Day 2

Okay, where to start!? It's been a long and eventful day! We started out by trying the breakfast at the guesthouse and were surprised by a really yummy omelet with green chillies and tomatoes and bread, for all of 3 kr :) (about 40p english or 50cents american).

Then we went to the office of this guy Teddy, a ethiopian social worker and director of a network of organizations that help orphans and vulnerable children. He told us a bit about the work and showed us around in a downstairs doctors office. He was really friendly and easy to talk to, and I got to try out my amharic and he actually understood me fine, so that was really cool :) We talked to a doctor there who told us about the most prevalent diseases in Ethiopia, which is for those of you are interested gastro intestinal diseases, infections of different kinds, typhoid fever, TB.

From there we went to visit an orphanage for girls 4-18 years old. There were 250 of them, and the staff that took care of the numbered 15! I don’t think they received very much individual care, and most of them came from pretty troubled backgrounds. When we came out of the car a bunch of them streamed up to the door and gave us all hugs and kisses on the cheeks. Most of them had really nicely braided hair and they seemed well fed, but had really shabby clothes and some of them probably could have been cleaner, but they were so cute. I videotaped for a bit before the director caught me and told me I wasn’t allowed, but I got a few minutes. I’ll post it when I find out how…So we were shown around a bit. We saw where their nurses worked. They had some small rooms with hardly any equipment. They also had some cows, chickens and some crops of spinach, peppers and some other things. So they were self sustained as far as milk and eggs go. We didn’t get to see where they girls live and eat and so on, so I guess they didn’t want to show us because of the standard. They did have some nice play ground equipment and a basketball court, and they all got to go to school. The older kids also got some practical skills training so they had something to do when they have to leave at 18.

After the orphanage we went to another organization that also work with the poorest kids and orphans, only they used a slightly different approach. Instead of putting a bunch of kids together, they try to find foster parents (such as relatives) and support the kids in their own community, sponsoring their schooling, health care, food and so on. And also starting self-help groups where foster parents learn skills and also helping women in the community to get better work and teaching them about economics and so on. More of a empowerment strategy that have longer lasting effects. We went to one of their administrative buildings and met with the director and we also go to meet some of the people who are helped through this organization. Some of them told us their stories. One was a HIV positive woman who got help for her 5 year old son with educational costs and food. The little kid got up and introduced himself and was so cute! A 15 year old girl told of how she had gotten help to go back to school and another girl had gotten glasses so she could see again and go back to school. She was so touched when she told us how grateful she was that she was crying. This organizations also had volunteers and it was so cool to see that they prioritized helping others even though they didn’t have much themselves.

After going to all of these places it was time to eat! So Teddy took us to a traditional Ethiopian restaurant only 2 minutes from our guest house. And when I say traditional, I mean traditional! Nothing remotely western in there. We had actually thought this building was a church or Mosque because of the circular shape, but it turned out to be a restaurant. Everyone was sitting on small 3 footed stools around a circular shaped tables, or around the circular edge of the room. They weaved tables where just right to fit big circular serving plates of aluminum I think. Everyone around one table ate of the same dish. The food we had was injera, which is a huge pancake shaped type of bread made out of a special cereal that only grows in Ethiopia. It has a sort of a spongy consistency and tastes quite sour, and is not very good to eat on its own. But on the top they put different types of sauces with meat, we had some with chicken and some with beef, and some were quite spicy, but really good. There was also a whole chickens leg in there, which we avoided. And there was some fresh cheese. You eat with your hands breaking of pieces of the injera bread and picking up sauce with it. Teddy told us that Ethiopians people who are good friends or husband and wife often feed each other, and he laughed out loud when I told him only babies are fed like that in Norway. We were also joined by another man who worked for an Italian organizations also for poor children. To drink, they traditionally drink a liquor made out of honey, and they drink out of glasses that looked like chemistry glasses to me, wide at the bottom with a tiny opening at the top. I tried a sip just to have tried it, but it didn’t taste anything like honey. Later I had some guava juice and that was way better J

So after all of this we decided to go check out the little mall they have and the Ethiopian starbucks called Kaldis. I had a chai tea which was nothing like at starbucks but still really good. Then we went to a supermarked to get some survival food like crackers, peanut butter, apples and juice boxes. I was last in line to pay, and before I knew everyone had disappeared. So I found myself alone in downtown Addis after dark carrying my shopping around! So I walked along towards where the car had last been but it wasn’t there. Of course I still haven’t been able to get a SIM card for my phone so it does me no good. There was tons of people around so I wasn’t feeling unsafe or anything, but I was starting to think of what I would do to get back to the guesthouse by myself. But before I got to far our car pulled up so I made it back. But at least now I have a plan ready for the next time I get myself lost or left behind!

Tomorrow we are going to the university to register and pay our tuition and hopefully find out where we are doing our practical work for the next few weeks!