Reflections 2 Coffee and Tea Time in Ethiopia

I’ve always been a very strongly avowed anti-coffee person. Unless I was really exhausted (finals week, late night followed by an early morning) I haven’t drank coffee regularly since some time in college. I had two houseguest incidences this year, once with a cranky mom and once with an even crankier best friend, who woke to discover the lack of coffee situation in my home. So all the hype surrounding Ethiopian coffee never really excited me. For those that don’t know, coffee was discovered here and Ethiopians take their coffee VERY seriously. 8 months here and my opinion on coffee has certainly changed, and though I still can wake up without the cup and not want to tear anyones head off, I will miss the beverage here.

Unlike in the U.S., coffee isn’t meant to be drunk on the run, but sat and enjoyed. This dates back to the coffee ceremony, which is a beautiful thing to enjoy at a party or holiday. Coffee beans are rosted over a small fire till they are ready to be seeped in water to make the coffee. Popcorn is passed around to pass the time till the coffee is ready. The spell is lovely, and sometimes incense are burned to add to it. Once the beans are roasted and boiled to perfection, cups and passed around and shared, with generous amounts of sugar, but normally no milk. Ethiopian coffee is extremely strong, and a cup usually has me wired for hours. At most coffee ceremonies I’ve had at least two!

Most days are less coffee ceremony and more macchiato, which is a good thing. I can’t really handle the strong taste without some milk, and this treat that the Ethiopians learned from the Italians is really great. I’ve never been to an Ethiopian office where coffee isn’t immediately offered to me. Here at DKT I am often brought it exactly how I like it (lots of milk, lots of sugar) at exactly 10:15 and offered again in the afternoon . That is usually too much for me, which brings me to another delicious, but more underated, Ethiopian hot beverage, tea.

Most people don’t think of tea when they think of Ethiopia, but it is another welcome treat. Warm and spicy, boiled water is also flavored with cinnamon for an added taste. It is a more calming relaxing way to enjoy a beverage with a coworker and friend, and I often opt for that in the weekends, and most afternoons at work. I seem to be a bit of an anamoly here in Ethiopia, most people are either coffee or tea but I like to limit, while not completely avoiding, caffeine.
There is one other hot beverage, known as Shai, which is half coffee, half tea. Ethiopians like mixing things: coke and ambo (a natural sparkling water), spaghetti and injera. I’ve try Shai once and found it made me even more hyper than regular coffee! As I write this a cup of coffee, with warm milk and an amble helping of sugar, is being placed on my desk. I am off to enjoy but promise future houseguests that from now on I should have some coffee waiting for you!

Reflections 1

With the countdown on my time here set at 10 days, it seems like I should be doing some reflecting, Mostly though, I am just doing lots of work! I’ve finished up my research (the second trip to Awasa was extremely successful) and I am not using my data to write both a paper for DKT and another for my own thesis. There is always time to procrastinate, and I thought I would use my last few blog entries to write a bit about what I’ll miss and what I won’t. I’d like to say I will post every day for the last 10 I am here, but that seems like an impossible goal, so let’s just say I’ll do my best.
Today’s Topic: My walk to work (and beyond).
This one is easy; I definitely won’t miss walking to work, or anywhere else in Addis Ababa for that matter. I wish I could say I’ll miss the sites, sounds and smells, but besides for the wisp of incense that sometimes comes from a coffee stand, I don’t think I will. I know I’ve written about it before, and bitched plenty on Facebook, but there is really nothing more complex to describe than walking around on the streets here. At first it seemed like my emotional reactions evolved over days, or weeks. First I was depressed by the poverty, which is certainly some of the most extreme in the world. If there is a person who could look at a woman dressed in rags, with no shoes on her feet, sitting on the ground nursing her baby and NOT feel depressed, well I really hope you aren’t reading my blog, because I don’t want to know you! As I got more settled in here this turned to hopelessness. There is just so much poverty, how will it ever change? After a few weeks, once the culture shock kicked in, my feelings again changed, to anger and annoyance. On a 10-minute walk to work up to 20 people may approach me asking me for money. There is only so many times you can say no to a small child trying to sell you a packet of gum before you just want him to go away. It sounds heartless, but I know most of the money in that case goes right back into a larger supply chain that is designed to keep kids on the street selling things. I don’t like to give money because I don’t want to encourage begging. It isn’t sustainable for individuals, or the country as a whole. Later, this anger just turned to frustration. I live such a blessed life, who am I to be angry with someone who has so little and sees me as a way to make some money? Aren’t I here to help?

As I said, these feelings first came in long waves. Now, I’ve noticed, I can feel this range of emotion in a short 10-minute walk. Sad as I walk past a small child playing with nothing but a rock on the street, than hopeless that I’ve been here 8 months and I still don’t know how to change that. Annoyed when his brother follows me for 4 blocks, pestering me for money I know I am not going to give. And then of course frustrated at myself, for becoming angry at such a small thing.

There isn’t much to break this cycle. Taking Puddles off the street was probably had the greatest effect, but as much as I want to I can’t adopt any of the adorable children (or any more puppies) that I walk past every day. I sometimes give people, especially mothers, food, which can sometime alleviate the emotions for at least a few blocks. I try to do this whenever I can, meaning we never make it home with leftovers, and I often make several stops at fruit stands to make it home with any produce, which are obviously minuscule sacrifices.

Leaving Ethiopia won’t erase the images of poverty I’ve witnessed here, and I am sure I will find myself in a similar environment before to long. I am, however, looking forward to a less emotionally draining walk, for at least a few months.

Reflections 1

With the countdown on my time here set at 10 days, it seems like I should be doing some reflecting, Mostly though, I am just doing lots of work! I’ve finished up my research (the second trip to Awasa was extremely successful) and I am not using my data to write both a paper for DKT and another for my own thesis. There is always time to procrastinate, and I thought I would use my last few blog entries to write a bit about what I’ll miss and what I won’t. I’d like to say I will post every day for the last 10 I am here, but that seems like an impossible goal, so let’s just say I’ll do my best.
Today’s Topic: My walk to work (and beyond).
This one is easy; I definitely won’t miss walking to work, or anywhere else in Addis Ababa for that matter. I wish I could say I’ll miss the sites, sounds and smells, but besides for the wisp of incense that sometimes comes from a coffee stand, I don’t think I will. I know I’ve written about it before, and bitched plenty on Facebook, but there is really nothing more complex to describe than walking around on the streets here. At first it seemed like my emotional reactions evolved over days, or weeks. First I was depressed by the poverty, which is certainly some of the most extreme in the world. If there is a person who could look at a woman dressed in rags, with no shoes on her feet, sitting on the ground nursing her baby and NOT feel depressed, well I really hope you aren’t reading my blog, because I don’t want to know you! As I got more settled in here this turned to hopelessness. There is just so much poverty, how will it ever change? After a few weeks, once the culture shock kicked in, my feelings again changed, to anger and annoyance. On a 10-minute walk to work up to 20 people may approach me asking me for money. There is only so many times you can say no to a small child trying to sell you a packet of gum before you just want him to go away. It sounds heartless, but I know most of the money in that case goes right back into a larger supply chain that is designed to keep kids on the street selling things. I don’t like to give money because I don’t want to encourage begging. It isn’t sustainable for individuals, or the country as a whole. Later, this anger just turned to frustration. I live such a blessed life, who am I to be angry with someone who has so little and sees me as a way to make some money? Aren’t I here to help?

As I said, these feelings first came in long waves. Now, I’ve noticed, I can feel this range of emotion in a short 10-minute walk. Sad as I walk past a small child playing with nothing but a rock on the street, than hopeless that I’ve been here 8 months and I still don’t know how to change that. Annoyed when his brother follows me for 4 blocks, pestering me for money I know I am not going to give. And then of course frustrated at myself, for becoming angry at such a small thing.

There isn’t much to break this cycle. Taking Puddles off the street was probably had the greatest effect, but as much as I want to I can’t adopt any of the adorable children (or any more puppies) that I walk past every day. I sometimes give people, especially mothers, food, which can sometime alleviate the emotions for at least a few blocks. I try to do this whenever I can, meaning we never make it home with leftovers, and I often make several stops at fruit stands to make it home with any produce, which are obviously minuscule sacrifices.

Leaving Ethiopia won’t erase the images of poverty I’ve witnessed here, and I am sure I will find myself in a similar environment before to long. I am, however, looking forward to a less emotionally draining walk, for at least a few months.

Reflections 1

With the countdown on my time here set at 10 days, it seems like I should be doing some reflecting, Mostly though, I am just doing lots of work! I’ve finished up my research (the second trip to Awasa was extremely successful) and I am not using my data to write both a paper for DKT and another for my own thesis. There is always time to procrastinate, and I thought I would use my last few blog entries to write a bit about what I’ll miss and what I won’t. I’d like to say I will post every day for the last 10 I am here, but that seems like an impossible goal, so let’s just say I’ll do my best.
Today’s Topic: My walk to work (and beyond).
This one is easy; I definitely won’t miss walking to work, or anywhere else in Addis Ababa for that matter. I wish I could say I’ll miss the sites, sounds and smells, but besides for the wisp of incense that sometimes comes from a coffee stand, I don’t think I will. I know I’ve written about it before, and bitched plenty on Facebook, but there is really nothing more complex to describe than walking around on the streets here. At first it seemed like my emotional reactions evolved over days, or weeks. First I was depressed by the poverty, which is certainly some of the most extreme in the world. If there is a person who could look at a woman dressed in rags, with no shoes on her feet, sitting on the ground nursing her baby and NOT feel depressed, well I really hope you aren’t reading my blog, because I don’t want to know you! As I got more settled in here this turned to hopelessness. There is just so much poverty, how will it ever change? After a few weeks, once the culture shock kicked in, my feelings again changed, to anger and annoyance. On a 10-minute walk to work up to 20 people may approach me asking me for money. There is only so many times you can say no to a small child trying to sell you a packet of gum before you just want him to go away. It sounds heartless, but I know most of the money in that case goes right back into a larger supply chain that is designed to keep kids on the street selling things. I don’t like to give money because I don’t want to encourage begging. It isn’t sustainable for individuals, or the country as a whole. Later, this anger just turned to frustration. I live such a blessed life, who am I to be angry with someone who has so little and sees me as a way to make some money? Aren’t I here to help?

As I said, these feelings first came in long waves. Now, I’ve noticed, I can feel this range of emotion in a short 10-minute walk. Sad as I walk past a small child playing with nothing but a rock on the street, than hopeless that I’ve been here 8 months and I still don’t know how to change that. Annoyed when his brother follows me for 4 blocks, pestering me for money I know I am not going to give. And then of course frustrated at myself, for becoming angry at such a small thing.

There isn’t much to break this cycle. Taking Puddles off the street was probably had the greatest effect, but as much as I want to I can’t adopt any of the adorable children (or any more puppies) that I walk past every day. I sometimes give people, especially mothers, food, which can sometime alleviate the emotions for at least a few blocks. I try to do this whenever I can, meaning we never make it home with leftovers, and I often make several stops at fruit stands to make it home with any produce, which are obviously minuscule sacrifices.

Leaving Ethiopia won’t erase the images of poverty I’ve witnessed here, and I am sure I will find myself in a similar environment before to long. I am, however, looking forward to a less emotionally draining walk, for at least a few months.

Reflections 1

With the countdown on my time here set at 10 days, it seems like I should be doing some reflecting, Mostly though, I am just doing lots of work! I’ve finished up my research (the second trip to Awasa was extremely successful) and I am not using my data to write both a paper for DKT and another for my own thesis. There is always time to procrastinate, and I thought I would use my last few blog entries to write a bit about what I’ll miss and what I won’t. I’d like to say I will post every day for the last 10 I am here, but that seems like an impossible goal, so let’s just say I’ll do my best.
Today’s Topic: My walk to work (and beyond).
This one is easy; I definitely won’t miss walking to work, or anywhere else in Addis Ababa for that matter. I wish I could say I’ll miss the sites, sounds and smells, but besides for the wisp of incense that sometimes comes from a coffee stand, I don’t think I will. I know I’ve written about it before, and bitched plenty on Facebook, but there is really nothing more complex to describe than walking around on the streets here. At first it seemed like my emotional reactions evolved over days, or weeks. First I was depressed by the poverty, which is certainly some of the most extreme in the world. If there is a person who could look at a woman dressed in rags, with no shoes on her feet, sitting on the ground nursing her baby and NOT feel depressed, well I really hope you aren’t reading my blog, because I don’t want to know you! As I got more settled in here this turned to hopelessness. There is just so much poverty, how will it ever change? After a few weeks, once the culture shock kicked in, my feelings again changed, to anger and annoyance. On a 10-minute walk to work up to 20 people may approach me asking me for money. There is only so many times you can say no to a small child trying to sell you a packet of gum before you just want him to go away. It sounds heartless, but I know most of the money in that case goes right back into a larger supply chain that is designed to keep kids on the street selling things. I don’t like to give money because I don’t want to encourage begging. It isn’t sustainable for individuals, or the country as a whole. Later, this anger just turned to frustration. I live such a blessed life, who am I to be angry with someone who has so little and sees me as a way to make some money? Aren’t I here to help?

As I said, these feelings first came in long waves. Now, I’ve noticed, I can feel this range of emotion in a short 10-minute walk. Sad as I walk past a small child playing with nothing but a rock on the street, than hopeless that I’ve been here 8 months and I still don’t know how to change that. Annoyed when his brother follows me for 4 blocks, pestering me for money I know I am not going to give. And then of course frustrated at myself, for becoming angry at such a small thing.

There isn’t much to break this cycle. Taking Puddles off the street was probably had the greatest effect, but as much as I want to I can’t adopt any of the adorable children (or any more puppies) that I walk past every day. I sometimes give people, especially mothers, food, which can sometime alleviate the emotions for at least a few blocks. I try to do this whenever I can, meaning we never make it home with leftovers, and I often make several stops at fruit stands to make it home with any produce, which are obviously minuscule sacrifices.

Leaving Ethiopia won’t erase the images of poverty I’ve witnessed here, and I am sure I will find myself in a similar environment before to long. I am, however, looking forward to a less emotionally draining walk, for at least a few months.

Awasa

I just got back from another trip to Awasa, which is in Southern Ethiopia, about 5 hours away from Addis Ababa. I've focused some of my research there because it is a medium size city with a large University presence and is a transit point from different areas of the country as well as surrounding countries. All of these factors are common in sites where emergency contraception is common. We went there once before, in late January, to speak with pharmacists, sex workers and University students. Unfortunately the students had been in the middle of exams, so we left them some surveys to fill out (not my favorite idea) and completed our other interviews.
The interviews at that time had been really interesting. On the way to Awasa we had stopped at a town called Sheshamanye. Sheshamanye is known for one thing, it is the Rasta's capital! Rastafarian is popular here, especially in the south and Sheshamanye is the land the former emperor Haile gave the Rasta people. Driving through it feels as though a typical Ethiopian town, with donkeys and women carrying water on their heads, has been invaded by a Phish show, or backpackers on Koh Sahn road!
We interviewed some sex workers there, at one of DKT's drop in centers. The centers are really amazing places where women can relax during the day, do their laundry, watch tv, and of course, get education and free condoms! The knowledge gap between the women we spoke to in Addis and in Sheshamanye was astounding. While they all use condoms (good news!) there was much less knowledge of EC, and the process some women told us they go through when a condom broke was positively medieval! It was great to speak with the girls and share some information with them as well.
This time around we merely drove through Sheshamanye, and made it to Awasa on Monday afternoon, in time to speak to some girls at the University about Postpill. When I was first creating this study everyone in my office told me University students would never talk to me. I'm glad I tried anyway. We got some great responses (at Addis University as well). It was interesting to think how in some ways University students are so much alike everywhere in the world. What was frightening was in many ways University students are greater sexual risk takers than Commercial sex workers! All of this will be written up in my report, so you'll just have to wait to hear more.
Awasa is located on a beautiful, pristine lake, which we had the chance to spend a bit of time on during both visits. I don't yet make enough money to stay at any of the fancy resorts, but we sat and had a juice, and watched the birds, which even I had to admit were very beautiful! I have some pictures of the fisherman serenely fishing as pelicans and herons play nearby, I'll try to post them soon!
The drive back to Addis is a bit of an eye opener. Before my first trip to Awasa the only other time I had traveled over land in Ethiopia had been in the North, during the rainy season. Everything was green and lush, it was hard to imagine a famine the likes of which this country is still known for. Driving to Awasa it is much clearer. About 2 hours outside of Addis, the land turns brown and dry. We passed mud and straw huts and people grazing cattle, and I tried to imagine how anyone could eek out a living in such a place. It seems impossible to comprehend, even living in Addis, where I can almost always have a hot shower and bottled water is less than 50 cents! As you go south the land gets green again, and we even passed a few ostrich running in some protected land.
Sadly, it seems much of the viable land has been taken over for commercial interests. About an hour outside of the city is a "Chinese village" where a Chinese company runs its construction facilities. Marring the landscape is a large cement factory, spewing residue into the air, it seems endlessly. I know that such factories need to exist for smooth roads and other improved infrastructure, but it is ugly all the same! A bit further down are the flower camps, row upon row of huge greenhouses growing flowers, most to be imported to Europe. Now I love flowers as much as the next girl, but it made me think twice about where such lovely gifts come from, and at what cost.

I apologize for the fact that this blog is all over the place! I am trying to write more regularly in the next few weeks before I leave, and I wanted to get this all down.

Miss me?

I am a bad blogger! A very very bad blogger! I think most of you at this point must have realized I didn't return back to school in January. No, I am still in Ethiopia! Here is a very brief summary to catch you up:
In November I was offered a consultancy position with DKT Ethiopia, to do some research on their Emergency Contraception product.
Later in November me and Paul headed out on an AMAZING walking safari in Kenya. It was one of the most amazing trips of my life, and it deserves its own blog post
In December I spent a month in the U.S./Canada and managed to spend lots of time with my family, see most of my friends, go to Aruba with the Golds and even make it to an early Christmas in Vancouver!
In early January Paul and I headed back here, where we were greeted by an enthusiastic puppy who was very happy to see us. She was much less happy to be neutered a few days later, but that is another story, involving the vet doing the surgery on our dining room table, that surely also deserves its own post.

So a bit more about what I am doing here. First of all, I am having a blast! I LOVE my job! DKT is such a great organization to work at, it feels like bureaucracy is illegal here. If I have an idea my boss tends to tell me to run with it. When I learned that DKT is introducing a new lubricant product I was asked to think up a name! Talks about condom sizes and flavors, and family planning ad models are common talk, in other words I feel right at home!

The research, though it is not completed, was great too. Myself and my team (I have a team, how cool is that?) visited several pharmacists around the city to interview them on their behavior and opinions towards to pill. This was followed by interviewing commercial sex workers at several drop in centers around the city, which was extremely interesting! And even more so, was going on an outreach ride at night, and talking to many of the CSW on the street! I did a bit of outreach like that in Thailand, and I forgot how interesting it is and how much I enjoy it. The girls aren't anything like you'd expect them to be. Many of them are really outgoing and funny, and willing to share all sorts of information. These interviews were followed by more with university students. It was certainly interesting to see the cultural differences (and similarities) between students here and in the U.S.

All this was followed by a one week trip to beautiful Awasa (in the south of the country) where we repeated the research. The city was laid back, quiet on a huge lake that was all much more relaxing than Addis! At one point, following a long day of interviews, sitting by the lake drinking a fresh mango juice, I literally couldn't take a smile off my face!

Now it's not all fun and games! I'm now entering and analyzing the data, which is certainly tedious! All in all, it has been an amazing experience and I have learned so much!
Thank you to everyone who helped me with the decision to stay here and do this work! I'll try to be a better blogger for the rest of the time I am here, but for now, much love!