Finally updated

It has been far too long since I updated my weblog. And the longer it took the more difficult it became to update properly since more had happened. So now finally decided to settle for a short update, otherwise it will never happen.

Much has happened over the last 2 months. My amazing nephew Jefta is growing to be a real good-looking man.

Further I ave the feeling I have settled down now and it will be hard to leave again in January. Made a couple nice hiking trips outside the city and have to confess the nature here is really amazing. There have further been several new people who have arrived either as intern, UN-staff or miscellaneous and who we now regularly hang out with. Esti, a Spanish JPO, has moved into our house and really lightened up the two-guy household (and also cooks on Sunday when our maid has off).

But most important: Gerdine is coming over in the end of this week!!!!!

She will be coming to Ethiopia until the end of my stay here (2nd of Januray) after which we will travel back home together with a small stopover in Israel to visit her sister Joke. I really can’t wait for her to arrive and have planned a nice trip for us together when she gets here (I also need a nice holiday and am looking forward to visit more of the country). Anyway next posting with pictures of me and Gerdine together in Ethiopia.

Political situation in Addis

Since several people seemed to be concerned after hearing news that Ethiopia might get into a border war with Eritrea and that there has been large unrests in Addis and the rest of Ethiopia I thought it would be good to update you a bit and explain how far my experience has been. First of all, though a war would be a terrible move by any of the countries, the situation would hardly affect life in Addis Ababa, besides some shortages like fuel as the army would get priority in supplies. This based on the experience of several colleagues who were here during the previous war with Eritrea.

The protest though are much closer, but as a foreigner you experience much less the hardship that the Ethiopians themselves do, especially the poor families. The riots have closed many businesses for quite a while and police-forces have gone from house to house arresting youth as potential protesters. Though this week the police released around 4500 prisoners who they admitted had nothing to do with the protests, many are still held in custody including the main opposition leaders. The situation has now gone back to stable, but underground tension remains probably until the political situation is settled. But unfortunately there are no signs at all that a settlement would be reach soon.

Personally I have hardly bee affected by the situation. The closest to any protest I got was during the Meskel celebration in September. During the last protest, where around 40 people died, I mainly stayed within the compound of our house or the UN-compound, which both were very safe places to be.











It is a very strange experience to hear some gunshots and further read on Reuters and the BBC what is going on in your own city, while you are just enjoying yourself to kill time. Especially since afterwards you hear all the horrific stories of people being arrested, or shot since they refused to come with the police, and families who don’t know where their sons have gone.

On a more light perspective we handled the situation really calm. Stocked up a lot of drinks and food and enjoyed our time together. As many friends were staying in areas that were not as safe or they would be home alone we had several guests over. This resulted in a house packed with 7 people, sharing beds (don't worry I shared a bed with Jens), sleeping on the sofa or ground and cooking or browsing the Internet for news the whole day.

For now Addis seems back to normal, but nobody can say what will happen next. Protests might erupt tomorrow or in half a year again it all depends. But for now we are back to normal again and enjoying the greatness of this beautiful country, that deserves a better future.

His name is Jefta!!!

After two weeks of amazing news of friends getting together, finally getting engaged or even announcing they are pregnant, the best news was even to come. My sister called she had given birth to a healthy boy named Jefta Ruben. Although rather surprised by the news, as it was not expected yet, true joy filled me for the rest of the day. This is my first nephew and knowing who his parents are I can only say it must be a great kid. Congrats Jiska & Menno with becoming parents and congrats mom and dad with becoming grandma and grandpa.

See the beauty and his parents for yourself

Melkam Addis Amit (Happy New Year)

This weekend we had the pleasure of celebrating Ethiopian New Year. For those wondering we have now entered the year 1998. For a more detailed description of the Ethiopian calendar see Thea’s previous post: Whats the date? What's the time?

Anyway were invited for dinner at Sher and Anne (Sher is a colleague from UNECA) for some amazing Indian food and relaxing night with some of their other friends. On new years day Jens and I were invited at an Ethiopians diplomat’s house, whom Jens knew from his French class. Again another great meal of Injerra, local brewed beers, buna (coffee in Ethiopian) and interesting conversations made this weekend to be very satisfying but also very tiring. New Year is celebrated here mainly within the families and with the exception of the Sheraton (who put off some massive fireworks) and some other hotels it is not a real public event. What is typical is the large scale slaughtering of sheep, goats, chickens etc. And the ones that were able to survive this holiday will not be happy for too long as Meskel (the finding of the true cross of Jesus) is dated for the 27th.

Miscellaneous

Birthday
My birthday was amazing here thanks to all the nice e-mail and ecards I received from all around the world. You guys are amazing. But also have to thank the great colleagues who really surprised me with actually having a present for me. You guys are great, thanks:
Adam, Adrian, Asnaketch, Azeb M, Azeb W, Bart, Emmanuel, Hiwot, Janvier, Kwabia, Leonce, Ralf, Roza, Reto, Susana, Tsedale, Yetonayet and especially Wengel who arranged the whole thing.
Actually my colleagues at ESPD (Economic and Social Policy Division) have been amazing since the first day and really made me feel at home very fast. I salute you my friends.

Drivers license
After driving around Addis without a valid drivers license for a while (had to bring Femi up and down to the Dutch embassy and a trip to Awash) I finally got my Ethiopian drivers license this Friday. Quite a hassle, but with the help from the transport-office here at UNECA I managed (well they managed I just had to pay and show my face at the right desk).

Visitors
After the great experience of “youth hostel Jakob, the cheapest in town” in Copenhagen it seems I have arrived at yet another one. Jens has now become an official non-official AIESEC’er after hosting random guests we both never met before, but hey they were in AIESEC and cool so we offer them the guestroom here (well first of all Jens was so amazing to offer a room to me the day he met me, so it’s part of his hospitable personality).
By now we have had Femi (Nigerian from AIESEC International) and Alicia & Brian (American AIESEC-trainees in Egypt) all came over for a visit to this wonderful country.

So if you feel like having a break and come over to Ethiopia feel free to knock on our door. The rainy season is almost over and the weather is really getting better even at the 2600 m altitude here in Addis.

Awash weekend

This update is two weeks late and many of you have already read Thea’s blog (normally a better and faster writer then me and describing the exact same trip), but thought I had to write something personal as well.

As Thea’s Ericsson trip to Dubai was cancelled and Femi had a slightly bad ending of his trip up north we decided it was a good idea to go out of Addis for the weekend and see something of Ethiopia.

[Femi lost his wallet in Gondar including his Dutch residence-permit, so spend 1 1/2 week going to the embassy every day to be able to fly back on the 28th]

Anyway, the road to Awash was of much better quality then we expected, although we did have to avoid hitting any people or animals that were crossing the road without having any clue what a car driving 100 km/h can do to you when it hits.

But the park was worth the ride and made you feel like a real safari (although there seem to be better parks, but to far for a weekend). I think we noticed around 15-20 different species including baboons, crocodiles, warthogs, turtles and different gazelle look-alikes.



But the most amazing was probably the picnic at the edge of the gorge and the swim in the hot springs. The last was around 37 Celsius and in the middle of an oasis making you feel you were swimming in a small paradise.



We spend the night in a hotel in the village of Awash, which claims to have hosted Charles de Gaulle and Emperor Haile Sellassie. This could easily be true, but then nothing has changed since. Nevertheless great beds and we needed those, because we were exhausted.

The next day we went back to Addis and tried to visit some sites where apparently there were hippos and another natural spring. The hippos didn’t come out in the day (which can not be said for the amount of tour guides harassing us) and the spring was turned into a commercial recreation centre.

But the monkeys, real cute ones not the big fat baboons, and the ice-cream made it into a successful day. With another amazing experience richer we arrived back in Addis Ababa where Femi had to hurry to catch his flight. But not without one last meal of Injerra (Ethiopian national dish).

Where are the Dutch?

Where are the Dutch? The conquerors of the ocean, the travelers you will find in any remote village, the nation that is well known for it’s football players, cheese and stroopwafels.

Where are you guys?

It seems I am surrounded by three nationalities. First of all Ghanaians. My direct colleague is Ghanaian, the person sitting opposite to me is from Gahan and the whole road between me and and the top of the UN is Ghanian. My direct boss, our divisional director, the executive secretary (also under Secretary General) and last but not least mr. Annan are all Ghanaian.
Then we have the Germans (or German-speaking). My landlord is a German and four of my direct colleagues and here are German. Including their partners (which I meet, because the Germans are also part of my social life) this means Addis is not the place you want to watch Germany beat Holland in a football match (luckily this will never happen).

But then there is this last category. The Maltese. Originating from a small island in the Mediterranean where they live with probably not more then 400.000 inhabitants, they have decided to surround me during my stay here in Addis. I have by now met at least 4 Maltese here and am aware of two or three more (of this group 4-5 are either priest of nun). And until now I have been able to regulate my points of contact outside of the UN-compound. But this peaceful situation has ended since one of my colleagues returned from leave and being Maltese as well to my surprise. Luckily all the Maltese are a blessing to be around with, since they are rather straightforward and funny.

But the question remains: WHERE ARE THE DUTCH?

There is the ‘Old Milkhouse’ full of Dutch flags and cows and ‘Wim’s Holland House’ which suggests the Dutch must be all around or at least continuously in these two bars. But until now have only been able to spot one. ONE!

If you know where they are hiding or if the Dutch embassy has decided to evacuate all of them, please inform me ASAP.

The history of coffee

Ancient history tells the story of Kaldi, an Ethiopian goat-herder, thought to be the first to discover the mythical properties of coffee. He was so amazed at the dancing of his goats after they had eaten some berries from a nearby shrub that he decided to try some of the ripe, red ‘cherries’ for himself. The pleasant, stimulating effect they produced led him to share his discovery with the local monks. Coffee quickly evolved into a ceremonial drink. Keeping the monks awake during their long hours of prayer.

Arabic scientific documents dating from around AD 900 refer to a beverage drunk in Ethiopia, Known as ‘buna’ (coffee in Amharic), and the similarities in the words suggests that this could be one of the earliest references to Ethiopian, coffee in its brewed form. It is recorded that in 1454 the Mufti of Aden visited Ethiopia, and saw his own countrymen drinking coffee there. He was reportedly impressed with the drink, which cured him of some affliction, and his approval made it soon popular among the dervishes of the Yemen who used it in religious ceremonies, and introduced it to Mecca

From the Arabian Peninsula coffee traveled to the East. The Arabs are credited with first bringing coffee to Sri Lanka (Ceylon) as early as 1505 by one Baba Budan on his return from a pilgrimage to Mecca in the 17th century.

By 1517 coffee had reached Constantinople, following the conquest of Egypt by Salim I, and it was established in Damascus by 1530. Coffee houses were opened in Constantinople in 1554, and their advent provoked religiously inspired riots that temporarily closed them. But they survived their critics, and their luxurious interiors became a regular rendezvous for those engaged in radical political thought and dissent.

Venetian traders had introduced coffee to Europe by 1615, a few years later than tea which had appeared in 1610. Again its introduction aroused controversy in Italy when some clerics, like the mullahs of Mecca, suggested it should be excommunicated, as it was the Devil’s work. However, Pope Clement VIII (1592- 1605) enjoyed it so much that he declared that ‘coffee should be baptized to make it a true Christian drink.’
The first coffee house opened in Venice in 1683. The famous Café Florian in the Piazza San Marco, established in 1720, is the oldest surviving coffee house in Europe. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries coffee houses proliferated in Europe. Nothing quite like the like the coffee houses, or café, had ever existed before, the novelty of a place to enjoy a relatively inexpensive and stimulating beverage in convivial company established a social habit that has endured for over 400 years.

In 1616 the Dutch gained a head start in the grand-scale cultivation by taking a coffee plant from Mocha to the Netherlands, and they began cultivation in Sri Lanka in1658. In 1699 cuttings were successfully transplanted from Malabar to Java. Samples of Java coffee plants were sent to Amsterdam in 1706, were seedlings were grown in botanical gardens and distributed to horticulturists throughout Europe.

A few years later, in 1718, the Dutch transplanted the coffee to Surinam and soon after the plant became widely established in South America, which was to become the coffee center of the world.

In 1878 the story of coffee’s journey around the world came full circle when the British laid foundations of Kenya’s coffee industry by introducing plants to British East Africa right next to neighboring Ethiopia, where coffee had first been discovered a 1,000 years before.

Today Ethiopia, is Africa’s major exporter of Arabica beans, the quality coffee of the world, and the variety that originated in Ethiopia, is still the only variety grown there. Coffea Arabica, which was identified by the botanist Linnaeus in 1753, is one of the two major species used in most production, and presently accounts around 70 per cent of the world’s coffee.

In Ethiopia’s province of Kaffa,from which its name derives, a large proportion of the arabica trees grow wild amidst the rolling hills and forests of the fertile and beautiful region.

Three weeks in Addis

Three weeks in Addis and loving it more every day. Last week I moved out of the hotel, but before I could move into Villa Jens I had to buy a bed at Merkato (the largest market in East-Africa). Together with Thea, a Maltese priest and two Ethiopians we started our adventure around Merkato buying a frame and a mattress from two different places, getting a 4x4-taxi to pick it both up (really separate sides of Merkato) and drive to Jens his house (still with 5 of us packed in the taxi, together with the bed). Once we completed this adventure, the next was to actually assemble the bed. An assignment that makes Ikea furniture Childs play.

During the week I was positively surprised by me new desk and computer (the administrative assistant already talked about it, but you never know when these things arrive). Only problem was that during the change of computers my work of the week, which I just finished, got lost on both the old and new computer. Well had a print-out, so a good opportunity to train my typing-speed.

On Saturday morning we were supposed to help out at a neighbourhood-centre near my house with handing out food and clothes to the children in the area, but unfortunately it was cancelled last minute. Today (Tuesday) I got to actually see the centre and meet with the volunteers and talk about their needs. Unfortunately Public Administration is not a class they give to the kids, so guess I’ll try to help out with more practical stuffJ. With the weekend free, it finally became my first real complete relaxing weekend. Joined Thea’s Ericsson-party on Friday-night and ended up at Memo’s (one of the better clubs here, but still dodgy). Slept in on Saturday and went for some coffee’s and ice-cream at Kaldi’s (a copy of Starbucks) with Jens, Thea and Femi (a former AIESEC, who arrived earlier that week for a holiday-trip through Ethiopia). In the evening we off to test (again) some real Ethiopian Injerra at a real Ethiopian restaurant. There are three types: Bad ones, good ones for upper-class and expats and good ones for Ethiopians. We of-course went to the last type, where we were a true attraction for the other guests, being the only faranji (foreigners). The evening was closed at the Black Rose, a very good and relaxed lounge near our house. On Sunday Thea prepared a very nice lunch at her Hilton-apartment for the four of us, after we got to see Chelsea beat Arsenal. What better weekend, than spending time with great people, great food/drinks and no rush.

Some reflections:
It is a strange experience living in a country where the poverty is so visible, the expat-community (NGO, UN, corporate) so large and you feel in the middle. On the one hand you have your daily work and comfortable life and on the other hand you feel you want to contribute more directly as well. I’m happy I am slowly seeing more opportunities that might be good ways to spend some spare-time on some hands-on development work, next to the strategic work of preparing the conference. I think I’ve also found my way of dealing with the many beggars on the street, by taking them to a bakery or other shop and provide them with the supplies for a decent meal for their families. You can not do this continually as you most of the are in a car on your way to work or an appointment. But whenever I have the time it is starting to become my new habit and it is addictive. But this is just a small thing, that doe not really help them further in the long run. Therefore will continue with looking for some voluntary-work that suits me (no clue what, but will find something) and that helps break the cycle of poverty a bit (vocational and literacy education being the biggest step, but these are not my fields of expertise).

I will also try to share you some of Ethiopia’s great beauty and history in upcoming blogs. This country has all (accept a beach) to make it as a tourist-country. History that goes back thousands of years, medieval castles, Emperors that lasted until the 70’s, the only African country that has never been colonized and, for some most important, the place coffee originates from.

New Pictures

Dear friends,

Have many experiences to share again of two weekends and one week.
See the new pictures for a first preview. More stories later.

ADDIS, I'M LOVING IT!


Sjoerd

Coming weekend

Dear friends,

For those who want me to update my blog a short preview of the weekend (work is not interesting yet to really talk about here). This weekend I will move to my new villa (no understatement). I will be moving in with a colleague who is from Germany. To make sure my new house will be comfortable I will visit Merkato (the largest market in Africa) to buy a bed for myself. Further will pay a visit to the Mother Theresa hospital here to meet some Maltese nuns and see the other side of Addis (the non-expat side). On Sunday will go for church, although I have no clue yet where it is and how to get there, but we have had bigger challenges than that.

For more info, see after the weekend.

Sjoerd

First week in Ethiopia

Dear friends and family,

Only one week in Addis and I already feel I've been here for a long time, knowing the actual price-levels of taxi's (important when negotiating) and seen many parts of the city. So how have I been so far?

The trip to Addis went very well, as I could check in my luggage in Amsterdam all the way to Addis I bypassed the strict weight-control in Frankfurt (it seems that everybody travelling to the middle-east has a minimum of 3 major bags pp). Anyway had some time left over and went into Frankfurt to buy a new bag for my handluggage as the old one died due to overweight (glad they did not check that one). On arrival in Cairo it seemed a whole group of S-Africans came back from Mekka. had some nice conversations on the muslim-community in S-Africa and other random interesting topics.

Upon arrival in Addis I approached an Ethiopian who was on my flight (who ended up being a political refugee from Djibouti) to check what the best way was to get a hotel at 03:30 in the morning. He offered that I could join him as he was heading to one anyway. But what he forgot was the famous "foreigners-tax" here in Addis. Which means the price doubles for a foreigner. Anyway, we were tired and decided to take the room for one night and go for a sleep. From the taxi I had already seen some slumbs and heard in advance that slumbs and commercial buildings are completely mixed in Ethiopia. So this was my view from the window the first morning.

On saturday-morning I joined my new friend for a walk down the main road in Addis to pay a visit to the black market where he had to change some Euro's into Ethiopian Birr. Like any other road (I have new experienced) the streets are crowded with small shops and beggars trying to get the farranji (foreigner) interested as most foreigners don't seem to walk but travel by car (I only saw one other white person during a whole hour, but he seemed more interested in young ethiopians boys so didn't bother interacting with him). After coming back to the hotel I went to meet Thea (an old AIESEC-connection and good friend by now) in the Hilton. This place is an oasis of rest and wealth compared to the world outside it walls. Anyway even more expensive then the hotel I left, so me and Thea decided to go hotel-hunting in Addis based on the advices of the Lonely Planet. During this adventure we saw approximately 10-15 hotels from ok to brothel-level (with the Cozy-bar next door). After having seen a couple I decided that budget was not the only criteria, I should also feel a bit at home after a day at work. Luckily found a proper one called "Holiday Hotel" which is a medium priced one (too expensive for long duration) but with extremely nice/helpfull staff and friendly atmosphere. We ended our trip at one of the backpackerhotels which you would not want to live if you have a job for which you need to get up early, but are great for a beer and interesting conversations. Result of the trip was that within 24 hours I had seen many parts of Addis, learned the taxi and mini-bus system. I really felt I had been here for quite a while and was strange to acknowldeg it had not even been 20 hours since I landed.

Sunday was relaxing day as I had to start on the next day
Monday was a good start, in the morning had to arrange a lot of formalities such a security-pass, office-space, e-mail-account and getting to know the people. I am currently situated at the ESPD (Economic & Social Policy Division), but most of my colleagues from the ADF (African Development Forum) work at the OPC (ffice for Policy and Program Coordination). This means I have to travel between the 3rd and 9th floor all the time. Currently we are working on my jobdescription, a normal start-up issue with internships. This is especially difficult as the discussions on youth-involvement in the conference-preparation has just started and there are no concrete tasks to be done yet for me, but this is slowly evolving and I just make sure I take the responsibility whenever something comes up. Furthermore I have a lot of time to read on what has been going on and make myself comfortable with the issues of the conference. In the evenings I was most of the times too tired to go out, this also because my stomage was giving me some problems due to a bad hamburger or water. By now I am feeling much better and being very critical on what to eat and what not.

This weekend I went with Thea and Frank (a Maltese lawyer who manages a NGO called "Opportunity Knocks Ethiopia" which gives young poor youngster who have the commitment the opportunity to continue their study) to Debre Zeit by public bus (about 40 KM south-east of Addis) to visit a nice lake and meet local Ethiopians (as Frank was trying to start there as well). It was really interesting as we really got to know how people lived and how much youth-unemployment affects their daily life. Most of them could not do anything since they left school 2-3 years ago. See the pictures to get an idea.