Blogs from Bale, Oromia Region, Ethiopia, Africa

I still remember, when I was a child I was always begging my grandfather to tell again and again my favourite story. He just peacefully rolled his cigarette, lit it, deeply inhaled the smoke and in the random light of the pipe he said the following words. It was drought, big drought. We had no thing to eat, no thing to drink. We prayed for rain, but there was none, the sky gave no answer. But there He came. The Black King, every step of his was blessed. HIM, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Lion of Judah. From our fathers we knew there will be the day he comes to us, to free us, His Imperial Majesty, from the house of David, the offspring of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, ... read more

Selka is a very small town 45km east of Robe, off the road to Sof Omar. I was supposed to have gone there on Tuesday afternoon in preparation to run a workshop this morning, but no electricity in Robe meant that the College driver who was to take me and leave me there, could not fill the vehicle with fuel. Instead, we agreed that he would pick me up at 6.30 this morning. He arrived dead on time! We then waited for half an hour for Lama, the Cluster Supervisor from Sanana Woreda Education Office. As there was no mobile network, and hadn’t been the previous afternoon either, it was impossible to contact him. It turned out that he had gone to Selka yesterday, not having got the message that I had left for him in ... read more

Day 1 (Christmas Eve) - Dinsho to Sodota We were dropped off at the Lodge in the National Park Headquarters in Dinsho and bid Elizabeth and Alex farewell - they had been staying in Robe, but were now heading to Arba Minch for the rest of their holiday. The amount of luggage we had didn’t look too bad but once the kitchen equipment provided by our Guide was added, he decided that the original estimate of 4 horses was too low and that we would need 7! Clare, Julian, Steven and Daniel headed off to Dinsho to buy the last essential provisions - 70 litres of water, injera and firewood, while Anna, Gordon and I stayed with the bags. We eventually set off at around 11am: Me (Robe based), Clare (Harar), Steven (Assosa), Julian (Debre Brehan), ... read more

What is the point of having access to a horse and walking yourself? Apart from the fact that it would be faster! Daamaa is the slowest horse in Robe, and possibly in Ethiopia - old women on foot overtake us! Being a Sunday, I decided that we should go out for a trip, especially as I would be away from Robe for the summer. I chose Hora Boka as one of the schools I will be working with next year is there and it was as good a destination as any. The ride there was very pleasant … and very slow! There are no cars on the road and we were very quickly (or slowly in this case) out in the countryside, ambling past teams of oxen ploughing in the fields. Once in Hora Boka, ... read more

I knew that yesterday was a public holiday for Timkat (Epiphany) but I didn’t know what it entailed as nobody told me. Although to be fair, I didn’t make a real effort to find out. Yesterday, as the College was closed, I pottered. I had a really quiet day, enjoyed reading in bed until 9am, did some laundry - I figured it was about time I washed my dressing gown that mum and dad sent out to me. Then in the evening, I hired the DVD of The Notebook, which is based on a book by Nicholas Sparks. I have read the book, seen the film before and still cried! It was such a luxury - watching the film and crying at it while eating veggie mince and onions with potatoes and drinking Gouder (local red ... read more