lora kathleen

My good friend Jessica visited from America a couple weeks ago, and after spending a couple of days in Amhara for Farengi Fasika and visiting my site, we headed to eastern Ethiopia to check out Harar and Dire Dawa. Since these towns were recently opened up for Peace Corps Volunteers to visit, it was a great chance to see a part of the country I might not have otherwise seen.

While I really loved the towns of Dire Dawa and Harar, the people there did not make the experience enjoyable overall.

I am a young female living in Ethiopia. Harassment is, unfortunately, a part of daily life. But the men and children of Dire Dawa and Harar took it to an entirely new level. My friend and I could not walk more than two minutes without someone commenting that we are “a beauty,” inviting us for coffee or asking for something, or just making annoying comments that all Peace Corps Volunteers deal with daily such as “YOU YOU YOU,” “MONEY MONEY MONEY,” and “FAREEEEEEEENGI!!!” We also got farengi waga-ed (foreigner pricing) at every single turn–the minibus drivers between the two cities wanted to charge us twenty birr for our bags to sit ON OUR LAPS. I almost blew it at that… in Amhara they don’t even charge me to put the bags up top, and Bahir Dar is a fairly touristy area! Every day it was completely exhausting to be out in public, and more than once we had to seek refuge in our hotel room just to be left alone for a few hours. I wanted to love the two cities because I’d heard so many positive things about them, however, I feel like now that I’ve seen it there’s no reason for me to ever go back… and the people are a huge deterrent to me ever wanting to go back.

Anyway, rant over. A fairly decent guide found us on the bus to Harar and followed us around until I got his card. We decided to call him, since I’d heard you really needed a guide in Harar. Although we didn’t do much with him, he did end up being really helpful, showing us cool sites around the city one morning.

So there were three tremendously awesome parts of the trip:

1. Feeding the hyenas in Harar
2. Harar Brewery
3. Dire Dawa Railway Station

Feeding the Hyenas

Easily one of the coolest things I’ve done. We went to the hyena man outside the Erer and Sanga gates near the Aw Anser Ahmed Shrine. He is the grandson of the “original” hyena man. The night we arrived, one of the hyenas stole the basket of meat that they would be fed. It took a while for them to track down the basket, which they found on the main road near the city wall. Once the basket was recovered, the show got underway–my friend and I both fed the hyenas by hand. There were about 12 hyenas hanging around over all, and they more often then not seemed more afraid of us! Our guide told us later that the hyenas clean the city at up at night (I had actually remarked at one point that Harar was the cleanest Ethiopian city I’d been in), yet they are also afraid of the dogs!! We paid 100 birr to feed and take photos of the hyenas, it was definitely an experience well worth it.

Harar Brewery

We had the bright idea to walk to the Harar Brewery from our hotel. Unfortunately, there are no signs and no clear directions in any guidebook on how to get there. But walk we did, occasionally stopping to ask the random person, “Harar birra yet no?” It took about an hour of wrong turns and uphill climbs, but we made it, and it was well worth it! We found tibs during fasting and had Hakim Stout (one of the best beers in Ethiopia) on draft for 10 birr each (about 50 cents USD).

Dire Dawa Railway Station

This station houses what’s left of the Djibouti-Ethiopia railway that ceased operations several years ago and is currently being revitalized. We started wandering around the back and a nice, older man came and took us to a small caboose that is the start of the museum tour (I’m assuming). A nice, much older man that spoke French and some English took us around, showing us the different behind the scenes of the rail station, the railway cars and even the railway station and offices. It was incredible and a wonderful afternoon wandering around the aging buildings and cars of the unused railway.

Anyway, there is a quick rundown of the highlights (although obviously, seeing Jessica was pretty much the best thing!) of vacation part 1. Stay tuned for more from the parents visit to Ethiopia!

I get asked all the time, “What’s it like over there?” It’s hard to explain what it’s like to live here. It started with being dropped in rural Ethiopia with 50 other fresh PCVs, only to be moved ten weeks later to a town even farther away with only one other person.

Maybe these small bits of daily life will help paint a picture of what it’s like living in a community in one of the poorest and underdeveloped nations in the world.

Eating

• Most days my diet consists of tomatoes, onions, potatoes, hot peppers (and it’s always a surprise whether it will come out like a jalepeno or a habenero).. and if I’m lucky extra tough corn/maize, carrots and cabbage. Fruits include bananas and lemony-limes, or in better seasons papaya, guava, mango, pineapple, peaches and oranges. I often combine these with pasta, white bread rolls or rice.
• All year on Wednesdays and Fridays I cannot eat animal products in public (eggs, butter, milk and meat). My town is 98% Orthodox and the rules are very strict—people in areas that are less dominated by Orthodox rules don’t necessarily have this issue.
• Typically I buy food one of three days a week (Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday) and only in the morning when the market is thriving.
• I don’t use a refrigerator or microwave. If I have leftovers, they go in a container on my counter to be eaten the next meal. Also, “refrigerate after opening” is really just a guideline.
• If I decide to go to a restaurant, I get to eat whatever happens to be cooked that day regardless of what the menu says… usually some combo of chickpea powder and/or hot pepper powder, onions, (sometimes) meat and oil.
• Unless I’m at home with my filter, I don’t drink tap water… only soda, bottled water or tea/coffee that’s been boiled. Alcoholic options aside from beer and (really crappy) wine include fermented honey water, slightly fermented barley or teff water and straight up moonshine. There’s debate as to whether the moonshine can actually blind you.

Hygiene & Household

• Shower? I wish. I bucket bathe once a week usually (sit/squat in a large bucket, pour water over yourself. Scrub. Rinse. Repeat.), and if it’s a week I’m going into Bahir Dar then I might get a shower at the Peace Corps regional office.
• My bathroom is a latrine in the back corner of my compoud… this involves walking outside for a bit, which when it’s raining is a real pain. There is no toilet, just a hole in the ground.
• Water comes out of a tap in my compound. As of writing, the water “hasn’t come” for two days. I fill up a 35-litre pail whenever there is water, and that’s what I use for ALL household duties including bathing, dishwashing and drinking (after it goes through my water filter, obviously).
• I cycle through maybe 1-3 outfits a week, depending on how dirty they get.
• Many nights the power goes out and I have to get by on fresh food/vegetables (my current stove is electric) and with candles, lanterns or my headlamp.
• All my laundry is washed by hand, in a bucket and hung on a line to dry. If there’s water that day, that is.
• Mice have found their way into my house before, but I stopped that. Now they are just running around in my ceiling munching on something (wood?).
• Every night when I get home I have to wash my feet and legs because they are covered in so much dirt and grime.
• Trash is either burned or dumped somewhere outside the compound. Dirty the earth, dirty the air… it’s all the same here. Trash collection is non-existent.
• My house is the biggest in the compound, however it is only two rooms (a 4x4m and a 3x4m) made of cinderblock with concrete floors. There is no heating or air conditioning and only two electrical outlets. The ceiling is made of fabric.

Transport

• As PCVs, we are not allowed to drive vehicles. This means if I want to go somewhere, I usually walk. If it’s far away, I catch a minibus, squeeze in with way too many people and for an extended amount of time (and absurd amount of stops) sit in a stuffy vehicle where anyone refuses to open the windows for fear of catching TB (tuberculosis).
• If not walking or in a vehicle, I’m allowed to ride a bicycle, horse, donkey or gari (horse/donkey-drawn cart). No motorcycles or hitched rides.
• Everywhere I walk, people are constantly staring. People will stop walking to stare. They will trip because they’re staring. No matter what I’m doing, someone is always watching.
• While on a bus, people often want talk to you, whether to practice their English or just talk, even if you have in headphones they will tap you on the shoulder and start talking. I think I’ve got the “don’t talk to me” vibe down though, because this rarely happens to me.

Social

• I don’t watch TV. Ever. Unless it happens to be on in a neighbors house or at your local bar/restaurant/café. It’s usually in Amharic or Arabic anyway.
• All entertainment comes from my laptop or other gadgets/books brought from America. Most of the time, pasttimes here in Ethiopia are literally used to pass the time, so it involves a lot of shay-buna breaks (coffee), a lot of sitting around with neighbors and wandering around town. Men play pool and fooseball at local game houses or go out with friends for dinner and beer, but for most women, the entire day is spent within the confines of the compound.
• I don’t leave my compound after dusk, unless accompanied by a man.
• And speaking of men, I typically cannot hang out for an extended period of time and often with Ethiopian men by myself. Not necessarily for safety, but to avoid rumors.
• When I want to talk to or a text a friend, I cross my fingers that the cell network is working. Some days it’s fine, others it might take four or five hours for a text to reach its intended recipient, other times it’s just “network yelem.” A full network outage for an extended amount of time has only happened to me two or three times, but for other volunteers is a huge issue.
• And internet? Only on my air card or in Bahir Dar. My town has no internet café. It costs me about 35 centime a minute (after 9pm) and averages 20 kbps. For comparison, dial-up runs at about 56.6 kbps.
• Children often follow me around, yell things like “CHINA!” or “FARENG!” to get my attention. Often times they just want to say hi. Sometimes when children feel like I haven’t paid enough attention, they’ll throw a rock at me. A lot of kids ask for money and food.
• Teenage and young men will yell things like the children, often times much more rude though. Things like “nech” (white), lewd or vulgar comments that I won’t repeat here. However, most like to avoid conflict and will back off if you walk right up to them and say, “Tell me again.” In Amharic of course.
• Teenage girls will just follow me around, giggling and whispering behind me.
• Since I am white, people assume that I am rolling in money. Children ask for things. Adults ask for things. It gets worse if there is another white person around. A lot of people in my town have figured out that I’m not made of gold, but many still have yet to learn that, and as such, I am seen as a cash source. Best phrase for this? “Bank aydalahoom” (I am not a bank).
• Most shops in my town will give me a good price, but when I travel I usually get “farengi waga”-ed (foreigner priced). One time a man told me a bamboo shelf (that I literally paid 75 birr for the previous week) was 350 birr. I laughed in his face, told him in Amharic that in Injibara it was only 75, and walked away before he could respond. If someone tried to tack on a few extra birr, fine, but almost 5 times the real price? Please.

Weeks Behind

It seems like I JUST got back to site after a fun filled several weeks in Addis for IST (In-Service Training) and AVC (All Volunteer Conference). Truth be told, it was absolutely exhausting—I rarely was able to find time for myself as I was too busy attending trainings and spending time with my friends.

Last week, after the all too early flight back to Bahir Dar, I got to spend a few hours at the Kuriftu pool and get a massage (a great birthday present from a friend!) before heading back to site. My land people were excited to see me, as were the kids on my street that I taught to yell “AMERICA!” instead of “CHINA!” The cell network was down when I got back, so I had a very peaceful night all to myself.

Another volunteer had told me that getting back to site after IST was one of the hardest times, and I can totally see why. After being around friends for two and a half weeks, it was hard, but my compound neighbors and site mate have made the transition easier. I also got my household compost started—it doesn’t have much in it, mostly just the starter (fresh cow dung and some leaves) and a number of onions and peppers (I think onions are bad?). Anyway, since I’m leaving it alone for a few weeks, I’m not overly anxious to get it highly productive yet. My compost will be another post for another day.

Weeks Ahead

Anyway, soon I’m off to another multi-week adventure! Next week one of my best friends is visiting FROM AMERICA and then my parents will be here for a few weeks! We’ll be doing a bit of travelling around Ethiopia—I am really looking forward to seeing more of this amazing country in which I live! We’ll be visiting Blue Nile Falls, the Lake Tana monastaries, Gondar castles, Lalibella rockhewn churches and much more.

I’ve tried to line a couple of miscellaneous posts to keep everyone entertained while I am gone, but as always, feel free to email me or leave a comment, I’ll try to keep up to date while I’m on the move.

Oh yeah, and Happy Easter everyone! Easter in Ethiopia won’t be celebrated until May 5, but some PCVs in the area are going to take the opportunity to share some American culture and do an Easter Egg hunt! (That is, if we can find eggs. It’s a fasting period right now and really difficult to find animal products like meat, eggs and milk.)