We were scheduled to leave Thursday for Jijiga but then found out that UNHCR did not pay for our airline tickets in on time so our reservations were cancelled and we would leave on the Sat 7am flight. We all arrived at the airport at 5am as we were told and we checked in through security which takes about an hour because they have to x-ray everything. Then, we waited in line and when we got to the front we were told that the flight was at 11:40. Sorry. We asked if they could give us a breakfast voucher or a [View Full Entry]

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Salaam again. I'm at an internet cafe in Dembel City. It is so great to actually check my mail and the blog without losing my hair or waiting for some minutes for a window only to realize that it won't open. Regardless, I feel that I've been a bit preachy in the last post. So for those of you that were a bit offended-- please pardon me. I just wanted to voice some questions that have been in the back of my head since I've gotten here. The team is well. There are some difficulties here and there as you all [View Full Entry]

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All, This may be a little short but we will see how much time I really get. The last week has been thrilling, exciting, and heart breaking all at the same time. We met our roommates on last saturday and I found out from the grape vine that I got one of the best and so far it has been the truth. We spent saturday and sunday just getting to know them which has been a cultural experience all in itself. There are many cultural idiosyncrasies that over the last week have be come second nature. I'll leave a list at [View Full Entry]

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I arrived from Nairobi late Friday evening but even in the dark I could see the massive changes since my last time here. The airport was larger, the plane was connected to a gate, and there were multiple luggage turntables that actually worked and it didn’t take hours for the bags to come out. Numerous flights arrived at once and immigration proceeded fairly quickly. Even though, I am certain the country found the most serious and impolite Ethiopians in the country to work this job or perhaps they train them that way. The only compliant I have about the airport..not enough [View Full Entry]

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When UNHCR informed us that the tickets they had reserved for us for Thursday’s flight to Jijiga had not been paid in a timely fashion and therefore had been cancelled, and that the next available flight was Saturday morning…some of us looked at each other and decided to hit the road and run away from Addis. Mary Kate’s Ethiopian friend suggested Lake Langano and I heard that the bird watching was amazing there. Since I had never visited and always wanted to during my last visit I was excited by this idea. Other ideas were thrown around of going to Lake [View Full Entry]

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10 things that make me happy OK, so you may have noticed I have been totally rubbish at producing any blog entries recently, whilst Al has been busy producing epics. So I’ve been trying to motivate myself, I’ve tried at least 3 times, but now realise, I need to start simple, so I’m going back to basics (Not in order of priority!) 1. Your emails and calls, the comments on our blog You probably don’t realise how much these things mean to us, it’s so good to hear from you, hear what you’re up to and all the news, it’s lovely [View Full Entry]

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A Stool Sample Here? Building a hospital in a foreign country requires immense amounts of research, commitment and determination. Determined to show my commitment to research, I decided that the best way to explore the current healthcare situation in Ethiopia was to get a severe bacterial stomach infection after a few days in Addis. Fried fish at the hotel did the trick. Over a span of about 10 hours, I had diarrhea 12 times and threw up at least 10 times. I didn’t feel sufficiently prepared to explore the local clinic until I was unable to keep even water down. We [View Full Entry]

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I have always been a little ambivalent about tourism that involves going to see local people in traditional dress, but the trip to the Omo Valley in the south of Ethiopia was amazing. The expectation, on both sides, that tourists pay for photos made the whole experience seem less voyeuristic and less stressful too. The downside was that it was difficult to take un-posed photos and sometimes individuals were almost aggressive in insisting that you take their photo; I found the Mursi tribe especially aggressive. The fact that we saw many people wearing traditional dress as they walked along roads or [View Full Entry]

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...and it was the worst of times. We have been back in Assosa for a few weeks now and life has returned to a sort of normality. There are far fewer VSOs here now, only 4 have been allowed back and Lesley has been on a sight-seeing trip around the north of Ethiopia for that last 2 or 3 weeks anyway. We have struck up a friendship with three 'new' Ferengis working on a water project funded by the Finish government - Harriet, Judith and Antero. We also had a really nice evening catching up with Paul and Courtney, two Americans [View Full Entry]

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All, I have good news. I made it to Ethiopia and everything went great on flights and traveling. We had flights from Chicago to London, a stop in Jordan and then on to Adis Ababa. This description of the first day might scare you Mom and Dad, so just skip this entry. The first morning we had a late breakfast to make up for the 24 hours of travel to make it here. We had a short worship service and then began a life changing day. Our directors gave us a short list of instructions and which part of town to [View Full Entry]

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