Living In Jimma
(Wednesday, 07 September 2005)
I now live in Jimma, though at this point I'm "living" in a hotel. We have no yet located a suitable place for me to stay, so tonight will be my 4th night in a row in a hotel. My first hotel in Jimma was quite nice; it cost me around 15USD, which for Ethiopians is a ridiculous amount of money. Given that I'm living off the money many of you gave to me, it happens to be a bit more than I can afford on a consistent basis too, so I moved to the Aramaic Hotel. Not a bad place, except that the outside bar is open until 10:30pm, preventing me from getting any sleep until it shuts down. Soon I should be in a house, so it is of little matter.
For those of you who didn't hear, I was rather sick since my last post. Funny, I did fine on Ethiopian food, but the evening we ate at "New York, New York" I ate a hamburger and may never do so again. We were to leave for Jimma the next day - Saturday - but I was far too weak to make such a trip. We left Sunday late morning, and I must say, I'm glad we waited. The trip was spectacular, but would not have been fun on a bad stomach. The road between Jimma and Addis Ababa is being completely redone, but so far only goes about the first 1/3 of the way. After that, the road used today is one left by the Italians during their occupation in the 1930's. Since it was built no discernible maintenance has been done, so the drive consists of dodging potholes that can swallow a car. Even on the "smooth" sections its like driving down a farm road because water has buckled the road in so many places. I am going to try and post pictures after posting this email; some of the pictures are taken during the drive. At one point we passed a lake that exists only during the rainy season. As it recedes, farmers plant behind it. As the rainy season ends the lake will be farmland. Many of the homes are of the round straw hut style. A few of the small "towns" are so low and wet that their homes are built on stilts, effectively serving as islands during at least a third of the year.
In Jimma the homes are generally mud huts with pole construction, or tin if the family is "well-to-do". A concrete or brick home is considered very wealthy. Our offices are fairly nice by these standards; I will also attach some pictures of the Fayyaa compound (if I am able).
About the food: some of it is wonderful, other bits I have to choke down. The meal I mentioned in the last post is apparently not a daily meal; it is called Weyayinetu, and is the traditional fasting food of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. They fast Wednesdays and Fridays, and Weyayinetu is served on these days. The Muslims and Evangelicals don't follow this practice, so even on these days you may order other dishes if you like. "Fasting" in this context means "no meat," which is probably why I like it. Most of the meat is prepared very well, but some things they eat we would not. For instance, one lamb dish I ordered came with huge pieces of white fat that I simply could not touch. For them, this is the good stuff - the "white meat." Likewise, they have a favorite meal called Kitfo, which is basically raw ground beef with some spices. For the foreigner (forengee) they will cook it about 60 seconds - Kitfo Lublub (hot). In Addis I had this meal, though in Addis they are a bit more used to foreigners and must have cooked it longer even than lublub. I ordered Kitfo lublub last night and could barely touch it. I was eating outside in the dark, which is probably the only reason I was able to put any of it down at all. Had I seen the color, I suspect it would have gone untouched. The meal also highlighted another aspect of life here: everyone is out to get the foreigners money. A typical evening meal here costs about 10 Birr, or a $1.25 - this price is at the nicest restaurants in town. (In Jimma, that is. If you eat at the nice western hotels in Addis Ababa you could easily drop 25USD!) Yesterevening when I payed with a 100 Birr, the waiter brought back 75 Birr. A 25 Birr meal here is VERY expensive. I questioned him, and he said that Kitfo is 22 Birr. I had seen the menu the night before and knew it wasn't 22 Birr. Kitfo does cost a bit more, but usually 13-15 Birr. I tried getting the money, but its nearly impossible. In their minds foreigners should be paying more anyway, and once they have your big bill there's little you can do.
That was yesterevening. Yesterday I went with one of the field coordinators "into the field." We traveled far beyond Jimma in areas that are rural even by rural standards. I went past the area called Kofa, of which some speculate the birthplace of coffee (kofa... coffee). We ended in Limu Che, a gorgeous rural ethiopian village built at the top of a huge hill/mountain. The area is lush and green, known for its coffee production.
Some of you may be wondering what exactly it is that I do. That is, indeed, an excellent question. I'm not entirely certain yet myself. There seems to be perhaps three main areas: first, I learn everything I can about the USAID grant. Most of what goes on around here occurrs at an extremely laid back, unorganized pace. The necessary exception to this is the USAID grant, for which we must complete western set deadlines, budgets, workplans, etc. I am supposed to keep up with this grant. I have already learned that this will be a huge pain. Everything we do must fit within their predefined categories. For instance, we are the only group in Ethiopia working with both both Christians and Muslims. Everyone else deals strictly with Christians. Thus, the curriculum we use must be different than everyone else (it must be either religiously neutral or have two sets of curriculum). When filling out the Workplan, their boxes ask about implimentation of Choose Life materials... which we do not use. We modified their report and made note of our modification, so that our program would be adequately described and organized. No go. We received the report back, forced to put our information into their original boxes.
Second, I am to develop additional grant proposals for other aid agencies. I've never done this, but the fact that I speak english and can type more than 2wpm apparently gives me a considerable edge. Along with this I will clean up english in various reports, etc.
Third, I am to watch how the organization runs, so that the director of the NGO can leave on occasion. As it is, he hasn't left for more than a day or two in 4 years. Once I understand how the NGO runs on a daily basis, he's going to leave for a month long vacation.
Thats about all for me this afternoon. Hope you are all doing wonderfully.
BUDGET ITEM: For those of you who are sad in your heart of hearts because you didn't get a chance to donate financially, don't worry! You still have a chance! Kansas City shows a total of around 8,000USD in donations. The budget as it currently stands will demand between 10-12,000, depending on various expenses in the following months. Thanks again to everyone who has helped me both financially and with your prayers and support,
Michael
I now live in Jimma, though at this point I'm "living" in a hotel. We have no yet located a suitable place for me to stay, so tonight will be my 4th night in a row in a hotel. My first hotel in Jimma was quite nice; it cost me around 15USD, which for Ethiopians is a ridiculous amount of money. Given that I'm living off the money many of you gave to me, it happens to be a bit more than I can afford on a consistent basis too, so I moved to the Aramaic Hotel. Not a bad place, except that the outside bar is open until 10:30pm, preventing me from getting any sleep until it shuts down. Soon I should be in a house, so it is of little matter.
For those of you who didn't hear, I was rather sick since my last post. Funny, I did fine on Ethiopian food, but the evening we ate at "New York, New York" I ate a hamburger and may never do so again. We were to leave for Jimma the next day - Saturday - but I was far too weak to make such a trip. We left Sunday late morning, and I must say, I'm glad we waited. The trip was spectacular, but would not have been fun on a bad stomach. The road between Jimma and Addis Ababa is being completely redone, but so far only goes about the first 1/3 of the way. After that, the road used today is one left by the Italians during their occupation in the 1930's. Since it was built no discernible maintenance has been done, so the drive consists of dodging potholes that can swallow a car. Even on the "smooth" sections its like driving down a farm road because water has buckled the road in so many places. I am going to try and post pictures after posting this email; some of the pictures are taken during the drive. At one point we passed a lake that exists only during the rainy season. As it recedes, farmers plant behind it. As the rainy season ends the lake will be farmland. Many of the homes are of the round straw hut style. A few of the small "towns" are so low and wet that their homes are built on stilts, effectively serving as islands during at least a third of the year.
In Jimma the homes are generally mud huts with pole construction, or tin if the family is "well-to-do". A concrete or brick home is considered very wealthy. Our offices are fairly nice by these standards; I will also attach some pictures of the Fayyaa compound (if I am able).
About the food: some of it is wonderful, other bits I have to choke down. The meal I mentioned in the last post is apparently not a daily meal; it is called Weyayinetu, and is the traditional fasting food of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. They fast Wednesdays and Fridays, and Weyayinetu is served on these days. The Muslims and Evangelicals don't follow this practice, so even on these days you may order other dishes if you like. "Fasting" in this context means "no meat," which is probably why I like it. Most of the meat is prepared very well, but some things they eat we would not. For instance, one lamb dish I ordered came with huge pieces of white fat that I simply could not touch. For them, this is the good stuff - the "white meat." Likewise, they have a favorite meal called Kitfo, which is basically raw ground beef with some spices. For the foreigner (forengee) they will cook it about 60 seconds - Kitfo Lublub (hot). In Addis I had this meal, though in Addis they are a bit more used to foreigners and must have cooked it longer even than lublub. I ordered Kitfo lublub last night and could barely touch it. I was eating outside in the dark, which is probably the only reason I was able to put any of it down at all. Had I seen the color, I suspect it would have gone untouched. The meal also highlighted another aspect of life here: everyone is out to get the foreigners money. A typical evening meal here costs about 10 Birr, or a $1.25 - this price is at the nicest restaurants in town. (In Jimma, that is. If you eat at the nice western hotels in Addis Ababa you could easily drop 25USD!) Yesterevening when I payed with a 100 Birr, the waiter brought back 75 Birr. A 25 Birr meal here is VERY expensive. I questioned him, and he said that Kitfo is 22 Birr. I had seen the menu the night before and knew it wasn't 22 Birr. Kitfo does cost a bit more, but usually 13-15 Birr. I tried getting the money, but its nearly impossible. In their minds foreigners should be paying more anyway, and once they have your big bill there's little you can do.
That was yesterevening. Yesterday I went with one of the field coordinators "into the field." We traveled far beyond Jimma in areas that are rural even by rural standards. I went past the area called Kofa, of which some speculate the birthplace of coffee (kofa... coffee). We ended in Limu Che, a gorgeous rural ethiopian village built at the top of a huge hill/mountain. The area is lush and green, known for its coffee production.
Some of you may be wondering what exactly it is that I do. That is, indeed, an excellent question. I'm not entirely certain yet myself. There seems to be perhaps three main areas: first, I learn everything I can about the USAID grant. Most of what goes on around here occurrs at an extremely laid back, unorganized pace. The necessary exception to this is the USAID grant, for which we must complete western set deadlines, budgets, workplans, etc. I am supposed to keep up with this grant. I have already learned that this will be a huge pain. Everything we do must fit within their predefined categories. For instance, we are the only group in Ethiopia working with both both Christians and Muslims. Everyone else deals strictly with Christians. Thus, the curriculum we use must be different than everyone else (it must be either religiously neutral or have two sets of curriculum). When filling out the Workplan, their boxes ask about implimentation of Choose Life materials... which we do not use. We modified their report and made note of our modification, so that our program would be adequately described and organized. No go. We received the report back, forced to put our information into their original boxes.
Second, I am to develop additional grant proposals for other aid agencies. I've never done this, but the fact that I speak english and can type more than 2wpm apparently gives me a considerable edge. Along with this I will clean up english in various reports, etc.
Third, I am to watch how the organization runs, so that the director of the NGO can leave on occasion. As it is, he hasn't left for more than a day or two in 4 years. Once I understand how the NGO runs on a daily basis, he's going to leave for a month long vacation.
Thats about all for me this afternoon. Hope you are all doing wonderfully.
BUDGET ITEM: For those of you who are sad in your heart of hearts because you didn't get a chance to donate financially, don't worry! You still have a chance! Kansas City shows a total of around 8,000USD in donations. The budget as it currently stands will demand between 10-12,000, depending on various expenses in the following months. Thanks again to everyone who has helped me both financially and with your prayers and support,
Michael
posted by Michael Rodgers at 7:23 AM
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