Programme) is the job VSO recruited me for. It involves providing a one year course on teaching methodology to university lecturers and teacher trainers. I think the first session went well although we over ran slightly. The candidates appear enthusiastic about the course and I am looking forward to our next session next Tuesday. So far the planning and preparation seems manageable but I’m sure it will become much busier once I begin the one to one sessions with the 22 candidates and start observing their lessons etc. I have been assured it is a pretty full time commitment.

    However... This week I also received some information about applying for a small grant from BandAid to help improve a local school. In particular this project aims to encourage girls to stay in school for longer by providing more motivating classrooms or facilities. After speaking to my colleague about it we both agreed it would be irresponsible not to at least apply for the grant and hope for the best. It just happened that the best day to visit some local schools to assess their needs was also today. So this morning I visited 2 local schools; a High School with 3000 students all grade 9 (age 15+) and a Primary School with 1700 students grades 1-8 (the average age of students here is therefore 7-15). Both were in need of so much but the Primary School looked quite desperate. Most of the classrooms still had mud walls as there was no money to plaster with cement, the children were crammed into tiny dark rooms with no learning materials. There had been no library in the 30 years the school had been there. (I will try to upload some photos of both schools ASAP). Over the next week we will need to decide which school to support and then consult with them about the specific area they would like us to focus on. The most likely ideas include building and resourcing a library or building separate toilets for females so that they have more privacy (especially during menstruation). We then need to fill in a complex form to apply for the grant including a detailed breakdown of expected costs. The form needs to be sent off by the 9^th November so we will need to work fast!

   My final activity of the day was again self inflicted. Having made friends with some of the office staff I was keen to develop these friendships but also saw a need to help them with their English. I thought I could kill 2 birds with one stone and offer an English Social Club once a fortnight after work. My intention was just a very informal club with the opportunity to speak in English, play some games and perhaps watch the occasional English film together. However, it soon became apparent they wanted more specific help with English that would support them in their roles as admin assistants. Once word got around that I was offering free English language support then everyone wanted to join in and so 30 admin staff signed up to join this club! Tonight we had an initial meeting to consider the logistics of how this would work. 18 of us sat in my lounge and discussed various possibilities while I provided shai (tea), kolo (roasted barley) and popcorn. Eventually the group decided to split into 3 groups, not by ability like I had suggested but, by the night of the week they would prefer to come. We then organised a rather complicated  rota where each group could come to my house 2 times a month for structured sessions on various topics (hopefully with lots of games) and have the option of coming a 3^rd evening for a larger social gathering with all 3 groups or to watch a film. What this means for me is that I have committed myself to 2 evenings a week and will need to very quickly learn how to teach English Language in a fun and relaxed way! Yikes! At the start of the meeting I was expecting to provide 2 sessions a month and thought I may offer one a week if they broke into smaller groups. However, they were hoping each group would have the chance to meet every week (this would have been 3 sessions a week). As a teacher I find it quite hard to turn away anyone who wants to learn. Although I feel quite overwhelmed about what I have just got myself into I did at least feel a small victory when I negotiated down from 3 sessions a week to 2 sessions!

  So this crazy day has set the groundwork for a lot more work to come. I really hope I haven’t bitten off more than I can chew but at least there is little chance of me getting bored while I am here. The day was made even more challenging by the fact that for the last 2 days my stomach has been less than perfect. So perhaps, this week at least, it was a case of ‘I bit off something I shouldn’t have chewed’ rather than ‘I’ve bitten off more than I can chew’.

Some things I will never be able to say...

Everyday my colleagues (led by Ato Solomon) try and teach me new words and laugh hysterically at my pronunciation. I am definitely learning more and more each day all be it quite slowly. I have adopted an Amharic saying for pretty much everything I do in Ethiopia but particularly language learning. The saying goes, ‘’little by little the egg learns to walk’’! However... I am learning that there are some things I just will never be able to say. This is because they seem to be able to do special things which they pronounce certain letters (similarly difficult to the rolling r’s of the Scottish and Irish but totally different). One sound is something between a K and a Q. They find it so funny hearing me try and say it. The problem is I can’t even HEAR the difference when they say it next to an ordinary K so I don’t think I have any hope of being able to pronounce the difference. The other letter I am stuck on at the moment is a form of T. I think it is supposed to have a ‘cha’ sound hidden somewhere behind it.

Still... I guess I have some of the important things covered. I can ask for items at a shop and understand numbers enough to know how much money they want for it. I am learning lot of ‘food’ related words which serve me well when I go to the market or eat in the staff canteen. I am also learning simple classroom language. For example ‘betam t’ru’ means ‘very good’ and I understand ‘Gobez’ means something between ‘intelligent, very good and excellent’ ... I think I will use it instead of ‘well done’ and hope for the best! As well as words for praise my colleagues are enjoying teaching me phrases such as ‘please come in’ and ‘it is time to start’ and letting me practice on the candidates at the end of every tea break. My candidates and colleagues seem to find this hilarious. I am definitely enjoying trying to learn Amharic and, although I find it difficult to say most things, it is satisfying when I hear a sentence and recognise some of the words. It helps when they throw the odd English word into their sentences, which they often do, but I am finding I am increasingly able to get the gist of SOME conversations which feels great. I am still a long way off understanding most of what is said around me but as the saying goes... ‘’little by little the egg learns to walk’’.

''TARA, I THINK YOUR ENGLISH HAS IMPROVED THIS WEEK...''

I have just finished my first week of proper work.

I spent it working with 3 Ethiopian Colleagues delivering the start of a 3 week induction programme for 34 new university lecturers on teaching methodology. This involved four 90 minute interactive lessons a day starting at 9am and finishing at 5.30pm. At the start of the week I was mostly observing the lessons but from Wednesday lunch time onwards I taught 15 hours of lessons back to back. It was great having a chance to plan and deliver lessons again and it also gave me a chance to brush up on educational theory. With my higher diploma programme due to start next week it gave me a fantastic opportunity to ‘practise’ teaching in an Ethiopian context. I think one of the greatest challenges for me was the fact that I was dealing with a whole class of students where English is a second or third language for them.

The university requires all lecturers to teach their subject in English and yet the English ability of this class was very varied.

It took a while to get used to it and I found I had to slow the pace of my lessons way down as it took a lot longer than expected for the group to read and write in English.

I also found I had to slow my speech right down and repeat things a number of times. Sometimes I wanted to use more simple language, however, I found they were often more comfortable with more complex ‘formal’ language as this is the way they have been taught. Towards the end of the week one of my colleagues commented, ‘‘Tara, I think your English has improved this week’’!

I was really impressed both with my colleagues and the candidates for the induction programme.

Despite ‘active learning’ being a relatively new concept in Ethiopia my colleagues from the education department had planned excellent lessons for the induction. They were determined to lead by example and carefully planned lessons which would challenge the candidates and require them to take an active role in their learning.

I feel my role here (with these particular colleagues at least) will not be to educate them in new teaching methods but rather to support them as they go about trying to create a cultural shift in education from a lecture based approach (from primary right through to university) to one based on ‘active learning’.

The new university lecturers were equally impressive in terms of their work ethic and their willingness to work toward a new style of teaching in which they have no personal experience. They recognised there would be challenges in implementing a more active learning approach (particularly in a university setting with large classes) but they were also convinced by the importance of trying. On Friday they were divided into groups to ‘microteach’ a topic using an active learning method of their choice. I was amazed by the enthusiasm with which they approached it and their willingness to try some quite daring methods (given the fact that they have never seen them used before). Their mini lessons themselves were also very interesting as most groups had chosen current Ethiopian controversial topics to spark debate. I learnt a lot that day about the various issues facing people in Ethiopia today from contraception choice, to deforestation, to poverty, to a debate on agricultural vs industrial led development.

Spending 8 hours a day with my 3 colleagues and 34 candidates I also learnt a lot about Ethiopian culture and language.

Every day the canteen provided us with traditional food. Ethiopians are obsessed with meat and if ever given the chance they will take meat with their Injera rather than vegetables. Luckily the meat is quite tasty but the problem is they see meat and veg as an either or situation and so on ‘meat days’ there are no vegetables to be found. I much more preferred the meals on Wednesday and Friday. These are the orthodox fasting days where most people do not eat meat. Instead our Injera was served with a huge array of different vegetables. It was delicious!

I find most lunch times involve my colleagues laughing at my expense. Mostly when they try to get me to say different phrases in Amharic. I feel I am learning very slowly but if they keep making me speak Amharic and laugh at my mistakes hopefully I will get there soon enough. They also find my love of vegetables quite amusing and I think sometimes they ordered extra meat just to see my reaction! It has been really good getting to know my colleagues and having a chance to learn more about Ethiopia and the local culture from them. Sometimes I think they just say things to wind me up and often feel the need to get a second opinion. For example the other day they spent about 20 minutes convincing me I should put butter in my hair for 24 hours ... apparently it is really nice and can even get rid of things like headaches! It seems this story is at least true as other people verified later.

I had really enjoyed their company all week and so when the weekend came, although I was ready for a break, I was a little disappointed that I would have to wait another 2 days before we all get together again. I needn’t have worried... I decided to take a day trip to a local waterfall (about 11km away) today and when I got their two of my colleagues (Ali and Biruk) happened to be there with some friends. We had a lovely afternoon relaxing by the waterfall and it was great to have people to travel back with (my journey there had been a bit daunting as I navigated my way along local transport and ended up travelling perched on an awkward box near the front of the crowded bus). When I got back to Ambo I went to the University to check e-mails and was greeted by another colleague, Solomon, and so was able to have a quick cup of tea with him and his friends before heading home for the night. I feel very lucky to have such friendly colleagues (even if they do often laugh at me!).

LOTS OF RAIN BUT NO WATER!

Apparently the rains are normally over by October but after quite a dry period in September in has been chucking it down on and off for the last week.

Although I have to say I prefer the balmy sunny days and am not such a fan of trudging home ankle deep in mud I should be happy about the last blast of rain. There had been worries that most of Ethiopia had not received enough rain this summer and some even said the conditions were similar to those that preceded the 1985 famine. So... it seems the farmers at least are rejoicing!

You would think with all this rain (it rained solidly for 4 days at least) that there would be plenty of water. Before the rains I had not even considered a water shortage as water came quite happily from my tap each day. I was even surprised when I heard that other volunteers had experienced days on end without a water supply to their homes. However... no sooner had the rains come but the water supply stopped! It happened first on Sunday all I had to collect extra water was one large saucepan which I put out in the rain overnight. Thankfully by Monday pm the water came back on and I filled every container I could find in the house just in case it happened again. I must have stored about 10 litres of water which seemed a lot to me at the time. However... when the water disappeared again last night I found those 10 litres disappeared very quickly! I had never really appreciated how much water I use on a daily basis until now. After cooking dinner; drinking two cups of tea; cooking breakfast; drinking another cup of tea; flushing the toilet, washing my hands and brushing my teeth twice each; and washing up the dishes from my dinner and breakfast I was saddened to find I did not really have enough to attempt a bucket shower and so went to work less than perfectly clean. I REALLY hope there is water when I go home tonight!

I must get better at storing emergency water. I may also have to start collecting water from University. I have heard it is possible I may have to go several weeks at a time without water... I am really hoping this is just a silly rumour and doesn’t happen in lovely places like Ambo but rather in far off distant lands!

It seems impossible that there could be any water shortage with all the rains we have been having. My landlord did offer a very plausible explanation though- he thought with the floods there could have been issues with pipes becoming clogged with excess silt deposits. That hopefully implies the current water issues should be only temporary while they remove the excess silt. However... once the last of the summer rains have been and gone it is likely that we will have months and months with no rain (sounds like bliss to me)... and then water issues may become more of an issue.

I shouldn’t be too concerned though... of all the countries in Africa, Ethiopia is the wettest. Most of its electricity comes from HEP and there are many natural lakes and river that flow through the country. For most of Ethiopia it seems it is not a problems of not enough water but of access to water. As I see gallons of gushing through Ambo along the river and yet none coming out of my taps I suppose I am experiencing this at a local level.

COMING HOME...

I just spent the weekend in Addis visiting friends.

It was so lovely catching up with them all and sharing our experiences of our first weeks. We had lots of good stories and it seemed that all those who had started their work were loving the challenges they were facing. It was also a good opportunity to share some of our frustrations and difficulties in a safe place, without the worry of offending people or giving a bad impression. But for me I think the best thing about the trip was that is made me very happy to be based in Ambo away from the big city. By the end of the weekend I was really looking forward to heading home to my little life here. As well as Addis being so hectic and polluted it is full of far too many temptations for me to spend my money on. Lovely restaurants and shops with so much variety compared to little Ambo. In one day I managed to spend over half my monthly salary! The fact that in real terms I spent just over £50 and that it was mostly on things I needed to set up my home in Ambo does make it more understandable ...but it still hurt!!

By Sunday afternoon I was thoroughly exhausted and happily sitting on a crowded minibus taking in the beautiful countryside on my way back HOME. I was excited about getting back to my cute little house, putting away my new purchases and cooking up some of the interesting food I was able to get in an Addis supermarket. I was looking forward to starting the 3 week crash course for new university lecturers on teaching methodology on Monday morning and getting back to the familiar faces in the office. I was dreaming about the next Bayonette and Shai I would have in the University Canteen.

I know this next week will be challenging. I will be delivering a lot of training sessions as well as planning for the start of the Higher Diploma Programme (HDP) which will begin the following week. I know I’ll get frustrated by the slow pace that things happen and the fact that the language barrier makes communication more difficult. But I also know that I feel very lucky to be here and privileged to have such an interesting role within the University. Having shared stories with my friends in Addis and other parts of the country I know I have really landed on my feet. I have a lovely house with a lovely landlord; friendly and good humoured colleagues, my very own office with fairly reliable internet access and for the lonely evenings... a lifetimes supply of TV series and films that another volunteer downloaded onto my external hard drive! Life is looking good!

YOU... YOU...FERENGIE...

I’ve been here a week now but I’m not sure the locals will ever get used to me.

I am the only ‘Ferengie’ (white foreigner) in town. There are a few Nigerians and Indians who work at the university but with their dark skin they seem to blend in quite well. When I walk down the streets the children shout after me ‘you... you’. Apparently it is not as rude as it sounds... In Ethiopia children often shout ‘you’ in Amharic to other people to get their attention and so they feel quite proud of themselves that they can also do this in English! The children are mostly very sweet and want to shake my hand with their snotty grubby paws and ask my name. I heard someone shout ‘Tawroo’ and another ‘Terow’ after me the other day so I guess they are at least trying to remember my name J.

Yesterday I went for a walk in the nearby stunning countryside. On my way back I was humbled by some very sweet Ethiopian children, Marta and Lydia, who had great English even though they were only 7 and 8 years old. Rather than the usual request for money they offered me some of their food. A simple seed mixture...but it was lovely.

Ambo is very lucky to have its very own thermally heated outdoor swimming pool. On Saturday I decide to go along thinking it could be a nice place to relax and read a book. The pool was lovely but I felt anything but relaxed. Being the only white person (and a girl at that) I felt like every eye was watching me. It is hard enough wearing a swim suit when no one is looking. It took me a good hour before I plucked up the guts to remove my towel and jump in the pool. I think next time I go swimming I’ll make sure I take a friend and preferably a white one to deflect some of the stares.

Although walking down the street and hearing ‘ferengie’ shouted or whispered as you pass doesn’t sound very friendly, apparently it is not meant to cause any offence. They are simply stating fact- ‘white foreigner’. I have been told that an appropriate response to this ‘greeting’ (as they see it) is ‘habasha’ which means ‘local’ or ‘Ethiopian’. Sometimes I say this and they laugh. It crazy here though... I really do feel like a mini celebrity and can relate to stress caused by paparazzi and the desire to be treated normally.

It is quite a novel experience being in a place where everyone wants to know you or at least shake hands with you. (I think some of them are just fascinated by the opportunity to touch white skin!). The Ethiopian’s are such polite people and every encounter is accompanied by a handshake. You enter a room and you shake hands with everyone in it and go through quite a complex exchange of greetings. ‘Hello’, ‘How are you?’, ‘How was your night/ day?’ etc all in Amharic before getting on with whatever business you entered the room for. It is amazing! I think I have shaken more hands in the last week than the whole of my life put together.

At times it feels like I am being singled out as a 'Ferengie' but most of the time I think all the handshakes etc are just a way of them including me as one of them. Although no one calls ‘you you’ after my colleagues as they walk down the street they do regularly stop along a path to exchange greetings and handshakes with one another. And I have to admit it is quite lovely having a string of children saying hello as I walk between the University and my home twice a day.