This update's been a long time comin'....

Hi all,

It’s been ages since I’ve written. Mostly I’ve just been slammed and super tired. And not having an internet connection at home or a super slow one at the hotel I was staying at exacerbated that problem! I still don’t have it at home but will hopefully correct that next week. In the meantime, it’s when I’m working late or on weekends, and frankly I’ve just been exhausted. Well, let me back up a few weeks.

In early May I went to Lalibela with my friend Sophia. This was all arranged because we had a three-day weekend and a friend in from Washington wanted to go see the sites. But during that week the H1N1 situation started worsening and the friend in from the states works for that division of USAID so she had to go home. It was the fourth time she’s tried to go to Lalibela on visits to Ethiopia so I blame the entire outbreak on her.  Anyway, my original plan was to go up on Friday and back on Sunday. But since she cancelled, I decided to return with Sophia on Saturday instead.

Lalibela is famous for the 11 Ethiopian orthodox churches that have been carved into or out of rock. It’s a popular destination for religious holiday’s like Easter and you can see lots of priests, monks, other devout, praying in each of the churches. They’re all kind of dark and smelly on the inside, but it is quite a site to see. Supposedly they were all done in a few years but one man and his angels. Anyway—Sophia and I had a great time except for the flights delays both out and back. I like Ethiopian airlines but their in-country service isn’t the best.

Here’s a link to the Lalibela pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jane.e.strachan/EthioLali?authkey=Gv1sRgCIfn98uSmvOfdg&feat=directlink

After that quick break it was right back to work. Things are heating up here as the short rainy season wasn’t very good. In April it was all about predictions, in May it’s been getting an accurate picture. Ethiopia is sooo complicated. There’s highlands, midlands and lowlands. They all have different rainy seasons and seasons with different names. They grow different things. In some places they’re pastoralists and in some places their crop-growers. And then there’s the food programs in the country. There are literally something like 5 of them. I’ve had it explained to me by different people and I still don’t understand the intricacies of who’s targeted for what activities. Both of those might not be super important for me to understand if it didn’t ultimately result in malnutrition—which is one of our major sectors. Needless to say, things could be better here.

So I went on a trip a few weeks ago to see four partners we fund for nutrition activities. In some places the situation is pretty good and the trained staff are doing really well. In other areas it’s not as good. There are sensitivities around this issue so I can’t say much. But the interesting thing is that as you drive around you see different crops. The problem is they’re way to short/small. I remember being told when I was little that corn (somewhere in the US) should be knee high by the Fourth of July. So using that marker, it looks like July 4 but is actually late August. Not so good.

Anyway—our partners are doing a good job but they’ll have a lot of work ahead of them. Especially as there’s not emergency food expected in the country in June which is the start of the “hungry” season (when people generally don’t have much food because they’re waiting for the Sept/Oct harvests). Then on the 4-5 hour back to Addis we hit a dog. It was awful. Kind of slow motion. And being a dog person I was very upset. Now dogs aren’t of value here for the majority of people. Sheep, goats, donkeys, yes. Dogs, no. So we didn’t stop. I just felt awful and got upset. The two people in the car, presumably not knowing how to react to my being upset just kind of chuckled. Which set me off into “a strop” as the Brits would say. And I had to sit in the car for another 2 hours. So I jus started losing it. I called my sister Molly to see if she had time for a getaway. Turns out she does—yeah. But ticket prices are between $700-1000—boo. Ugh.

Here are some photos of my trip to SNNPR, a region south of Addis.
http://picasaweb.google.com/jane.e.strachan/TripToSNNPMay09?authkey=Gv1sRgCMbR85T2_qa_Rw&feat=directlink

So, the trip is over and I’ve got a million things to do and emails to catch up on. But my house is ready! So I’ve got to move in. Which means learning the security system, meeting the night guards provided by work, hiring day guards/gardener guys, finding a cook/cleaner, etc. And unpacking a ton of boxes. As my mother said, I have too much stuff. A friend came over and helped me unpack so now most things are out of boxes, but not away. My kitchen and living room (easy) are pretty much done. But the bedroom, etc. Not so much. So I’m living in a mess. Then at the same time they re-did our office set up. Now I’m very supportive of this because now I’ve got a proper cube instead of a space the size of a piece of toast. But it meant that I was stressed at work, everything was discombobulated, and the same at home. It’s been a bit too much. So I had a three day weekend but didn’t get everything done. Yesterday (Thursday) as a holiday here and I ended up working an 8 hour day so again nothing at home got done. Yikes.

Here are some pictures of my house before I moved my stuff in. After photos coming soon…..
http://picasaweb.google.com/jane.e.strachan/HouseInAA?authkey=Gv1sRgCKyn8LP595zLsgE&feat=directlink

On the plus side, work is definitely not boring and I think I’m really appreciated here which makes a difference. Slowly, slowly I’m making new friends and that’s also helping. Once I get my car in (it’s in Djibouti right now clearing through customs), that will make a big difference.

Also—for those of you who miss the sound of my voice, dripping with sarcasm, there are lots of phone cards you can buy that allow you to call my cell phone. Check out noblecom.com if you’re interested and I’ll pass you my cell digits!!

That’s about it for now. I miss you all and am giving you big hugs!!
Jane

Update from the middle of nowhere

Hi all,

Sorry for the 1) long time in between notes and 2) the brevity of this one. I'm at an internet cafe in Wolayita which is in SNNP Ethiopia to monitor some of the partners who do nutrition for us. The situation is varied--in some places good and in others not so much. I can't say much in this forum, but if you want the 411, let me know and I'll email you.

Basically we've been looking at the great work the health extension workers are doing at the community health posts in treating severe acute malnutrition. It's definitely good to see such intelligent young woman making a difference in their community. I've got a few more projects to see in the coming days and then back to Addis.

The really exciting (personal) news is that it looks like I can move into my house this weekend!! YEAH!! No more Sheraton/Sidama...but my own home!! And it sounds as though my personal effects (sent from the US by my office) will be arriving soon as well. Double yeah!! And my car may soon get here after it clears customs of the port in DJibouti! Triple yeah. I'm hoping for the May trifecta!!

Other than that, not much new. Things have been really busy. I've been working on planning for an H1N1 outbreak here---where we anticipate the situation would be much worse than in the US due to crowding, health care availability and underlying illness and malnutrition rates. So I've been working long days and collapsing into bed (with the Twilight Saga series) for the last week or two.

Anyway--things are calmer now. More soon with pictures of this trip and my new house coming soon. I hope you're all well!!!

Love,
Jane