The Wrong Type of Rain?


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Africa » Ethiopia » Benishangul-Gumuz Region » Asosa
August 22nd 2009
Published: August 23rd 2009
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Mathewos & AlemsahaiMathewos & AlemsahaiMathewos & Alemsahai

A "welcome back" to Assosa bread!
Well I'm kind of responding to the "blog seems to be stuck in Europe" comment from one of my good blog reading customers...

... and as I'm providing a service here, I guess I ought to be sensitive to my consumers wishes and do a blog from where we are supposed to be blogging from - Ethiopia!

Apologis to Christine, to whom I promised that the next blog would be about our day in La Rochelle. That will have to wait I'm afraid...but I think it might be worth it 😊

"This thing CAN'T be done" (I hope)

So it's gone midnight, I've had a St George, four Bedele's, finished the bottle of Baileys Sara was given by Antero and started drinking glasses of the (warm) box of half-sweet South African wine that Judith left us.

It could get messy so don't expect Shakespeare from this monkey, however I *am* in a particularly good mood.

Firstly it looks like England will beat the Aussies in the 5th test to win the Ashes!

Although I am not rooted in front of the TV back in the UK, I am rooted to Cricinfo on the Internet
Football kit carried over from the UKFootball kit carried over from the UKFootball kit carried over from the UK

Thanks to Derek, John, John and my father for paying the excess baggage!
(BBC Text got ditched for its tardy updates and general ugliness compared to the clipped, statistical correctness that is Cricinfo). Over a 56k link it makes the whole "ooh, there's an update, might be a wicket" thing even more exciting.

I have been providing text updates by mobile phone and calls to Vern, an Aussie VSO living 3 days away in Mizen-Tepi - an even more remote area of Ethiopia (though they do have crisps and hamburgers - strange how we judge "advancement" by availability of Ferengi junk food) and he has no access to the score, certainly not by TV (none of us have) but by Internet or World Service radio.

Strange though it may seem, I'm not sure I feel so excited as I did in 2005...well, ok maybe a little bit.

Being 5,000 miles away kind of dampens the enthusiasm and I don't think people understand the significance of 2005. Prior to that, England playing the Aussies in my adulthood had always been a source of humiliation.

Yes, as a kid I can remember the 1981 series. Clearly, in fact.

As a Somerset fan, Botham was my hero and I can remember
Gifts from Dee & DaveGifts from Dee & DaveGifts from Dee & Dave

Mulatu seems pretty happy :)
my nose (and my Mum's) pushed up against the window of a TV shop in the old Broadwalk shopping centre in Knowle as Beefy and Bob Willis did their magic to beat the Oz..

Then after that we always seemed to win? Even Kim Hughes the Aussie skipper was caught crying into his pint.

But come 1989 (or was it 1991), Border gets the job as Aussie captain and 15+ years of pommie bashing followed.

So 2009? We did the b*ggers 4 years ago didn't we? And everyone got an MBE? What if we win now?

Don't get me wrong. I want us to win but it kinda doesn't feel right to beat the Oz so easily? Is that typically English?

That said, they might chase a world record 4th innnings total and prove me wrong. I'll be tuned in online tomorrow, rain permitting.

The Wrong type of Rain

So just what *IS* the wrong type of rain? Well I used the power situation as an excuse for not writing more blogs but forgot to mention that when it rains our telephone line goes out of order.

We reported it twice and
New shoesNew shoesNew shoes

Mulatu strikes a pose
each time it was "fixed" but come the next downpour - and there are many of these now, it is the rainy season after all - the dial tone turns into a static crackle.

If the punters at Ethiopia Telecom could speak English I'm sure they'd be giving me some story about it being the 'wrong type of rain' or whatever...(it's clearly some comms box between our house and the central office that fills with water when it rains and as it empties the signal slowly comes back!)

So the second reason I am happy is - guess what - the power cam back at 9pm tonight!!! Yeah!

Today is officially a no power day and the power came back early!

At last things are getting better, though I should temper my enthusiasm as it is the World Athletic Championships and it may have been so the locals could watch some Ethiopian runners compete in some race!

The Beautiful Game

What else is new in Assosa?

The football season has started again, though to be fair it hardly went away. They DSTV huts here were showing live coverage of every pre-season friendly -
Knock, knock?Knock, knock?Knock, knock?

Makes a change from the Jehovah's Witness...
much more coverage than in the Uk in fact!

I am happy as a sandboy as the Arsenal have started so well. 6-1 vs Everton, the jocks done 2-0 and then 4-1 verses Pompey today. Things are looking up.

Things not so good recently for Mulatu, our teenage "shopper" or seratanya (worker). He is a big Man United fan and has been suffering since they lost on Wednesday to Burnley. It must be tough having 3 days of "pain". He went to watch them win 5-0 today and felt the need to come round after the game to tell me the score (in fact I heard a bunch of Man U fans chanting away; relieved that normal service has been resumed).

Presumably had they lost twice in a row he might have had to consider swapping his alligence to another team. That's the way it works over here. No one can stand losing. Lose too many games and everyone just abandons you for the better team.

Granted kids do that in the UK - I remember my nephew Ollie (a Man U fan who lives in Essex) complaining that half his mates had suddenly become true
Sa @ the Sa-BetSa @ the Sa-BetSa @ the Sa-Bet

Celebrating St. George's Day (every Friday, after work)
blue Chelsea one summer after the Chelski revolution.

Ethiopia is a very hierarchical culture. You always want to be above someone else; and someone else needs to be below you. This goes for your football team too. Can't stand losing? Best you support Man U.

Every summer there is a general analysis as people decide which team they will support this year.

Of course in Ethiopia this doesn't actually contribute much to the teams themselves, so if Man U lose 50,000 fans to Chelski, they are not going to hurt.

The shirts are all Chinese fakes (£3.50 for a full fake kit) and they charge per DSTV game is 2 birr (10p) which ultimately all goes to a South African broadcaster anyway. Never the less people take it seriously. Ego is a big thing here. If you have very little to shout about; you want to be able to shout about your footy team.

Personally I can't stand this fickleness. When I had a "die hard" Arsenal fan tell me that he was considering changing teams if they didn't win something I was like "WTF??? That ain't the way it works pal?! A few years
Big Bedele at The Island BarBig Bedele at The Island BarBig Bedele at The Island Bar

One for old time's sake
of "pain" (which is hardly pain) makes winning something that much sweeter when it happens.

It's funny talking to Mulatu about football. For him soccer started about 8 years ago and he has no knowledge of anything before that. And he also believes everything he reads in the Ethiopian Press.

He can't remember when Man U were rubbish and Liverpool won everything; or Boring-Boring, 1-0 to the Arsenal. Or when Chelsea were a cup team with no history.

In fact were I to say that Nottingham Forest (who?) have won the European Cup twice. And Aston Villa (really?) won it too, he would probably argue that I am lying.

It's not about history - it's about supporting a winning team. Nothing else matters.

"Let's watch another Dexter...!!"

We have just finished series 2 of Dexter. How great is this series? One episode is better than an entire sodding series of 24 (sorry all 24 addicts). The second series is a lot more complex than the first (don't worry, it ain't that complex, else we wouldnt like it).

We tried to finish the Sarah Connor Chronicles but are missing the penultimate episode of series
Worku & LesleyWorku & LesleyWorku & Lesley

All good things...
2 which was a real gutter.

Then we tried Battlestar Galactica series 4 but because of the writer's strike it all got very complicated with mini-episodes and then two parts to the season and some 3-parter mini-series to end it. Plus we seem to be missing episodes again.

Guess it's the rest of Lost 5 or Heroes 3? See what comes out of the magic pot...

Two pints of Ambo and a packet of Lovelies

Oh yes. Let's talk about Assosa.

The Feds have gone!

The blue suited Federal Police have all left. They went over a week ago in a big bus. Don't know what happened to the monkey. It was probably somewhere on the back seat, weeing all over the place.

There have been reports of more activity near the Sudanese border - including a firefight between insurgents and troops a week or two ago. So the Feds can be back in a day now we have asphalt, though this lot had been here a year and had been rotated onto training for 3 months.

It's a bit of a shame as both Sara and I had got friendly with a number of them. Yes they have like unlimited powers to beat you sensless and sling you in jail but we found them all - like many Ethiopians - very friendly and hospitable. We were always greeted with a smile and wave and never had a problem.

My friend Bekema had told us that they are not very well paid and many come from really rural areas. He had allowed them to borrow his pushbike so they could learn to ride a bike. I always used to chuckle seeing these muscled, blue-camo wearing Feds, wobbling down the road on Bekema's bike, AK-47 rifle strapped to their backs.

Apparently they could choose to be paid about 400 birr (£20) a month and have meals free or feed themselves and take home 800 birr (£40). Given we are on 2,100 birr a month, these defenders of the peace were not very well paid. But then, compared to a farmers wage in a poor rural area, even 400 birr was good (some women workers who live in a house with a family may get 15 birr/week. Even the waiters at the best resturant only get 100 birr/month and this is not
Ma Cat has been busy tooMa Cat has been busy tooMa Cat has been busy too

Ginger fluff - Hurley Mark II
a tipping culture).

Amongst the Feds I was known as "Exabier Yemusgan" (or 'Thanks be to God' in Amharic) as the first day they arrived I tried out my Amharic on what turned out to be their sergeant and he could not understand a word of what I was saying. We had a really embarassing public exchange where he kept saying "Salam-na" and I kept saying "Exabier Yemasgun" until we were both almost shouting.

I didn't want him to think I was saying something rude and was worried that a mispronounced 'thanks be to god' might mean something rude so I kept trying.

He didn't want to show he couldn't communicate with a Ferengi in front of his soldiers so we kept going until he understood and we all burst into fits of laughter (mine was kind of relieved laughter; he had a big gun) and I became known as Mr "Exabier Yemusgan" from then on.

Now the Federals have been replaced by "The Lovelies".

A Lovely is a soldier (they wear green camo, not blue) not a Federal Policeman, however I don't think they are regular army-o. I gather they are like canon fodder
Goodbye Amy & AllanGoodbye Amy & AllanGoodbye Amy & Allan

So long and thanks for all the scabby birr :)
for counter-insurgency work. The term derives from the famous Ethiopian biscuit that is made in Addis. The adverts say that the Lovely biscuit is so fresh because it is made in the morning and is for sale in Mercato market by the afternoon.

In the same way, the Lovely soldier is only trained for 3 weeks before being handed a gun and sent off into the world. Fresh. You might say.

Of course you wouldn't call a Lovely a Lovely; it's kind of rude.

(Similarly you wouldn't call a Federal an Ambo Water. People in bars might say, after a big meal of raw meat "give me a Federal" which means bring me a bottle of carbonated Ambo water. The fizzy drink is renowned for aiding digestion and helping big meals of meat "disappear". In the same way the Federals can help other forms of 'meat' to disappear...!)

And then there were...three

Lesley has gone.

She was a volunteer from the Uk that came in Feb 2007, the year before us and worked at the Regional Education Bureau, the same as Sara.

Now there is only 3 of us left. The two of
Al doesn't get itAl doesn't get itAl doesn't get it

(I rarely do)
us and Anithya from India. She seems to be leaving/staying/leaving depending on the phase of the moon, so it may soon be just us two soon. Or it may not? Who knows?

There are no new volunteers coming to Assosa in the September intake. In fact only 25 or so new volunteers are coming to Ethiopia this time round anyway.

The reduction in volunteer numbers is down to a couple of reasons - not to do with prospective applications we are told (lots of people want to escape the recession).

There is a fall in funding from VSO's main funders - DFID - the UK department for development and also the changes in the NGO law here in Ethiopia mean everything is a bit up in the air regarding work permits and the legitimacy of not VSO volunteer's work, but VSO's partner NGOs work.

Considering when we came in Feb 2008 we had about 45 on our ICT (In Country Training) and Ethiopia was VSO's biggest programme office (140 volunteers) it is quite a drop to the total of 70-80 that will be in country this September.

We also had to say goodbye to Allan
Comet w/Ruth, Ayns & JordanComet w/Ruth, Ayns & JordanComet w/Ruth, Ayns & Jordan

Full of pizza, cheese and gossip :)
and Amy in Addis. We had been called to Addis, then Langano, for the VSO Volunteer Conference - which will be in another blog.

It was kind of sad seeing the final few friends from our ICT leaving. Allan is off to be a trainee teacher in Glasgow and Amy is back to London to rest up, then find a new job.

Luckily we also managed to catch up with Aynsley and Jordan during our brief stop-over in Addis. Jordan has had visa issues with the UK authorities and Tigist (their daughter) was not allowed to come because of her allergies.

Aynsley seems to know all the gossip, even if she is back in Axminster! It was an education just to listen to her.

We also met up with Ruth, from Metu, who was a friend we rarely saw because of her remote placement. She had extended so would be in country until just before Christmas.

More about the VSO Conference later.

Welcome to Ethiopia!

Talking about In Country VSO training - I have been asked if I would be one of the three volunteers that would help run the training of the
More local politicians than you can shake a stick atMore local politicians than you can shake a stick atMore local politicians than you can shake a stick at

Warm up to the Beneshangul-Gumuz Regional AGM
new intake in September!

Given that Sara was going to be in Addis for her Volunteer Committee work during ICT (she is the representative for Western Ethiopia) I said I would be happy to come and help so they asked if I would help do the lot.

Because of falling numbers on current IT volunteers and a budget issue, there is no IT-specific workshop this year so VSOE (VSO Ethiopia) wanted an IT volunteer to help run the ICT to give the 4 new IT guys some background on the country.

Now that Steven, the old Assosa IT volunteer is back in the Uk on medical grounds, I am now the longest serving IT volunteer in Ethiopia.

The other two volunteers to help manage ICT are Doreen - an Addis volunteer from Uganda who also ran ICT in February - and Joanna, a physio who I think works in Gondar and is one of the new Health Programme volunteers.

It's all very exciting! I have to go to Addis a week early to help prepare the 10 days of training with the Programme Office and Doreen and Joanna. Sara will join me after a few
Berta HornsBerta HornsBerta Horns

Sound? Er, bit like a tone deaf brass band warming up
days anyway as she will be there on official business too.

Lies. Damn Lies. And Spreadsheets

I have been kind of planning for the final 6 months now.

Hopefully I can run at least one more 12 day Windows 2003, Exchange 2003 and Wireless Technologies Course, plus I was hoping to spend one month taking a select group of IT experts with the talent and desire through a Cisco CCNA course, culminating in the exam in Addis in maybe October (I have to take the exam myself as my CCNA expired while I have been in Ethiopia - the qualification only lasts 3 years).

Unfortunately I am finding out about the inter-departmental Bureau politics.

Now is the Annual Plan time and I have found out that some other players within Capacity Building (not IT) have been querying our budget.

The claim is that IT staff themselves are profiteering out of the budget we have set. They say all the training we plan on running is only to line the pockets of the trainers i.e. us.

In Ethiopia IT trainers get extra money per day to train, even if it their job; and you
Show's overShow's overShow's over

(That's a Lovely bringing up the rear)
have to pay people to attend your training - which is the complete reverse of the UK where to get IT training is a perk, or you pay for it yourself; and you certainly don't expect extra payments to attend!

I also found out that the reason we have had no budget for the last, oh, nine months, is because it was all transferred to another team in the bureau so they could continue their good works on lots of field trips - which you also get paid to go on.

It's a little bit depressing so I am trying to keep out of it.

It seems like that annual budget and planning time is a shark fest where the team heads get together to slice up the budget in a manner most optimal to their team. Plus the incumbents have had a bee in their bonnet about the IT team and their training for some time now.

Personally I think the term Capacity Building kind of involves training. Maybe lots of it. And as a volunteer recruited to run Cisco training courses - which I was - it seems a bit odd now to claim
Mihret's shop of 'women's things'Mihret's shop of 'women's things'Mihret's shop of 'women's things'

Emebet is the not-so-mysterious shopper
these courses are all "too advanced" for this region, which is what is now being claimed.

Like I say. I stay well out of it. I am sure that after lots of sabre-rattling and posturing some consensus will be reached.

It's not a bother I have plenty on, even without training.

At the moment - in between Ashes updates - I am trying to score CPEs or Continuing Education Points to keep one of my security certifications - the CISSP - current. I have to score 20 CPEs a year and 120 every 3 years, so I am busy reading books and taking online courses/tests. Preparing for the Cisco training and exam is also on my agenda of things to do.

The Doomsday Scenario

OK, it's 2.30am and the local churches have started up! It sounds like an army of zombies outside my window!

For the last week or so they have been incredibly loud - even disturbing Sara's sleep of the dead. At the moment we are in a 2 week fasting period for Orthodox Christians - which accounts for the extra disturbances.

The nearest church has now upgraded it's boom box
Cool and the GangCool and the GangCool and the Gang

Daddy C. makes a rare appearance
and added another mike, so we can have holy duets across the night time airwaves...and...I may have mentioned this before...they have bought a generator!

That's right. No more quiet "no power" nights and early mornings. The good news can now be broadcast at 20,000 decibels 24x7. Well at least until the diesel runs out.

It all makes me chuckle now. My silicone implant ear-plugs screen out everything but the quiet beating of my heart. Ahhh, sweet dreams.

It's not big and it's not clever

We have a new kitten.

As I guess you knew, Hurley the little runty ginger one disappeared earlier this year, leaving us Kate (actually a boy) and Nibbler (a girl cat).

We occasionally got a visit from Daddy Cool - the HUGE tortoise shell with scabby ears and another, less scabby male, that we think was after Nibbler (she kind of started smelling really bad and disappeared for days, so I guess she was off down the night-clubs or whatever).

Anyway, mum has reappeared, with small ginger Hurley mark 2. It's very cute. The little bundle of fluff skitters away on all fours whenever we open the door, *skweaking*
Assosa StadiumAssosa StadiumAssosa Stadium

Matthewos in his technical area
like a mouse.

Mum had chased Nibbler away - she now lives in the bushes near the shai-bet under the mango tree - and so we really only have Kate, his Mum and kitten - though Daddy Cool makes the odd guest appearance.

We are somewhat worried that Kate is actually both father and brother to ginger kitty, but we don't really want to think about it...

The Assosa Strikers

Been rather quiet as it is the rainy season, though I did spend 5 days helping select the best Under-15s from around the region as a guest of the Regional Sports and Culture Bureau.

I have my Level 1 FA coaching badge and they seem to think I am some sort of Bobby Robson figure. I have tried to explain that the Level 1 certificate qualifies me to run warm-ups and drills for under 13s but not much more, but they kind of don't want to hear that!

From the Assosa Strikers 6 players made the regional team and travelled to Ziway, just south of Addis to play against the other 11 regional teams. By all accounts they did OK, won a couple, lost
Mr AndersonMr AndersonMr Anderson

Let's hope he's still smiling tomorrow
a couple and drew a couple BUT three players have been spotted by a team in Addis who have invited them to come and join them! Could we be seeing future Premiership players from Ethiopia? I hope so...

Though even more I hope they play for Ethiopia and get them to qualify for a World Cup or reach the final of the African Nations. For too long Ethiopians have been obsessed with the Premier League when really they should have some heroes closer to home.

So that's it. It's been a long-un. Hope this Assosa update meets with your approval 😊

Final word is for my friends Adam & Christy who became parents two weeks ago.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Say a big hello and 'welcome to the world!' to junior (aka. Pete Tucker) from the pair of us!

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23rd August 2009

A better result for Mulatu yesterday!
28th August 2009

manu fan lol
hey there, just wanted to share with you that there is a famous ethiopian song by tigest bekele. In that song there is a line which goes like this "ende bere shanga ke sew belay yawlach-hu". It roughly translates into - may you be on a higher position (compared to others that is) like a hump of the ox. It is a rather common blessing by elders of the family to the young members (we get the blessing when we do sth good of course-no free lunch). I don't know if my poor translation conveys the message well, but that is my lame effort. In denmark, they have a saying which translates into - you are not better than anyone (what a contrast). I am trying to underline that we have a very hierarchical culture indeed. Could it be the reason why we have so many bureaucrats? Guess what? I am manu fan :-)
19th November 2010
Mathewos & Alemsahai

wow
wow i missed all assosa things!!

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