Two more trips to the field....lovely!

Hi,

So our protection officer was out for a few weeks and we made two trips to two areas of Ethiopia where our partners are working but which I had not yet visited. Both trips proved to be fascinating....and a bit of a trip!

The first trip was to a town called Kersa Dula in the Somali Region of Ethiopia where people had been displaced due to fighting but had returned with assistance from a partner that we give funding to. So we chatted with community members for a bit and visited the water point that has been rehabilitated to alleviate some of the tension with the neighboring community. The next day we traveled to another displaced persons camp and talked with some of the women and children about the issues they face. The driving to this region takes one and a half days so on the way back we stopped in Awassa and enjoyed a soda by the lake (with monkeys and birds galore).

Ethio-Kersa Dula/Hudet 9/28-10/3

Link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jane.e.strachan/EthioKersaDulaHudet928103?authkey=Gv1sRgCNjI34z3yoKXbg&feat=directlink


The second trip was to the Gambella region of Ethiopia which borders Sudan. There are Sudanese refugees but again, we were looking at Ethiopians who've been displaced within Ethiopia. The people in Gambella really don't "look" like other Ethiopians. They look much more Sudanese. So you'll see in the photos a difference there. The second village we went to is accessible by boat and we saw lots of cool birds (this country is really a bird watchers dream) and some crocodiles! The community isn't getting flooded out this year (thankfully) and we're funding our partner in the region to provide a clean water point in the coming months which should help with many of the basic health/hygiene issues as right now they're using river water (which they don't boil though they know they should).

Ethio-Gambella 10-09

Link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jane.e.strachan/EthioGambella1009?authkey=Gv1sRgCLv7y9KNwtf7Sg&feat=directlink

Anyway--both trips were really interesting for me since I haven't been to these areas or seen the programs of these two partners.

Now I'm in Nairobi for a week and then heading to a training in Kigali Rwanda (where I hope to take the weekend to look for mountain gorillas!!!).

In the meantime I'm being treated for amoebas and feeling MUCH better. Thank goodness for access to quality medications! And things are going along with work well. I've had a few requests for photos of my house so when I get back (and now that it's not raining) I'll take some and post them in early November.

Thanks for all of your emails and notes and enjoy this latest batch of photos!!

Abrazos,
Jane



P.S. -I'm hoping the slide show and links will work, but if not, let me know and I'll try a different post option.