Field Visit 2

I am in the midst of a field visit, as I think I noted in my last post. We are in the town of, well to be honest I was told the name of the town once and I don’t remember it. All I know is for the first time in my life I am somewhere that isn’t listed in a lonely planet! I get looks walking down the street from more than just the little kids. This is the only tiem outside of 2 weeks spent in Burma that I get consistant expressions of surprise from the locals!
It’s a pretty town that is growing rapidly. Like most of Ethiopia, rural to urban migration is a major trend, and this town is seen as a jumping off point for further migration. Which actually fits in very nicely with the work I am doing. While my co-workers are here for a training I was brought along to speak to some of the local NGOs/CBOs that are based here, and Bahir Dar, a larger city I will be visiting tomorrow. While my program will be focusing on urban female youth (or UFY in this industry that LOVES acronymns) I belive it is impossible to look at the urban without thinking about the rural, since the majority of the poor urban population are migrants. So it was time to find out more.
One sub-group that I personally pushed for the program to target is trafficked girls. Trafficking is an issue I first got interested in while I was in South East Asia, where the problem is extremely prevelant. While it is not a common here, and it takes on different forms, it is still a major issue that seriously harms young women. So we arranged for me to visit Chad-et, a local NGO that provides services to prevent trafficking. The organization looks for girls that are vulnerable for trafficking and prevents it by offering education and alternative incomes. Additionally, they provide a safe-house for up to 32 girls who they directly stop from falling into the hands of traffickers.
There were no girls when I visited. Being the end of the rainy season meant most people were busy at home. After Christmas, I was told, was when trafficking tends to be highest, and the shelter is often full. Personally I was very impressed by Chalet’s services. It seems their projects do a great job at targeting girl’s individual needs and vulnerabilities. I hope I have the chance to work with them again in the future.
I spent the afternoon leaving town, checking out a women’s group CARE’s South Gondar office runs. The group meets for a week for training and discussion in life skills and empowerment. The women were kind enough to allow me to interrupt their session to speak to them and arrange a focus group study with a few of them. I had only been given about 20 minutes warning that a focus group could be arranged, so the entire thing was pretty improprtu. Overall, I was proud of my own ability to think on my feet and create questions and discussion that were engaging and informative. The information will be useful for future programming.

I’m struck by the differences in rural and urban poverty. While both are severe here, they seem to be very different. Seeing malnourished children (or adults) is less common, though not un heard of, in Addis. Here is seems more common. On the other hand, there is no begging here. I’ve only had one person say “give me money” in the past 3 days, something that usually happens at least half a dozen times on any given walk through Addis. Additionally, I can’t help thinking that people look happier here. Perhaps it is just that here I am viewing people walking to and from the town, likely selling goods, but I also think it may have to do with being near family and friends. When people migrate to urban areas they are also alone. Unlike someone as lucky as me, blessed with skype and email and facebook, as well as a network of friends and friends of friends throughout the world, youth often arrive knowing no one and being unable to reach those they left behind. A study I recently read found almost 60% of migrant girls report having NO friends! For some reason, of all the things I’ve read that might have been the saddest. And I think I may have written about it before, but it feels striking again here, as the poverty people are in is more communal. At the same time, I know there are horrible things I don’t see. Child marriage is still very common here. 2 of the 7 girls I spoke to yesterday (the oldest of whom was 27) reported being married by age 10. 5 had had children before the age of 20! These are some of the things youth are trying to escape by running to the cities. But comparing poverty seems like a fruitless exercise anyway. Best to once again be grateful for the things in my life, and continue working to bring people out of poverty here.