November update

It is mid-November and I have not done any blog-work for ages. I just assumed that people are bored with my inactivity and happy state of enjoying Addis. On the other hand, some have asked for more info. So for those of you who might be wandering about my progress……?

After visiting the major tourist sites in 4 towns in the north of Ethiopia, I wrote a report about it. It is very negative but has had the desired effect and I have been asked to discuss it at meetings and to lecture to some of the northern guides when I am next there. Because I am so very self-centred and thick-skinned, I think I have had the nouse to say what many might think, but may be too timid to express. On the other hand, I know that not much will change, despite this flurry of interest. Bureaucracy reigns supreme. Every time I try to do something where I need ‘permission’, it is a very long-winded and complicated process. As an example, let me tell you about the effort made to get a complimentary entrance to the rock-hewn churches of Lalibele. Of course I can pay, but it was a matter of principle that I wanted to establish with the church authorities that Guides should have free access because they are learning and can only present a site if they have personally seen it. Naturally they will be out of pocket if they had to pay at every site, so there is an international understanding and cooperation between guiding organizations to ensure this free entry. The church controls the 11 churches in Lalibele and they have recently increased the entrance fee from 100 to 200Birr. I was slowly, through interviews with various persons, finally directed to the main priest in charge. My Guide was quite in awe as he himself had never been allowed into these elevated premises. The man in question sat on a large chair covered in a colourful carpet and in front of him was an enormous table, similarly covered. He wore all the trappings of his office and there was much bowing and scraping from the assembled priests/deacons. I stated my case and produced the relevant letter from the Catering and Tourism Training Institute which had served me well at other sites. It was translated and no amount of ‘arguing’ my case would soften the Priest’s refusal to ‘cooperate’. He finally requested a photocopy of the letter and said that, when I return in December, he would allow me free entry. But this is just formality and the point was lost. However, the incident which did not endear me to him and his ‘authority’ was that, during the interview, he picked his nose and ate the contents.

Apart from that report which is still being circulated, I have personally visited all the 11 museums in Addis and compiled a summary of their entry charges, hours and location. I had asked the students to help with this, but found that their information was patchy or contradictory or wrong. Am trying to get this information published in the two local monthly tourist magazines (one free and the other on sale). Today I was delighted to see the first–ever copy of The Big Issue Addis. It is the 3Birr magazine sold by the homeless and jobless who can earn money from selling the magazines. It has been a great success in the rest of the world and I thoroughly support this venture. So will try to find a copy and send off the Museum information to them too.

You cannot imagine the joy I am getting from compiling a jigsaw puzzle! OK, I do not like the large patches of blue sky, but otherwise it has caused quite a stir when the locals look at my effort and marvel at the result. There is a large table in the entrance room in the office, but after a couple of days, I had to remove initial puzzle-completing exercises because it was regarded as too ‘untidy’ for visitors to see. They have a vase of flowers instead and are pleased with that although no-one had ever thought of having flowers before.

It is not really possible to use the office internet (one slow dial-up line used by the Director), so I have to go to cafes and am generally too lazy after work to seek out the less expensive ones. Below my room, is a small internet café which is open 24 hours a day. They charge a lot, but it is handy. The young man, xxxxxxxxx who does the night shift is actually homeless and sleeps amongst the computers with his sleeping bag if not needed by frantic foreigners late at night wanting to process their photos or write home before setting off on the next exciting adventure with backpack and Tourist Guidebook. One day I went down at 4..30 am, hoping to have faster-than-normal connection and he was still awake with a British lady working on the computer who obviously did not need sleep… He is highly intelligent and just desperate for a decent job, which is non-existent in this country unless you know somebody.

Xxxxxxx was interested in hearing me talk about a newly-opened, small organic food processing venture I had visited. They were having an ‘open day’ brunch last Sunday and I invited him to accompany me. The whole concept of organic food is very alien to most Ethiopians and it was a revelation to him to find out how one’s food intake affected one’s performance. However, I do think that most Ethiopians still eat very well, but the government is trying to persuade the farmers to use fertilizers and pesticides. This will have a devastating effect on production. Yes, larger crops, but soil degradation after centuries of subsistence farming will change their ultimate production at a risk to their future health, I maintain. Co-incidentally, when in the Hilton for the weekly bridge-playing, there was a large conference about Striga, the plant that wraps itself around the roots of maize and sorghum, thus depleting the ‘host’ of nutrients. This is now a very serious problem in Africa. I first heard about Striga at the Chelsea Flower Show last year. They showed how one could plant something else next to the maize to attract the weed away and create extra fodder as well. It intrigued me and I tried to find out if I could volunteer with the Kenya researchers. But they never replied to my emails and I now have another interest. The need to do farming in a less harmful way is still a big concern of mine. One of the topics I had selected for the students to study was ‘agriculture’. The student who presented his report was very much in favour of using fertilizers because it comes from the First World and he has no doubt absorbed the Govt. propaganda (I suspect large conglomerates are pouring the stuff into the country). It is hard to let people understand that this messing about with age-old methods is actually going to do harm in the long run. At the organic food processing place, they spoke of the way insects like bees stay away from fertilized crops and how young children in the ‘developed world’ are now getting old peoples’ diseases like liver and kidney failure or diabetes. This from eating too much processed and messed-about food. We are really creating a world of dis-order.

Last Saturday I had arranged for a photographer from the Tourist Authority to meet me. With Fiker (my Saturday student guide), we went to a few properties which I thought needed recording.
!. The original Post Office has just been refurbished and the 100-year-old woodwork gleams. Because the Postal Museum intrigued me, I spent some time there and became friendly with the curator. He proudly tells me that there are about 200 people in Ethiopia who collect stamps. The previous day I persuaded him that he needed a photo or two of the new works to put next to his old ones. He agreed and helped me for an hour to try and get official permission to take a snap inside. In the end I gave up with the endless calls to various bureaucrats and the final answer of ‘in two weeks’ time’. The next day we walked into the old Post Office, told the staff what we were doing and took some snaps. Easy!
2. The next stop was a famous coffee house run, as I had been told, by the original Italian owner. It is always very full of customers and is apparently the place to be seen in because it costs a bit more and the opening hours are erratic. There is not even a sign above the door. When indulging there, I had seen an elderly man behind the counter and assumed this was him. I thought the place needs to be recorded before this link was lost. So we went in, had our cakes and coffee and only then were told that the man had died some time before and that his elderly wife still runs the place. She was away, but we will return. This is a link with the Italian Occupation of 60 years ago.
3. King Menelik 11 was a very progressive man and brought in many innovations over a hundred years ago when he established Addis Ababa as his new capital. He and his Queen were very friendly with a Swiss man called Alfred Ilg who was a photographer, installed roads, bridges and sewerage in Addis and helped develop the new railway line. The two wives were best friends and in the Addis Ababa museum, there is a photo of them together outside Ilg’s house. This very dilapidated house is still recognizable, but is in the middle of a vast building site where the authorities are creating conglomerates of flats (or condominiums, as the locals call them). Although the house is ‘saved’, I have not yet found out who will be responsible for its renovation, but it seems that the Swiss Embassy has shown some interest. I introduced it to the students on one of our tours and then decided that photos need to be taken before it is too late. We arrived on the bustling site where it is intriguing to watch everything being done by hand and scores of men and women for example carrying sacks of concrete on their backs up the wooden-pole ramps which go up to five stories high. The ‘caretaker’ who lives in some of the rooms, came out, and although the manager of the site had given me permission to enter the previous day, this man now demanded money off me. I promised something and he let us in. The photographer had begun to understand my enthusiasm and no longer needed me to point out what to look at/for. He snapped away and could appreciate my insistence on a close-up of the original Chinese wallpaper of a century ago. We also managed to get photos of the Art Deco furniture of the Italian occupiers (had to lift up a mattress where a table acted as a bed) and then snapped the totally neglected place lived in by many people with their washing and cooking paraphernalia. It should be a good record of various stages in the life of the building. Actually, I proudly say that we saw probably the only bidet in Addis!
4. Back to my hotel which celebrates its 100 year’s existence next year. The Taitu Hotel was built to accommodate visiting dignitaries to the new city and the king and his wife, Queen Taitu, had it built and stayed in it to persuade visitors of the efficacy of paying for a bed and food. During the time of the Derg (‘committee’—Communist Regime of 1974-1991) when values were turned upside-down, the hotel was totally neglected and is now just managing to be kept going while the sale to a well-known businessman and owner of the opposition English newspaper awaits completion. But he is in jail and no one knows when he will be tried (the present Govt. has put most of the opposition in jail if not worse…). It needs recording before total disintegration and my trusty photographer, who had run out of film, said he will be back for more. It gave me a chance to see the more ‘luxurious’ rooms (e.g. Taitu’s bedroom) and the large ‘conference’ room in the roof space of which I was unaware.
The thing that I am proud of is that the photographer got the message and was enthusiastically photographing other old buildings which are rapidly being pulled down these days. Building work going on everywhere! I flatter him that the archives will one day mount an exhibition of his ground-breaking photos of 2006!

Cynthia, the Anthropologist, has just returned after being away in the furthest south for three weeks. She is here to finalize the publication of a Borana language dictionary. We had early-morning coffee together to catch up. She is vibrant with information, but, at the age of 70, has decided to leave Africa and retire to California. She has had enough of this country after a lifetime here. Her intimate knowledge of the remote tribes around the Omo River and beyond is being eroded by irresponsible tourism. The BBC started the rot a few years ago when they went to film some of these tribes and paid them impossibly large sums of money. Now, she says, not only the elders, but the young people as well are ending up as drunks. Their society is beginning to disintegrate and the markets, which used to sell only locally produced items, are now full of cheap tat. She had to travel in convoy to the remoter areas by the Sudanese border and says that life there is no longer ‘free’.

After having the above conversation with Cynthia, I went to have my visa extended Because I had hung about for 2 hours the previous day and then had to leave because of a lecture, I was at the Immigration buildings at 8.30am, ready to get out soon! I already knew which rooms to go to to queue with the motley group of early-risers. But this knowledge did not help. My interview with an official finally started. I was 10 days too early for a visa. I tried to explain that I might be far away on the 18th and that I was trying to be a good citizen by renewing it earlier rather than past the expiry date. I would loose the ten days. Final. OK, but can I have an extension? How long? How long will you give? As long as you want. Can I have 4 months? No, just two. But that means that I will not be able to go on a trip I have already booked in February. Two months final. After muttering that it is not fair as I came with a 3-month visa and had expected the same again, I was told to go to another building to see the manager. By this time it was 11am. After 30 minutes of waiting with an official who could not understand what I was trying to say, I was told I can see the manager in 10 minutes. 15 minutes later I was told that he is in a meeting. Wait 10 minutes. Now told that he has gone to lunch and I must return at 1.30pm. My own lunch-date was coming up and I left. Maybe I shall return another day with lots of letters with stamps on them, pleading for an extension. There is nothing as magical as a rubber-stamp on a piece of paper to get things moving in Africa! But today was enough of the African experience. I went into a supermarket and indulged in yogurt, butter, brown bread and pickled gherkins – bought with the money reserved for the visa.
Habitat for Humanity, although an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization), has the right attitude about giving. People who have houses built for them, have to do most of the hard work themselves and the interest-free loan has to be paid off with within about 10 years. Whatever profit there is, is plowed back into more houses. Although I had been talking and reading about theses houses, I had not seen any until the last week-end when I spent 5 days with two office staff and the driver in two towns north-east of Addis. It took all day to drive there (thanks to the Italians the roads are incredibly well-designed but the tar has not been renewed/repaired for 60 years, so the potholes prevent swift movement and of course, animals have right-of-way; the shepherds or cattle herders make no attempt to move their animals off the road and I would not want to argue with an Ethiopian ox which has formidable horns!). We booked into a local hotel and they negotiated for me to pay the same rate as the locals as I was ‘working’. Thus the cost was the equivalent of one pound (less than 2$) instead of 5 times as much. Not bad for daily clean sheets/towels and communal showers/toilet. And I was grateful to see colourful plastic potties under every bed! The staff was setting up a new Affiliate in Kombolcha, the village we were staying in, but we also went to nearby Dessie and I had my first glimpse of the houses they have constructed and are still busy constructing there. It is really inspiring to see these self-built houses and to know from what kind of plastic shack the occupants would have come. Everyone was enthusiastic and willing to work hard, so even on a Sunday, future occupants could be seen plastering inside or digging the latrine outside. The two-room houses are very basic and the homeowners will have to build a kitchen outside or add a room as/when they can afford it. But they are given enough land around the house so that a bit of cultivation can also take place. And to my joy, there were many flower gardens as well as food crops. Actually, the Ethiopians are good at making places colourful with small flowers gardens wherever one goes.
I attended one of the two mass meetings they held. This was for people who were interested in getting onto the list of possible future homeowners. Over 500 people crammed into a large hall and throughout the nearly 4 hours of discussion and election of officers, the crowd was attentive and orderly and not one of the small children and babies ever made a noise. I was very impressed. It was less impressive to be told that we would meet at a certain time and then to find that nothing has been planned or arranged and that I must just sit around and wait for hours (I could have taken a bus to some of the sites in the area) and the driver really capped it all for me: For our return to Addis, we were to leave at 8am and eventually piled into the car at 8.45am. Not bad for Africa, I thought. The driver then drove across the road to the petrol station and we were told to get out while he bought petrol and cleaned the vehicle. The very relieved hotel owner rushed across the road with a pair of sandals I had left in my room for the cleaning lady. He thought I had forgotten them. I explained that I did not want them and he then called over a poor man who was wearing reasonably well-worn sandals. The man slipped his feet out of his sandals, put on ‘mine’ and stood silently and expressionlessly for the next ½hour while we waited for the car to be cleaned. I mention this as it seemed so very strange for me as a Westerner, that the man did not bother to smile and say ‘thank you’ or try out the sandals or even make an attempt to retain the ones he had been wearing despite them still having some wear in them. When we finally left, he did not move an eyelid. And I could have been having another coffee in the hotel!
The local Habitat story is actually not so good in two areas where ‘African’ habits have intruded. In one town, they stopped payments as soon as they moved into their houses, despite being trained to save and pay monthly installments. They seemed to have the idea that Habitat would pay for the rest, as this is the kind of hand-out they are used to getting from NGOs. Thank goodness Habitat does not! They were taken to Court and the Judge warned them that he will either fine them heavily or have them evicted. Before the judgment, they came together and decided that they would have to pay. Miraculously, the outstanding money appeared instantly! The other town in which the same scenario was attempted was a bit different. They had hired a lawyer (think of the cost to people who had been living in terrible conditions) and this person had in turn bribed the judge. Sadly, and I do not know all the details and am too timid to ask, the case was lost by Habitat. Now, when one thinks that the same method of training prospective homeowners has been successful throughout the world, it does seem a bit strange that it is suddenly not acceptable… Maybe one day I shall find out all the details. But it is so African!
On this theme, I met a man who is here to organize the manufacture of Impregnated Mosquito nets. This will not only save the millions of lives of the users, but also the people sleeping next to them in the same room. Great! UNESCO will be distributing 20,000,000 of them for free. Despite arguments by some of the organizations that they should not be distributed without asking for a minute nominal cost, the other NGOs who are not aware of the damage they are doing to the psyche of the continent insist that they must be given away. Expect the most needy to be selling them in the market the next day… Similarly, all the free food distribution has had the effect of suppressing the market price of locally produced foodstuffs. The farmers are generally self-sufficient and sell off the 20% of their crops they do not need for other items. But now the small farmers are not getting the price they should for their produce. You can understand my prejudice against many NGOs. My last story and then I must stop moaning about people who are really trying, but are just misplaced in their charity: I met a back-packer who told me that he had met a young woman who was having a luxury holiday. She said that she worked for an NGO but that it was their financial year-end and that she was desperately trying to spend money or they will not get the same for the next year…

This year Christmas as I know it will not exist for me. The Ethiopians do not celebrate in December, as their Christmas falls on the 7th January. This is because they have adhered to the original Julian calendar, which is now about 8 years behind the West, which changed in the 18th century and ‘lost’ 11 days. But when you think of it, the Ethiopians will be celebrating the true Millennium next September 2007. So if you want a second chance to celebrate the birth of Jesus, or to just have a jolly good party all over again, come here! But the other reason is that I shall be very busy ‘working’. Ingrid and co. will have to go into the Simian Mountains for some trekking whilst I ‘train’ Guides in Lalibela for 3 days (23/24/25th). They have asked me to do some practical work with them and this is the only free time I can have which will fit in with being in the north. It is a challenge, but will be rewarding, I hope.