January is the Enemy of Girls Through an idiosyncracy of the Emirates airline scheduling we were given the happy honour of spending 8 hours in transit - from midnight to 8am - at Dubai airport. An extra minute of stopover time and we would have qualified for a free night in a hotel, but I guess you don't get as rich as the Emirates without paying attention to such minor details! Our consultant friend Judith had recommended we try one of the business lounges where you can pay a 'small amount' to upgrade from peasant class and enjoy some comfortable seating. This we tried; but not only couldn't we see any available lounger seats (for sleeping on), we were quoted $45 US! Each! Chargable every 4 hours! Hmm. For $180 you could get a decent hotel ... read more

Don't Panic....ok, go on then P-A-N-I-C Our trip home to the UK at Christmas seemed like it was going smoothly and by the numbers. We had said goodbye to our friends, taken various orders for bits and pieces unavialable to people in Assosa, packed up the house, left money for bills and paid our seratanyas (Marta and Mulatu). All we needed now was our ticket from Ethiopian Airlines, booked 3 weeks prior through VSO in Addis. It got to the Wednesday, we were due to fly on Saturday to Addis and back to the UK (via Dubai) on Monday. I had finished my 5 day Cisco training course and we thought we best ask VSO if they could forward us the ticket now. All was bound to be OK given the amount of time the travel ... read more

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 President Yaregal was a Gumuz, one of the largest ethnic groups of the region, and he has been replaced by a Berta, the ethnic group located around Assosa and the Assosa Zone and the largest group by population in the region.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 ... read more

Just what exactly are YOU doing for Ethiopians?? Well I guess I ought to interrupt the random (blog) thoughts of Chairman Al with an update on work. I will do a 'typical day' blog later this week (if I get some pictures/video) as it is quite a contrast to a typical day back in the UK; not because I do less work, just the timings and general environmental differences. Ok, I've not had to shoo any sheep out of the office yet, but we have definately had a couple of oxen wandering around the compund for two days, waiting for slaughter and distribution amongst contributing staff! So my job title here is IT Training Expert though during recruitment and the first month in country VSO's wires were crossed and I was listed everywhere as a Management ... read more

Here we go. After a lull in activity I'm back in full blogging fettle. In fact I'm thinking of having a 'blog week' to catch up on the entries - there is the whole field trip from April that needs doing! Not to mention my (work) day in the life of, Ethiopian names, booze, bugs, absent friends and the musings of a layman on the business of 'development'. This weekend I have hardly left the house. Work-wise I have been (as Neil would say) 'busier than a one-legged man in an a*se kicking competition' what with preparing and delivering training (that's another story) and so this weekend I wiped the calendar free, cancelled the theatre tickets, postponed the champagne breakfast and sat in front of cable TV with a 6 pack and my favourite Indian take ... read more