Tuesday, February 7th, Arrival in Africa

Ethiopia
Size: Slightly less than twice the size of Texas
Population: 73,053,286
Capital of Addis Ababa: nearly 3M

Lost sleep (and lost time - can one go forward in time??) is something one just has to contend with when flying long distances. There is just no way to be comfortable sitting up within a small confined space for any length of time! We were told to try to sleep on the Heathrow to Addis leg. It was very good advice. We were somewhat ready to go once we landed (at 6:30am). The next formidable problem was all the baggage except our one large piece arrived. There’s a big problem: only two flights a week go into Addis Ababa. So, here’s to reusing clothing in a hot climate for five days straight. Rank! And we don’t have our chargers for the cameras - another minor problem. The good thing; I purchased an extra camera battery (yep, it was now worth the $80 investment). It would definitely come in handy.

We waited to purchase our visas here at the airport. Good thing, the Ethiopia website wanted $50 per person per visa. It was only $20 per person on site! We exchanged some U.S. dollars for the local burr – 8.6 birr to the dollar. Our money went a long way in Ethiopia.

So many classes of people here in Addis. There’s a government dictatorship; a palace you can’t see; a U.N. building you can; there’s a Hilton and a Sheraton. We couldn’t get a room at our originally reserved “Golf Hotel” as the local governmental military had taken over the hotel and canceled our reservation.

So, we traveled the short distance from the airport to our “lovely” hotel, the Bole International, what we would rate as a -2 star hotel. (And we thought this would be our worst accommodation for the trip. More on that much later.) What, are we in the honeymoon suite??? Such a quaint shade of pink on the thread-bare bedspread. Put our bags down and went back to the little restaurant on the ground floor of the hotel. If the accommodations are lacking, they make up for it in the best coffee any of us has ever had! Buna bur wetta (coffee with milk) is the way to go. Even I liked it! The most striking attribute: NOT BITTER TASTING! At the restaurant, we met with all parties concerned with the building project, Badeg and some others, in regard to the Ethiopian multipurpose project. To note how far the dollar goes in Ethiopia: the bill was for roughly 50 birr or just under 6 bucks US!!

Since we have no luggage, Sirak – our fearless driver/interpreter – drove us to the air terminal to get $100 toward incidentals from the airline. Then he took us to what he considered a proper “mall” for us to look for clothing to replace what British Air lost. The sad part of this… no one in Ethiopia is as big as those of us from well-fed nations. So, we ended up purchasing some socks and basics like toothpaste and toothbrush and called it a morning! Nothing like going to a mall and having your bags searched by armed guards. Addis is having some unrest due to corrupt elections. What fun.

What is most apparent in this city when driving? Poverty. I suppose when one doesn’t know one is poor, the lack of knowledge of that poverty is the best thing for them. $1 a day is the prevailing wage. Statistics show that of the 3 million in Addis, nearly half of them are unemployed. Here’s the eye-opener: There are more unemployed in Addis than the amount of people living in all of Clark County (where Las Vegas is), Nevada.

As we drive through Addis, we see just an ocean of humanity ahead wherever we go. Begging is normal here. Deformed children and adults, poor children and adults – doesn’t matter, they all beg. Come up to the car and tap on the window. Many of the children were selling small packs of tissue – no wonder as most people carry their own since the “public” bathrooms (and that's a loose definition) have none. Our interpreter/driver Sirak is very informative and polite. I think he is warming up to us brash Americans. He was educated in a Catholic school and speaks excellent English, is Orthodox in religion, college educated and has education in car mechanics. One never knows when ones car will break down and the need of knowledge will come in handy! And as they say, what can go wrong in Africa will.

We drove out to an impoverished neighborhood where the multipurpose building was to be erected. It is to be a church and used for other projects throughout the week when completed. Interesting sloping site has been picked. Carol will have her hands full trying to communicate to the local architects who aren’t too keen on listening to women anyway, let alone an educated American woman. What do we know about architecture? Carol meets with the local architects and asks simple questions like “Why do you have pillars running down the center of the sanctuary?" It will be educational for her no doubt.

Driving on into an even more impoverished area, we visit a health care center and AIDS orphan school. The Aids epidemic is definitely out of control in Africa. The health care center is approximately 6 years old and includes a pharmacy, lab, surgery, labor/delivery, typical exam rooms and a newer eye care wing. There was concern about overall upkeep of the premises by the locals but that seems to be relieved for the time being as it all looked very well kept. The eye care addition is a necessary part of overall care; glaucoma and cataracts start early here. The orphanage school, the next street over, was not in session due to vacation time. The few children we met were just so cute and excited to see us. Of course, when you’re in a country with little tourism, you’re bound to create a stir by just being white!! They all seem to learn some English, whether in school or??? The main problem is that somewhere they all learned about begging for money. You're bound to hear phrases like "you, you, you, give me money" or something like that. Everywhere we drive we encounter the sea of humanity and livestock. The streets, whether paved or dirt, are loaded with people on a mission – daily survival. Cattle, donkeys, goats, sheep (and they looked very similar to goats except for minor differences in the tails and stockiness – we were continually quizzing each other “sheep or goat?”). Whether it was to obtain water, fuel – usually in the form of wood but could be dried dung, or just moving livestock to grazing areas, there was a constant movement on the streets. Lots of corrugated metal houses – must be an easily acquired and cheap material. Everything on dirt floors in these homes.