The long, arduous journey on a local bus travelling mainly on an unpaved road was worth it to get to Awasa. My journey started at 5am (11:00 Ethiopian time) when the Guard who lives next door but one to me had offered to take me to the bus. There was a false start, when he woke me at 1am (Ferenji time) by shouting through the door “Is it time?” We made our way across the slippery mud road, in the rain, to one of the gates of the bus station - but most people were at the other gate! He said [View Full Entry]

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I didn’t get much sleep last night! There was a catalogue of things that happened. Firstly, the young college guard (who stops by most nights to say hello and who has started telling me about his marital problems - I think!) came by as usual, but told me that he had a key to my kitchen/bathroom door and asked if he could have a shower - his ‘best friend’, the previous volunteer used to let him. I didn’t feel I could refuse, but was very uncomfortable about the situation. The next thing that happened was that I was woken by my [View Full Entry]

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What a shock! It is raining again. It always sounds worse than it is when I am in my house, due to the corrugated iron roof. The dripping of a drainpipe on the veranda complements the permanent drip from my shower. The rainy season had ended in Addis, but patently hasn’t here. There is no tarmac in the town at all, so when it rains, the mud road is turned into a quagmire - although this is a relief from the dust that is created when it has been dry for most of a day. Robe is very much a one-horse [View Full Entry]

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Arrived in Robe after an incredible journey over the Bale Mountains. We left Addis at 6.30 am on Saturday, stopped for breakfast and lunch, dropped another 2 volunteers at Dilla, then headed back north and spent the night in Awasa - a very quiet, pleasant town - setting off to Robe after breakfast on Sunday. The road from Addis Ababa to Dilla had been good the whole way - just the occasional goat or donkey on the road to avoid: according to our VSO driver, if you kill a goat, you have to pay the owner compensation of 400 birr. It [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Addis Ababa late, after a delay in Heathrow and surviving the traumas of the film Poseidon. The person, sitting next to me, covering her mouth with her hands at the most shocking bits, made the tense moments even worse. Just what you need - a disaster movie during a flight! I finally got to bed at 4am, as dogs were beginning to bark and the sky appeared to be getting lighter. I did drop off to sleep, only to be wakened at 5 by the call to prayer - a very evocative sound, which always reminds me that [View Full Entry]

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I am still in the process of getting ready to leave for Ethiopia. Sometimes if feels as though I have too little time to get everything done, at others - like when I have time to set up a travel blog (!) I obviously have time to kill. Just got to make sure that I sell my flat, my car and most of my belongings and move the rest down to Mum and Dad's for storage in the loft/garage,anywhere else it will fit! [View Full Entry]

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