I arrived in Ethiopia on
the 16th of January 2020. My projected arrival date was the 30th
of December 2019 but that didn’t materialise for a number of reasons. The main
reasons included extra requirements for the work permit in Ethiopia (something
the Ethiopian Government has recently tightened up on) which was difficult to
obtain over the Christmas break (I arrived back in the UK on the 17th
of December). So, police checks being validated, GP notes and letters of good
standing held the process up. The irony is that not one of these things were
actually necessary for my work VISA. Which I will now receive in the next few
days.
Ethiopia really is
something else. I really had no idea what to expect as this is my first time in
the heart of Africa. A new continent, with a rich and ancient history that
holds the keys to human evolution (one of the oldest human skeletons – Lucy –
was exhumed in Ethiopia and is currently a museum in Addis Ababa, the capital
city of Ethiopia). It is also diverse in religion, ethnicity and language.
Federalism abounds in Ethiopia, with each state being defined by its own ethnic
groups. Orthodox Ethiopian Christianity permeates here, which is one of the
most ancient, and arguably ‘pure’, forms of Christianity in the world. Stories
of King Solomon, The Queen of Sheba and the Ark of the Covenant are woven
throughout Ethiopian history. Yet, its most-spoken language is Amharic - a
Semitic language, like Hebrew and Arabic. Thus, Judaism and Islam have their
very visible spaces within Ethiopian culture too. The richness of this history
can’t help but affect you at a very deep level. Every second I am reminded that
I am somewhere very, very special.
I’ve been here just over
a week now. I arrived when things were slowing down for Timkat – a religious
ceremony more important than Christmas here. It is officially celebrated on the
19th of January (20th in a leap year) but it is in fact a
three-day festival commemorating Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River. A replica
of the Ark of the Covenant (apparently the actual Ark is in Axum in Ethiopia
and only its true guardian can gain access to it – strong echoes of Raiders of
the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade; both more than likely influenced by this
history) is brought to Addis Ababa and people stay out all night to celebrate.
There are processions and lots of singing, music and dancing. It was utterly
spectacular.
So, the last few days
have been about my induction into my new role, learning some basic Amharic, and
familiarising myself with the work VSO Ethiopia and other INGOs have been doing
in Ethiopia regarding the education and teacher training of refugees. Ethiopia
has, arguably, one of the most open-door policies to refugees in the whole of
Africa. It currently hosts approximately 850 000 refugees in 26 refugee camps.
The locations of these refugee camps match the most populous refugee community –
Eritreans in Tigray; South Sudanese in Gambella; Somalians in Somali, and the Sudanese
in Beneshangul-Gumuz. However, there are also refugees from Yemen, other
countries in the Middle East and other African countries such as the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC).
My role here is to design
needs assessments for various groups within the refugee camps (including
governmental and non-governmental organisations who ‘administrate’ the
refugees) to discern the barriers that female teachers face when teaching in
these refugee camps. I will also be designing a training package to train
current and future (mostly local) volunteers in how to design, implement and
analyse these needs assessments. I am working closely with another
international volunteer (who will arrive tomorrow) and we will split into four
research groups after the training has been designed and implemented. Over a
period of 4-6 weeks I will be hands-on collecting data from approximately 5
refugee camps (across two districts). Then, it will be back to Addis Ababa to
analyse the data in groups and prepare the final report.
Just when I was designing
the needs assessments, disaster struck. I have a frozen neck caused by poor quality
pillows (the hotel has two varieties of pillow – one that is so chunky it could
hold open a door, and the second so thin and uneven you feel as if you are
lying on nothing with some small bumps). The injury is actually quite serious –
after two visits to a very impressive Saint Gabriel’s hospital in Addis Ababa,
they isolated that I tore a ligament in my neck. So, I’m not supposed to be
doing any work (and certainly not supposed to be typing this) and getting
sufficient rest to let the inflammation die down and my muscles to relax enough
to let the healing commence. I’m on anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxants to
help me do this. They suspect it will take at least a week for it to heal. If
it doesn’t, I’ve to get an MRI scan. I did get an x-ray already and it’s all
fine – bones all doing what they should be doing which is a relief.
So, I just have to take
it easy. Do some work but then stop and rest when the pain gets too much. The
good news is that I’m not expected to go out to the refugee camps for another
couple of weeks yet so that should give me sufficient time to heal. But, it is
stopping me from going out sightseeing. I can’t turn my head which makes
crossing the very busy roads here very difficult! But, sometimes you just need
to rest to prepare yourself for what is to come. I’m taking this as a sign that
this is what I should be doing right now.
