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Published: November 5th 2008
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At the President's table
Not for likes of us (vegetarians) The last 24 hours have been interesting times indeed!
The president of Beneshangul-Gumuz for the last 14 years has just stood down in favour of a new appointee from Addis - a result of last week's visit by three senior ministers, including (I am told) one of the founding members of the TPLF, part of the ruling EPRDF party that are currently in power and overthrew the previous military Derg regime in the early 1990s.
President Yaregal was a Gumuz, one of the largest ethnic groups of the region, and he has been replaced by a Berta, the ethnic group located around Assosa and the Assosa Zone and the largest group by population in the region.
Unlike the States, Presidents are not voted for, they are the appointees of the ruling party so to have lasted 13 years in office without being dis-appointed (?) is pretty good going! But with the recent troubles around the Sudanese border with Berta insurgents it makes pretty good sense to appoint a Berta president instead.
We all hope he can bring peace to the region. Without peace, development is impossible.
The persuit of Happiness As employees of the central
Waiting for summons
Simon says fold your arms and smile Administration bureau we were all invited to the fairwell party of the outgoing president in the grounds of the Regional Administration buildings.
Food, beer, speeches and goodbye gifts. As wife of the Capacity Building ferengi, Sara was invited too.
Seats arranged according to seniority, we were in the third row from the front, just behind the Bureau Heads and their deputies; more through politeness to us foreigners than measure of our power or status in the hierarchy.
I had made my colleagues smile by taking the opportunity to wear my fold-away travel suit! It has only seen daylight once before during ICT when meeting our new employment partners in Addis. In fact, I am pretty sure a few people thought I was a new ferengi altogether and I could see a few confused looks (who is this new Ferenge? Is he important?)
Once seated we watched assorted videos of 'President Yaregal - The Early Years' while we waited for the usual 30-45 minutes it takes for people to arrive. Looking younger and a few pounds lighter we watched the President and his fleets of spanking new 4x4s arrive at official engagements for ribbon cutting, children kissing
Mr & Mr President
Incoming (left) and outgoing (right) and flower receiving.
With the seats filled the ceremony began and within seconds the head honchos seated under the mango trees opposite the masses were invited to go to collect food from the arranged tresle tables and eat. Following in order of importance the seated guests queued patiently behind the VIPs.
All the women of the bureau were seated to the left and most of them were last in line to eat - apart from those running the official coffee ceremony, helping with the food or distributing soft drinks and beer, who probably ate even later.
Sara and a few VIP wives bucked the trend and we were touched that a table had been set aside for us vegetarians at Debebe's request. Tuesday is not a fasting day so everyone was on full meat devouring duty.
After everyone had piled up their plates and the VIPs had finished the thank-you's began. I had managed to get in a few pictures with my crappy cheap camera but the night shots didn't come out well. I'll post a few but if I post too many we'll probably have our blog erased by Travelbloggers - lowering the quality of
Baracking from the balcony
A message to our man in Chicago submissions you know 😊
There was a couple of embarassing silences when the speaker invited anyone in the crowd to say some words of thanks to the outgoing President. Personally I thought he might have wanted to prime a few people first rather than run the risk of silence, but I was later told that people do not want to be publicly seen to be a supporter of the old regime, particularly in front of the new President in case their cards are marked from day #1.
A few VIPs were obliged to say a few words, before handing ex-President Yaregal his parting gift - a 10,000 birr gold ring made from 24 carat Assosan gold. His wife received a gold necklace to wear on their trip to Addis where they would be living from now on (there is only one house suitable for ex-Presidents in Assosa; and the new President will be living in it).
Finally the new President (I believe called Ahmed, but everything was in Amharic so I could be wrong) said a few words of thanks and ended with a smile and a remark that Yaregal was the George Bush and he was
Ledestinya ('for happiness')
To the next President of the US of A the new Obama or McCain.
The crowd had started to get restless at this point and were muttering, taking mobile calls and calling for more beer when the video screen cranked up images of BBC World News 24 with Amharic dubbing, courtesy of Ethiopian TV. Suddenly you could hear a pin drop. They were talking about the race for the American presidency.
Our destiny is tied up in Their destiny Have we been listening? Oh boy yes.
Have the Ethiopian's been listening? Yes indeed.
Everyone realises how important this election is. To be fair you'd have to be pretty damn ignorant to think the election of the world's most important person will have no effect on you!
American policy and action affects the world wide price and availability of food and fuel. It decides whether your country will be at war or at peace. It (clearly) affects the global financial situation, and when money is tight, aid is tight and how much development work is carried out through aid?
Where is the UN HQ? Where is the World Bank HQ?
Who is paying for Ethiopian soldiers to fight a war by proxy
Teru mugub now ('good food')
Might even treat myself to a baklava in Somalia?
It matters.
Who do Ethiopians want to win? The majority, particularly the young, want Obama, no question. But I have met three guys at work, very senior guys, a bit older guys, who were rooting for McCain.
Why? No one gave me a clear reason. One said he was a conservative.
Over tea, I explained the political spectrum, from fascist right to communist left and where (I think) Obama and McCain sit, as well as Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
Are you conservative? (they ask)
Are you for McCain?
Er, no.
In fact - and I hope I am not making an outrageous generalisation here - I can't imagine many VSO's being too far right on the voting front. Sharing skills and changing lives seems a rather socialist approach to living, plus most good conservatives are unlikely to stop their professional career (and earning power) to try and help the other world overseas.
Over the past few months we had had a few drunken 'prepare for despair' conversations with Paul & Courtney and Judith and the other VSOs. Our big fear was that like Neil Kinnock in '92, everyone
Habtamu's hopes
I'll second those expected a change, the polls were favourable, we went to bed thinking the result was a forgone conclusion...
and in the morning
...how on Earth did THAT happen???
All the people who
claimed to want a change secretly went out and voted Tory anyway!
A Joyous Daybreak... Not today!
Obama did it!
We are so, SO relieved.
People at work were delighted and invited us to the celebration at the Bamboo hotel for beer and food.
The guys made a poster and hung it from the balcony and asked me if I could post the pictures on the Internet so that Mr Obama could see that Assosa was happy with the result.
After the food we were all invited to say a few words about what we hoped the new President would bring to the world and as the invite moved around the table, people stood up and explained, in halting English, what their hopes were for the next 5 years.
Most people talked about development help or Obama being an inspiration. I talked about ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the importance of peace.
When
A message to you Mr Obama!
Congratulations from all of us in Assosa, Ethiopia :) it came to the last guy, Teddy, he stood up and made a really moving little speech about 1963 and Martin Luther King and how he hoped people of different races could unite and come together to make the world a better place.
The difficulties of Today and Tomorrow So here I am, honoring my promise to put the pictures on the Internet for Mr Obama to see.
It's just gone 2am.
No jokes. No cynicism.
The future is unwritten.
Let Barack Obama be...a stone of hope
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