Rain in Robe

---

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 town. Actually that is not really fair; goats, donkeys and pedestrians, as well as horses, share the mud road through the town. It seems there are only a few “ferenji” (me and about 4 Chinese road engineers) in town - which makes a trip down the main road interesting. I am getting used to hearing people comment on the ferenji, or shout out to me. Many people come up and shake my hand, and children practise their English - “give me money” or, a variation “give me pen”! I imagine that in time, it could become wearing, but at the minute it is charming.

On my first day in Robe, I conducted my own induction of the town - set up a post office box and a bank account. I haven’t seen any fresh produce in any of the shops, but there is a huge market on a Thursday. Some of the people from the College took me for the first time, which I was relieved about, as I am sure I would have got lost otherwise. Most of the stalls are on the ground, and there are definite areas for different items (which I would not have known without my guides). Vegetables are mainly limited to potatoes, carrots, onions and cabbages and there seemed to be little fruit (bananas, tomatoes, oranges). The system is that you buy a pile of veg - usually the cost is 1 birr. Oranges were a luxury at 1 birr each (compared to 5 bananas for the same price). The scariest section was the hen and egg area. I was worried that I would accidentally step on some eggs - or even worse, a chicken.

To top the sense of isolation, I was kept awake most of the night by something eating me - probably bed bugs or fleas!! I am now very itchy and frustrated - my Good Health Guide provided by VSO states that to get rid of bed bugs, you should put the mattress and bedding in full sunlight. Difficult on a rainy day in Robe!

---

Photos

My house
Block 41, Robe College - home for the next year!

Main road through Robe
There are plans to surface the road (hence the Chinese engineers) but at the minute there is a lot of mud!