We finally left the Red Cross compound for the last time yesterday morning to travel to Haramaya. Our last two days on ICT were really good. On Tuesday we had the last of our language lessons and a really interesting work shop on cultural norms in Ethiopia before heading into central Addis Ababa for the dreaded scavenger hunt. This involved being divided into teams of three and sent off with a list of tasks to get us using our Amharic and negotiating our way around the city with the safety net of someone knowing roughly where we were going and when we should be back. We started out getting a line taxi to the stadium district. Line taxis are the safest form of public transport and the one VSO recommends we use. They are essentially blue and white minibuses that crisscross the city on set routes. There is a boy who collects the fares, who hangs out the window yelling the destination at the top of his voice. When you hear the one you want, you flag it down and jump in along with everyone else. When you reach your destination you shout WERAJ and they let you out. They looked pretty scary but once you’ve done it its actually okay.
Once in the Stadium area we had to buy a newspaper and ½ a kilo of bananas (gamash kilo muz in Amharic!), get a shoe shine, meet some old volunteers in a cafe, find out how much to swim at the Ghion hotel, and make our way back to the VSO office. All of this was remarkably easy, and almost everyone we asked in broken Amharic replied in English. We were really impressed just how helpful and friendly all the locals were, and it was a really nice experience.
On our last night we had a cultural night at the Red Cross centre, with traditional music, dancing and a feast and we got to sample some local wine which is probably best described as unreliable. I had three glasses of red, each from a different bottle. The first was okay and very light. The second was actually pretty good and the third still seemed to be fermenting and was pretty, much undrinkable. It was great fun and a really good way to say goodbye and good luck.
So the morning found us up at 0540 to leave a 6 for an early flight. You have to make sure that you are in good time in Ethiopia (even though no one else is) as flights will often leave early! We flew to Dire Dawa in the east and immediately the difference is noticeable. It’s much drying and more barren looking and even though the rainy season has just ended most of the river beds are dry. It’s beautiful, much cleaner and more tropical than Addis and we had a really nice drive up to Haramaya Uni which is about an hour from the airport. Haramaya is up in the hills again at about 2000m above sea level so a little cooler than Dire Dawa. The campus is huge and really beautiful, with amazing birds and huge flamboyant trees with spectacular red flowers. There is an amazing outdoor pool! Our accommodation isn’t ready which wasn’t a huge surprise, so in the mean time we are being put up in the resource centre in fully catered luxury and I had my first proper hot shower since arriving in Ethiopia. Last night Pat, one of my fellow health volunteers cooked us an amazing ferengi meal and then today we met the University President who gave us his car to visit Harar campus which is a 35 minute drive away. The health campus is a bit of a building site by comparison and the “classrooms are small and crowded with nothing but a few desks. I managed to meet the head of the medical school who will take me over to the hospital on Monday and introduce me to everyone there. I will get a few days to orientate myself, get a feel for how things work and then we’ll meet to discuss exactly what my role will be..... should be interesting!
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