the girls of glow (no, not the wrestlers)

Bahir Dar Camp GLOW 2012!

Those of you who know me well, or just know me, or kinda sorta know me, probably know that I don’t much like kids. Of any age.

So, naturally, acting as a counselor for a week-long camp with a bunch of teenage girls sounds like my worst nightmare, right?

Surprise! It actually turned out to be amazing. (Full disclosure: I didn’t do as much “counseling” as my fellow PCVs given my job duties, which might have contributed to the amazingness)

To summarize the experience, here are some stats about Bahir Dar Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) 2012:

38 high school girls (including six junior counselors who were former campers)

11 towns in the Amhara Region represented

13 Peace Corps Volunteers

8 Community Counterparts

6 days and nights

5 themed training days – University/All About Me, Women’s Empowerment and Leadership, Reproductive Health and Nutrition, HIV and Infectious Disease, Environment

1 host organization – Bahir Dar University, which provided housing and classrooms AT NO COST. Aw, yeah.

16 meals at a campus café featuring some damn good missir wat (ok, except for b-fast, of course).

10 tea/coffee breaks

4 roundtrips in a barely serviceable boat to get everybody across the Blue Nile and make our way to the Blue Nile Falls and back

1 bumpy bus ride with countless lomis and plastic bags distributed to puking girls

A million pictures taken by awesome photographer/PCV Brendan.

What did I do, you ask? Well, as we held camp at my university, I acted as Logistics Officer, meaning I coordinated housing, food, and transportation, among other things. I also coordinated the half a day of University activities, which included a campus photo scavenger hunt and a lunch panel with female faculty members, as well as a short IT session taught by Sher and The Good Doctor.

Because of my role as LO, I wasn’t with the girls as much as I would’ve liked to be. Or maybe I was with them just enough, who knows.

Either way, here are some of the week’s highlights for me:

Fikirte chat

Fikirte Addis of Yefikir Design – The fashion designer came and gave an inspirational talk to the girls. They absolutely loved it. She graciously stayed for our evening activity, a fashion show competition, and acted as a judge. It was a huge hit.

Parasite Drama – The Good Doctor and Helen created an amazing play to inform the girls about giardia, hookworm and tapeworm. I got to play the hookworm. Again, the girls absolutely loved it.

Talent Show – Even the shyest of the girls participated in the talent show. Poems were read, assorted dances were danced, songs were sung, bodies were, er, tumbled, and some footballs were kicked. We counselors took a stab at singing a song (Bruno Mars) to the girls with mixed results. Overall, lots of talent on display. From the girls, anyway.

Piñata smash – Amazing PCV Chelsey made a piñata that had negative statistics about women in Ethiopia written on the outside. Each girl read an “I am a strong woman because…” statement before taking a big wack at it. They wacked until they broke that piñata. So empowering. I got chills hearing some of the statements. These girls are amazing.

RUMP it up.

RUMPS – The campers learned how to make re-usable menstrual pads. I know it might not sound so great, but these can make a huge difference in the lives of girls, as many girls in Ethiopia can’t afford pads and don’t go to school while they have their periods. They used locally available materials and can now teach others in their communities how to do it. Sustainability? Check.

Overall, camp was challenging and exhausting, but it was an fantastically fulfilling experience. I think the campers loved it as much as we did.

And I learned one important thing: Those campers are no kids; they’re strong woman.

Cheers.

If you want to see more pictures of these amazing girls –  er, women — check out my facebook album.

one down, one to go

So, it’s been a year. That’s 366 days. Or 8784 hours. Or 527,040 minu – oh, you get the point. I’ve been in Ethiopia for a long time.

To be sure, there were times when I thought I wouldn’t make it a month, let alone a full calendar year. But here I am, eating shiro and walking the streets of Bahir Dar.

To celebrate the anniversary, here are a couple of lists — I like lists — best moments and moments to forget. Enjoy.

Best moments

July 4^th at Gary’s (on July 3^rd) – Burgers. Beer. Readings of the Declaration of Independence. Renditions of patriotic songs. Lots of gin. Great company. Amazing day.

Sneak attack holiday – Just one of those PC moments.

Swearing-in weekend – Lots of great eating, drinking, and socializing before saying goodbye to friends and heading off to site.

Last night with my host brothers. Played some Uno. Lost.

Last night with host family – It was relaxing. A few games of Uno with the family and a great last dinner of my brother’s fantastic missir wat. I still crave it.

Huruta hike with Sofi – Beautiful

Birthday at Kuriftu – Turning 31 wasn’t easy, but doing it at the Kuriftu made it less difficult. The massage and the company helped.

The Good Doctor’s 32^nd birthday – A nice time with friends in the small town where Doc lives. Lots of food, drinking and talking.

Djibouti – Not exactly an Ethiopia moment but – Djibouti!

Thanksgiving – Again, eating played a big role. So. Much. Food. And Dottie D.!

My brother’s famous missir wat.

First packages from home (at site) – Three boxes from my mother came and I wept like a baby. Jeans! Mac & cheese! My Chucks! Chocolate!

The night the lights went out in Huruta – I forget exactly what the occasion was, but we were having a gathering at my host family’s house when the lights went out (not uncommon). My host siblings and I didn’t mind, and we continued our game of “name the quote’s country of origin” by candlelight. It was one of most entertaining evenings I’ve had in this country.

Mmmmmm.

Cheese sandwiches at Sodere – First taste of actual cheese in Ethiopia. Enough said.

Tej Afternoon – Tej Night didn’t turn out as well, but Tej Afternoon started off auspiciously enough. Calzones + four liters of honey wine between five of us = good times.

Stops at The Spot – Moments of solitude before class during PST. I miss it.

A Very Hammy Easter – Again, food related, but ham and scalloped potatoes! With The Good Doctor!

Ghion bonfire after my little incident – Notable for two reasons: Starfish Chronicles is born, and Kate Boyd passes into legend. (How’d she do that?!)

The time my host mother fell off the chair laughing – Enough said.

Moments to forget

My little incident – Not much to say about this.

Yeah, it hurt.

The broken nose – Or this.

Trip to site – A really long, depressing day. Had to stay overnight in the grossest hotel in Injibara.

Trip to CBT site (and night before) – Tainted pizza leads to illness leads to diarrhea leads to longest, most painful bus trip ever. I wanted to die.

Bobby off the leash – Bobby, the guard dog at The Good Doctor’s compound, is no joke. His world consists of a doghouse and wherever his two-foot long leash will allow him to roam. I’d be pissed too. As I stood outside Doc’s door one evening, Bobby got off the leash somehow and made a beeline for me. I was terrified, a sitting duck, frozen to the spot. Thankfully, Doc’s landlord was there and grabbed him before he got to me.

Crotch grab #1 – Yeah, that sucked.

Boob grab #43 – Mostly annoying at this point.

February 21 – Just… not a good day.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the blog Year One. Thank you to everyone for the letters, packages and support. They’ve meant more than you know.

Again if there is a topic you’d like me to blog about, let me know. On tap for Year Two: posts on my house and Ethiopian fashion.

Cheers.

of michael scott, blue tears, shinting, peeing, puking, being thrown backwards on a bus crashing into the blue nile gorge

It’s been about a year since I started this blog, so I thought I’d celebrate by posting a list of the best internet searches that led to this space. Post your favorite in the comments, if you please.

Most hilariously, amazingly random internet searches that led to LethiopiaH

(my comments in [brackets])

• Djibouti jokes (or jokes about Djibouti)
• I want to enter the peace corps but I hate bugs
• Killer airplane pictures
• Watching by the window bus
• Michael Scott walk shirt
• Forgetting names
• Ethiopian drama
• Blue tears in the rain [my personal favorite]
• the passenger is thrown backwards when the bus starts moving again
• blue nile gorge bus accident [yikes]
• importance of bajaj in Ethiopian transportation
• joy able late vedo dram in afan oromo [huh?]
• woman pukes on bus
• peace corps volunteer cravings
• michael scott tv
• pee on bus blog [fantastic]
• how much does it cost to buy a bajaj Ethiopia [Was this you, Doc?]
• hay wagon with roof
• shint bet -shin –shiny
• ethiopian drama +shint bet
• milwaukee bucks girls
• hand sanitizer misuse graph
• shinting in toilet
• after a broken nose which side is the good side [neither, trust me]
• he always invites me at his home
• chicken slaughtering
• Marla Fabishak

Stay tuned for another anniversary post in the next couple weeks. Almost one year in Ethiopia — holy hell.

Cheers.

ain’t no party like a gojam party

All I wanted to do was get home and watch Dexter.

I hadn’t been feeling well since returning to Bahir Dar from my trip to Hawassa. I had spent yesterday afternoon at the PC office trying to get some work done, showering, and generally feeling sorry for myself. I just wanted to get home, put my feet up, and watch the best show ever made about a loveable serial killer. (I’m on season six, no spoilers.)

Enguday and her dead hen.

I sort of knew something was going on when, as I walked down the dirt road toward my home that evening, I noticed large fires supporting steaming pots outside many of my neighboring compounds. When I opened the gate to mine and saw my landlady in the middle of the yard making her own fire, I was curious but not curious enough to ask. Dexter awaited.

Within minutes of getting settled in, but before I could turn on Dexter and turn off the outside world, the invitation came.

It was a sneak attack holiday.

Bean/maize concoction. It was pretty tasty.

It started out as a buna invitation, but I knew there was more where that came from. My landlady, Enguday, offered me a bean/maize concoction and invited me to sit and watch while she and a neighbor made doro wat. Doro wat – I knew this was going to be something pretty big.

The experience became one of the things I love most about my PC service. It was one of those days when all you think you want to do is shut out your surroundings and fold into your own little world, but then grudgingly accept an invitation that turns your whole day – and perspective — around.

Chicken slaughter.

I observed as Enguday expertly plucked, cut, and cleaned the chicken a neighbor boy had killed (only men can slaughter animals, per custom). Her neighbor “eat-night” (I have no idea how to spell her name, but that’s what it sounded like) chopped a million onions. Adorable little Mulunesh, Enguday’s niece and helper, ran around following whatever order she was given.

I was told by separate people that it was: 1) a celebration for the first day of summer, which made sense, since we had just gotten our first large dose of rain the day before, or 2) a day celebrating St. Mary’s birth. Maybe it was both. It didn’t really matter, I suppose, at least not to me.

Neighbors Dereje and…

As twilight approached, Enguday started to make buna, and two of my neighbors joined us, a married couple named Dereje and (insert forgotten name). Then Enguday’s older brother came to the party. He was typically Ethiopian in that he was impressed by my limited Amharic skills and tried to teach me much more than I could retain in one sitting. But he was also touched by the fact that I came to his country and was making an effort to learn the culture and would share it with Americans. “An American will take Amharic back to speak in America,” he said, tickled — and moved, I think — by the thought. It made my night.

Honey water.

The celebration continued, filled with beverages (buna, birdz (sp?), which is honey water, and tella, a local alcoholic beverage) and, of course, doro wat. “You like berbere?” Enguday was happy to hear that I do.

After some great conversation, the evening wrapped up. Or so I thought.

It was 9pm and I was about 10 minutes into an episode of Dexter, when a knock on my door came. The party was continuing elsewhere and my presence was required. I tried to decline, but the guilt overwhelmed, and I submitted, “but only for a little while.” Yeah, right.

The adorable Mulunesh eats some doro wat.

We ventured to a neighbor’s compound. More food and beverage followed, this time with spicy sheep stew and Dashen beer added to the mix. It was a larger gathering with several young people, and the alcohol flowed. Gojam knows how to party.

Asmaru’s sister making coffee.

Asmaru, the woman who had invited me, floated through the middle of the seated group, beer in hand. dancing. Her carefree happiness was infectious and soon several of the young folks were dancing too. The Injibarra song came on. The energy level increased exponentially. They played it again.

It was during this time that I had one of my moments. I welled up a bit (no judging – I had had a lot to drink by this point), thinking to myself, “I’m in Africa. I’m in Ethiopia. How did this happen? How lucky am I to be able to be a part of these people’s lives, to be able to share moments like these, to have this as a memory forever? It’s amazing.”

Asmaru and crew break it down Gojam style.

After Teddy Afro’s new album was given a spin, it hit 11pm and the party wrapped up. Tired, but heart and mind (and belly) full, I made my way home with Mulunesh and Enguday.

It was a night I wouldn’t trade for anything. Not even for a night alone with Dexter.

Cheers.

what is the work

The most common question I’m asked by folks back home is “what are you working on?” This is followed closely by “what do you do?”

While “you know, just saving the world” is the default tongue-in-cheek response, I’ll actually attempt to provide an answer. Be prepared, it’s rather boring.

First off, I’m assuming that most of you aren’t familiar with the three goals of Peace Corps. Let me enlighten you.

Goal one (in my own words, of course): sharing skills and knowledge with host country organizations to build capacity, etc., etc. and so on. Most people, when they ask me the question, are referring to this aspect of Peace Corps service. But there’s more.

Goals two and three have to do with sharing culture, both with Americans on the part of the host country and with host country nationals on the part of Americans, in order to foster mutual understanding and, hopefully, peaceful relations. That’s the save-the-world, hippie-dippy stuff a lot of people think of when they think of PC. The stuff some of you probably think is not worth spending your hard earned tax dollars on. (By the way, your cut of Peace Corps is, like, less than $4 per year. If you pay your taxes, that is.)

You’ll notice that this culture swap is two-thirds of what I’m supposed to be doing as a volunteer. And, yes, this blog counts as part of my work. At least I like to think so.

But back to goal one. Here are a few of the projects I have in the works:

• Help Bahir Dar University, specifically, my office (Information and Strategic Communication), start an English-language newspaper
• Teach beginner computer courses to female students in collaboration with Gender Club and ICT department
• Help plan and develop a new GeoSpatial Data center at BDU that will help find innovative solutions to development issues (Note: I’m a teeny tiny part of this one)
• In cooperation with other PCVs, create and implement a health-focused public service announcement competition at BDU
• Help plan and coordinate a Peace Corps/Ethiopia summer camp for girls in Bahir Dar
• English language improvement classes for secretarial staff at BDU

Here are some projects I plan to have in the works at some point:

• Project proposal writing workshops for Gender Club and Anti-HIV/AIDS Club at BDU
• Work with the US Embassy’s American Corner to create programming

Like many PCVs, I feel an overwhelming sense that I’m not really doing anything.

At this point, I have nothing tangible to show for my efforts, except a couple of proposals sent, some meeting notes and project plans written, and computer class handouts created.

But I’ve got a year and a half to get on the ball. Until then, I always have goals two and three. You know, just saving the world.

Cheers.

bed net bonnet, anyone?: a guest post by the good doctor

Hello All,

This is The Good Doctor here.  Many of you may not know me so let me introduce myself.  My name is Jean. I have a PhD in Molecular Biology and I’m finishing up my Masters of Public Health here in Ethiopia.  That’s right, I’m a good ol’ non-medical doctor (nMD) and I’m pretty much qualified to do absolutely nothing.  Hence my stint here in Ethiopia…

So I’m kinda into malaria.  It’s sort of my thing here.  I think my official title with Peace Corps is HIV/AIDS Community Counselor, but for some reason HIV is not my cup of tea. But malaria, come on, little parasites that live in your blood cells and are transmitted by blood sucking insects -  now we’re talking!  Nerd Alert, right here…I know.

Bad bed net installation.

My attempt to combat malaria in this country is assisting in bed net installations.  Ethiopia has been great in its efforts to distribute bed nets.  Bed nets are pretty much everywhere.  However, the result of mass distributions of nets hasn’t been as successful in decreasing malaria as one would hope.  And this is because, as I said earlier, bed nets are pretty much everywhere – everywhere except on beds.

Nets are used as head scarves, to secure loads of jerry cans to the top of busses, to protect seedling plants, to line hay wagons, to carry bundles of hay or corn, to dry crops in the sun, to protect the storage of 100 kg bags of crops from bugs, to line beds to prevent fleas, braided together as rope, and an all time favorite – as the roof of a pit latrine.

Creative use (read: misuse) of nets: pit latrine roof, hay wagon lining, made into rope, seedling protection.

So while nets here are everywhere, my plan is to try and get the nets where they need to be – on beds.  What we really need here is help installing the nets.  As I mentioned, most nets don’t even make it to the beds, and let me tell you, the ones that do make it are rough!  They are hung in the most haphazard manner, with huge gaps between the net and the edge of the bed, or so a person is unable to then use the bed, or some nets seem to have had a previous life with a much more industrious utility and are now making it to the bed full of holes.

Graph of malaria cases in a rural Ethiopian town Health Center

I’m starting to work on a Bed Net Distribution and Installation Campaign. My plan is have trainings/demonstrations to heads of households in the rural areas we visit on how to install the nets, then give them a net and check-sheet of how to do it and send them on their way.  A week or so later we pop back in to inspect how it went.  This plan is a bit stalled right now as we’re waiting for the seasonal shipment of nets to come in for distribution.

The Good Doctor hard at work.

Until new nets are available, I have been working in the rural areas with a local Health Extension Worker on installations of preexisting nets.  This means sewing up holes, attempting to reinstall crazily hung nets, and just trying to keep my chin up….oh and trying not to lose my life to some vicious guard dogs.

Malaria season is upon us now.  The beginning and end of rainy season are the worst times for malaria — perfect mosquito breeding conditions.  I’ve been working in the Health Center laboratory in my town diagnosing and tracking malaria cases and this is the month when cases start sky-rocketing.  Both Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum are found within my town here in northern Ethiopia.  Last year malaria was the number one problem in my town, accounting for approximately 50% of total morbidity observed within my town’s Health Center.

Generally speaking, malaria in Ethiopia is a problem due to lack of net ownership (or ownership of a net > 1yr old), lack of net use, and lack of treatment seeking behavior. Net use is less in rural areas than urban; in fact predictors of net use in pregnant women are education status, radio ownership, and urban living, therefore making rural areas the focus of our intervention.  According to the 2007 Malaria Indicator Survey (results from the 2012 survey will be out soon) only 41% of Ethiopian women recognized mosquito bites as the cause of malaria and only 38% cited nets as a mode of prevention.  This tells us that we have to get the word out there.  If Peace Corps Volunteers can accompany Health Extension Workers and have them discuss malaria transmission/prevention/and symptoms, perhaps large strides could be made.

So all in all, the nets that are out there need to be hung.  We need more nets to hang.  And we have to convince people to use their nets.  Just a small task for a large group of people who are taking 2 years of their lives to try and change the world…right?

hooked on meph

It’s international Blog about Malaria Month. Yes, that’s a real thing.

I suppose, then, that I’ll blog about malaria.

Most of you probably don’t think about malaria… ever. It’s on my mind. I don’t want to get malaria. That seems logical, right? Fever, soul-crushing headaches, chills, the possibility of death – that doesn’t sound appealing. As a PCV living in Bahir Dar, I understand that malaria is a threat. Right altitude, right climate, lots of water. I’ve got to take it seriously.

I’m not an expert so I’ll try to limit the science talk. Two types of malaria are found in Ethiopia: Bad and Really Bad. Bad isn’t fatal but sucks nonetheless. It’s nasty because it stays in your system and can recur. Really Bad, well, that stuff’ll kill ya.

My bed net installation.

As I’m sure you know, malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes. (You knew that, right?) Back in the states, the bloodsuckers never bit me. Not sure why. Maybe they don’t like my blood. Here, however, I’ve had a few bites, mostly on the legs or feet. I guess Ethiopian mosquitoes have more refined palates.

In the effort to avoid bites, Bad, and Really Bad there are a couple precautions I take: sleeping under a bed net and taking my prophylaxis, Mephaquin.

Mephaquin (mefloquine) is a weekly malaria pill. In addition to providing protection from malaria, meph’s known to have some psychological side effects like vivid dreams. Bonus. Another side effect: depression. Not really a bonus.

As for the dreams, I’ve had only one that I’d call vivid. It was so vivid, in fact, that to this day I’m not sure if it was actually a dream. Basically, it involved several wild animals (dogs, cats, hyenas?) mauling each other to death outside of my window at my host family’s home in Huruta. This dream included the most terrifying noises I’ve ever heard. In my life.

Good times.

That just about covers all I know about Malaria, but don’t worry – a guest post on all things malarial by The Good Doctor is on its way. She studied science, so you know it’ll be good.

Cheers.