Blogs from Gondar, Amhara Region, Ethiopia, Africa - page 2

All us foreigners are called faranjis. If you hear people mention the word “faranji” in a sentence then you know that they are talking about you!I have survived 5 days in the university guesthouse (more now but it has taken be 5 days to get round to finishing and uploading this entry)! Went for apartment 2 in the end. No sign of the rat – long may it stay that way! I have had water in the morning for the past 2 days, which is nice, but it is always disappointing to return home to find yet again that I am out of water. I have to go to the communal tap and lug buckets of water across the courtyard and up 2 flights of stairs. It is really irritating.The apartments are in a sorry state ... read more

Welcoming the benefactor Our second and last day of service finished yesterday. I dressed appropriately that time and set to work continuing to build the school in Ategaye. After three hours of slathering, mooshing, and squishing cement between the cinderblocks, my arms were on fire. I couldn’t help but admire Shuli whose perseverance never flagged and who ended up working longer than any of us because she just wouldn’t quit until lunch was right in front of us. By the time the morning ended, the walls were high enough that we were balancing on cinder-blocks placed on top of raised wooden boards (also balanced on cinder-block stacks) that bowed and shook with passing movement. I started to feel distinctly unnerved about the prospect of falling because a) it was becoming much more likely and b) if ... read more

The Castle of Ethiopia When we arrive shortly after dawn at the Addis airport, luggage tickets and boarding passes await us. No waiting in line only to be told you’re in the wrong line and the rules changed but the signs didn’t and now you have to please hurry along because you need to be in the waiting area an hour ahead of time and nobody informed you previously of that rule either. (Sound familiar, world travelers?) Hmmm….there are perks to group travel! In Ethiopian airports, like Kenyan ones, there is a security checkpoint at the front of the airport as well as the one entering the waiting area. We joke about needing two checkpoints just in case one metal detector or scanner isn’t working so well (these are very old-looking machines) but perhaps there’s something ... read more

3rd Nov ’12 Bahar Dar to Gondar Today’s journey was by road to Ethiopia’s former ancient Imperial capital of Gondar. One of the highlights of the trip for me was the stop we made on the way at the little town of Woreta. It was market day and a never ending stream of people were making their way up and down the stony rough road to it. Howard and I joined the throng of men, women, children, sheep, donkeys and goats with flapping ears heading up the hillside road. We chatted to a student from the local church who introduced us to various people, we past ladies with crosses tattooed on their foreheads and round their throats who stopped to smile and return our greetings when we called out salem nesh. Lots of children smiled and ... read more

After more than 8 weeks in the Islamic world it was time to say goodbye to 5.30 a.m prayer calls followed by 4 more throughout the day. No more waking up to Allah Akhbar. We got up at 6.30 a.m. to get the bus out of Kassala to give ourselves the best chance of getting over the border with Ethiopia that day. We found the bus going to Gedaref, bought tickets and then got some breakfast. At 8.30 a.m. we got on the bus, hoping it would be moving shortly. It was 10.20 before it did move and this was only to the entrance of the bus station. At 10.40 we were on the road. It was about 3 hours to Gedaref on really good road. We then found a minibus going to Gallabat, the border ... read more