Blogs from Oromia Region, Ethiopia, Africa

My last days in Ethiopia were unforgettable, and I’m not exaggerating. We wrapped up the course with student presentations of their final qualitative projects. They were well done overall and very creative—one group is interviewing street youth, another asking people why they prefer injections over oral meds, another asking health workers about media campaigns concerning female genital mutilation. It made me proud to watch my students talk confidently about qualitative methods and analysis and to critique each other. Thursday evening I was ushered to the faculty lounge, where they had created a “program” for me, which was really a going away party. My co-instructor and the department head gave speeches, a couple of students gave their thoughts on the course and the collaboration with CDC and JHU, and I got up and thanked all of them ... read more

It definitely takes a couple of weeks of spending time in a new place before you start to recognize patterns in people’s behaviors and interactions. For instance, just yesterday I realized that the reason why people say “Fine!” to me is because they are asking, “Are you fine?” And now that I have been here long enough and people are comfortable with me, all sorts of conversations are starting to open up. Yesterday one of my students told me I look older because I wear long skirts and walk slowly. It was only when I put on slacks and trail shoes that he said I look my age. (Thanks for the advice!) I had to explain to him that the clothes I wear in Africa are actually a bit different from my American dress, as a ... read more

I am sitting in a hotel room I share with many cockroaches in a tiny hotel in a tiny town of 150,000 called Jimma in Ethiopia. I am here to teach a 3-week course on Qualitative Research Methods at Jimma University’s Department of Public Health. The university is one of the most prestigious and well known in Africa, but it is very resource poor. A colleague and I are being sponsored by the CDC to be here as part of a capacity building initiative linked to another project on HIV prevention. He and I are each teaching a course to a combination of university instructors and master’s students to build their research capacity. I arrived in Addis Ababa on Friday night and spent the weekend at the Hilton because flights to Jimma only run every 2 ... read more

I'm back! And alive! Sorry it has taken me a while to write this blog. Not much has been happening here- but anytime I think to check in with you all, the power is out and my computer is invariably out of battery. So, point 1- the power goes out here at least once a day. Today it was only for about an hour and a half- quite refreshing, really. I've been settling into my placement for the last couple of weeks- the girls are (mostly) so lovely- and in need of a lot of love and affection. I teach them english, but mainly play games with them- skipping rope, bouncy balls, dancing to lady gaga and letting them braid my hair. That is something I've noticed here- no, not the braided hair- although I've noticed ... read more

Lake Langano is amazing day e e e night. After breakfast we went back to the beach, which was not more than 15 meters :) The water is swimmable even though it looks pretty muddy and bloody, but when you start 'here comes the shark', 'let's teach Miki swim', or 'do the fears' kind of fun, you totally forget about it. I can not describe how beautiful day we had there. I will just write some words that tries to give the impression: 40 degrees, beer, blanket, Susi, juicy fresh sweet sweet mango, sandcastle, Miki, neighbours, chill, heat, sand, Sam, pelicans, nap, Wondy, waves, peace. Packing, leaving, sunburn, strada, sunset, Addis, Kera. It was very sad to get back home, felt like a teenager who fells in love at the school camp and never wants the ... read more