We were greeted and picked up by Sam Vander Ende from the Canadian Food Grains Bank (CFGB) who was kind enough to chauffeur some of our group using his personal vehicle, and by Danny our driver from the rental agency. We picked up Abdi Abdulahi Hussein, our guide and interpreter (and long-term friend of ANSO and Swan City Rotary Club of Grande Prairie) from Pastoralist Concern (PC) prior to leaving Addis. We had lunch in Shashemene then turned east to Gobe. The new highway from Addis to Gobe made a difficult two day trip for Chris and Bruce in the past into to a pleasant one day drive. The new highway would change our plans however since the Prime Minister of Ethiopia planned to stay in our hotel (Gobe Wabe Shebelle Hotel) March 8th in conjunction with the official opening the new highway. Rather than arm wrestle him for a room, we opted to shorten our stay in the region.
March 3, 2013 – We left Gobe and the pavement (!) travelling SE over the scenic Bali mountain range to visit Haro Dumal Senior Secondary School in Mana Barumsa. The secondary school was provided with books that Swan City Rotary shipped by SeaCan and which were put to excellent use developing a well-organized library. It was remarkable to find many textbooks from Beaverlodge, Grande Prairie, Sexsmith and other Alberta schools stocking a remote Ethiopian secondary school. We were advised that in addition to the secondary school, every one of the 38 elementary schools in the district also received books from this container shipment. Even though we visited on a Sunday, we were fortunate to be warmly welcomed and given a guided tour by school and other local officials.
We then travelled to the Pastoralist Concern site in Haro Dibe (06.61224 N 040.48212 W) stopping for fresh camel milk from Adbi's herd in Hareridhawa along the way. Tasty! We were treated to a traditional Ethiopian lunch in Haro Dibe then greeted by the male elders of the area in a small park-like setting under magnificent trees. The elders prepared what turned out to be a different form of coffee ceremony where beans are cooked, then water and ghee (melted butter) is added while the beans are freshly toasted. The result is a coffee oil which is poured into the palms of the recipient which in turn is rubbed around your hands. The norm is to also take and eat several coffee beans. The meeting was primarily of greeting and welcome from both the elders and ANSO. Further meetings were scheduled to discuss progress made by ANSO and Rotary initiatives in the community.
After the meeting we visited a crippled man to inquire about the wheelchair sent by the initiative of Ellen and Gerry Marcotte who took part in the last trip to Ethiopia. After the visit we retired to traditional huts for the evening.
March 4, 2013 – We spent the day in Haro Dibe visiting various public buildings (schools and a medical clinic) and the various ANSO projects (micro-business, student support, animal restocking, donkey carts and adult education) and Rotary initiatives (school furnishings, water cisterns, latrines, metal roofs and reservoir construction). This was followed by lunch and another meeting with elders under the communal PC meeting trees to discuss specific successes and areas requiring further efforts to help the community.
Then we met with a group of women who represented the 82 recipients that are currently actively involved with micro-finance supported by ANSO. The women ended the meeting by presenting handmade gifts to Chris, Bruce, Sam, and Lance. We then had an opportunity to look at several of these micro-businesses. Another meeting followed with male elders under the communal PC trees for discussions but this meeting had a women's representative present as well who spoke articulately and with passion about women's issues This in itself was a remarkable social change from just a few years ago where, as attested by Chris, women were excluded from discussions. The elders admitted brinksmanship and, not to be outdone by the women's micro-finance committee, also presented us with traditional gifts.
March 5, 2013 – The night was not a happy one for Lance. A colony of red ants took possession of his bed during the night so he opted to sleep outside. In the past, Chris and Bruce had been invited to visit the hereditary king Ugas Mohammed of the clan who lives in Qundhi (06.25485 N 040.83164 E), a remote village east of Haro Dibe. Even with an early start and a brief camel milk break in the dusty small village of Labiley, it took 4 hours to navigate the 70 km trip from Haro Dibe to Qundhi. Besides the rough road, the extremely fine dust, which gets absolutely everywhere, is akin to driving on snow. As we arrived at Qundhi we were in for a major surprise. We drove and later walked through the greeting committee where hundreds of school children dressed in yellow were singing and waving branches in two long lines. A quick look around proved that they really were greeting us and not the Prime Minister. We were overwhelmed.
We were then officially welcomed by the Ugas (title for king) and given traditional food and traditional dress. After we were refreshed, we were shown a natural spring several kilometres from the village which, in addition to being a very rare and beautiful natural oasis in this desert region, was a major water source for the village livestock – almost exclusively camels. We washed in the stream, drank fresh camel milk, then returned to Qundhi where Chris was presented with a young camel – destined to be our supper a few hours later – by the king. By tradition, Chris returned the camel to the king and the Ugas passed the unfortunate beast to handlers which promptly dispatched the animal by a ceremonial slashing of the throat.
While the camel was being prepared our group met with the Ugas and Qundhi elders for discussions. In brief, the Qundhi contingent expressed admiration for the work ANSO and Rotary accomplished in Haro Dibe and asked to be given the same considerations as their Haro Dibe neighbours. In response, Chris said some unique problems, such as the very poor road making livestock sale difficult, was outside the scope of ANSO and Rotary. Chris said the mechanism in place was to have PC investigate concerns and with PC's endorsement, ANSO and Rotary would try to address these concerns. Some of the cooked camel arrived during the meeting and was ravenously consumed by the Qundhi residents and more modestly appreciated by the Canadian contingent. Camel meat tastes much like lightly salted veal – quite delicious. The meeting wrapped up with more beautifully handcrafted gifts and 4 litres of wild honey presented to Chris, Bruce, Sam and Lance. We reciprocated with gifts such as a pump and soccer balls (which Chris and Bruce had also donated to other schools in Haro Dibe and Mana Barumsa), English dictionaries, pencils, Leatherman tools etc, but we were hopelessly outgunned by their generosity. [It was a little like David Niven recounting in his autobiography "Bring on the Empty Horses" where he and Errol Flynn 'regifted' Christmas gifts they received. He says he once gave a prominent individual a present of a pair of socks before realizing he received a Studebaker in return.]
Prior to dinner, we walked to a bore-hole hand pump water site about 1 km from the village and saw a large troop of baboons nearby. As night fell we were guided to our accommodations and for a final meal which prominently featured our poor fallen camel. The evening was perhaps most significant to the Qundhi village in that it marked the first time 'white' guests stayed overnight. With such wonderful hospitality future sleepovers are a definite possibility (perhaps with a recommendation to TripAdvisor?).
March 6, 2013 – Another morning where a wake-up call was not necessary, this time due to Muslim prayers broadcast by speakers at 4:45 am adjacent to our communal sleeping room... Since we wanted to make fair progress travelling before the day became uncomfortably hot, there were no complaints. We returned to Haro Dibe by 10:00 am, in good time for more meetings between PC and ANSO.
We had some sad news: a woman with post-childbirth complications travelling (in a PC sequestered vehicle) to a hospital in Goba died en route. Had appropriate medical facilities and personnel been present in Haro Dibe, her death would likely have been prevented. Much work remains to be done...
No comments:
Post a Comment