Day 5: Saturday (11/16): A Taste of Addis

Saturday, 11/16! This morning I was greeted not only by beautiful sunshine, but the sounds of lots of children yelling. It wasn't until Mindi told me later that on Saturday mornings around 7 a.m. the kids on her street like to play a game of football (soccer) in front of her home. At the time, as I was lying in bed, I had no idea what was happening, but it makes complete sense now, especially because Ethiopians like their football! (See below.)

Today, we started the morning at the Golf Course. We went there to get internet, but we didn't have much success, as the Ethiopian network is often down or doesn't work. We did however get to see a glimpse of the Minister of Defense as well as the set up for a wedding. It looks like Ethiopians who have a bit of money can afford to have weddings at a golf course like many from the States. Most of the patrons of the golf course are government families, diplomats, foreigners, and business people.

Then we went to see the Lion’s Zoo. However, it took a very longtime. Which leads me to a quick interruption about traveling in Addis.

Public Transportation, roads, and traffic:

In Addis there are no street lights or stop signs (well, none that I've seen). There aren't lines for lanes. And pedestrians definitely do NOT have the right away. Honking is normal. Most streets have lots of potholes or are bumpy. Some are dirt roads. Roads are often closed for construction (especially for a train that is being built) or for important people. Yes, they will close roads if someone very important needs to drive through (ie: they just had a conference with many African presidents, in which roads were closed as they traveled in the city.) Driving is honestly an art. I thought LA was aggressive, but just come to Addis and you will find a new meaning to the word aggressive. People weave in and out of the non existent lanes, don't think twice about people crossing the street and will honk if they are stopped for more than 3 seconds. Buses and mini buses are packed full with people (with no safety measures in place like seatbelts). And of course the pollution and smog from the vehicles is off the chart. So just imagine a bumpy, stop and go, weaving, smoggy, long and loud drive. And people might have to catch multiple mini buses, and they have to really know the system. Because what you see are people hanging out the window yelling different locations, moving quickly, and it’s crowded. And I know it takes hours. Maybe in a few years when there is a train it will be better, but for now, transportation is probably one of the most expensive parts of living in Ethiopia. It is also time consuming, crowded, bumpy, and filled with pollution.  That's what you will experience in Addis, it doesn’t faze the people here, it’s just their reality. Plus there will always be tons of people walking in the streets. Always. Not sure where everyone is going but the streets are always filled with people. (It now makes sense to me why SLTSSA provides transportation money for families with deaf kids to come to Sign Language Classes, because it’s expensive and it’s greater incentive for them to come).

Anyways, it took a longtime to get to the zoo, but once we did we saw lions with beautiful black manes (Yes! Black manes!) Caged lions make me sad. They should be free, not in a tiny cage... But that's a whole other blog (for another day and time in my life.) Plus just last week one of the lions ate its feeder... I’ll just leave it at that… 

Black maned lion

Next we walked across the street to get lunch. Another interruption to tell you how much I love Ethiopian food/culture!

Fasting Food:

Legitimately, I should move to Ethiopia because the food is PERFECT for me. As many of you know I am #plantstrong which basically means I am vegan. I don't do dairy and I don't do meat. WELL, in Ethiopia, many people fast on Wednesday and Friday, so almost every place has "fasting food." Fasting food includes food without meat and without dairy. Yes, you read that right. Fasting foods to Ethiopians = vegan foods (well fish is acceptable in the fasting food)! So, I basically have no trouble finding food to eat. I even learned the word for fasting food in Amharic. :) Anyways, today at lunch we went to a pizza place (timeout for a small history lesson, Ethiopia is the ONLY African country not to be colonized, however, Italy did try to occupy them for a few years. Although, Ethiopia continued to fight them until they left, they did leave a small amount of influence like pizza and shoe shining which is literally on every street). So I assumed I wouldn't be able to find anything to eat since I don't do cheese, but on the menu there was a vegetarian pizza and in the description there was no cheese listed. We double checked with the waiter, and there was no cheese on the pizza. How perfect for me that there was a fasting pizza on the menu. I didn't even have to make any changes :) It was yummy. (We also had some red wine made in Addis... and wow, was that strong.)

Fasting Pizza! Yum!

The Arts:

After lunch, (and my fun bathroom experience swatting -- which wasn't a first for me, but it's been about 4 years since I had to do that) we went to the museum to see Lucy as well as some Ethiopian art and artifacts! There is a lot of buzz around Lucy as she really is the “oldest” human remains. I think Ethiopia is pretty proud of it. It was really interesting and a cool piece of history to experience. However, as much as they value art and history, we (Amy, especially) noticed that the museum is no Getty or LACMA. And I’m not really sure how long everything will last, because I don’t think it’s preserved very well. I in no way mean that they don’t care about their history or art, because they do, but it’s just in different standard than I was used to. The outside of the museum had grass and other random items rusted and laying around. Including a small little structure with a sandbox and some signage with no upkeep. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of visitors both foreigners and Ethiopians. When we visited the National Art Museum the featured artist was actually there with a group of students. The paintings were amazing, and I was surprised to see locals and students visiting a museum. This showed me that I’m obviously naïve and that I underestimated the culture. I guess I didn’t imagine with that the education system or maybe even the locals would care about art. But I was wrong. And I’m embarrassed. And by the amount of crafts and arts that is sold all over Addis, I can tell art is important. 

LUCY!

Then it was time to do a little shopping to find some Ethiopian Football (Soccer) shirts. Here's my last and final interruption for this post.

Football:

Ethiopians LOVE their soccer. Today, Amy, Nicole and I had to find Ethiopian soccer shirts to wear because probably half of the city was in game day shirts. Even Mindi, Dereje, and their two sons, Adam and Zion were in Ethiopian Soccer shirts today. Kids, adults, and teenagers all had their shirts, scarves, flags, and face paint on. People sold bracelets and other Ethiopian goods on the streets as well as face painting for the game. Teenagers walked in the streets screaming cheers or packed themselves into trucks to find the closest place to watch the game. What I think is so cool is that the game brings the whole city together. The pride and excitement they have for their team and country is beautiful. And this game in particular was a very important one. If they won, they would have qualified to participate in the World Cup. Although Ethiopia lost to Nigeria, I think it was interesting to get to experience a game day and to see green, yellow, and red overtake the streets in Addis. I loved seeing the country come together.

Day 4: Friday (11/15) Continued! SLTSSA

Friday Continued, 11/15: SLTSSA

Organization Business Plan: SLTSSA

The following information is what I've gathered thus far about SLTSSA, it's structure, services, vision and "business plan." The vision of SLTSSA is for deaf rights to be respected within the community. They identify and support deaf kids by training others to become aware of deaf individuals and their capacity to learn and be part of the community. They also help others in the community learn sign language to be able to communicate them while encouraging others to advocate for them as well.

As I mentioned before the organization is run by the Manager who organizes and overseas the team, activities, policies, administration, and who reports to the Board. There's two main wings under the Manager, Administration side with a finance officer, cashier, and support staff (janitors, drivers, etc). Then there is a projects side. The projects coordinator has two different types of project areas headed by the Education Officer and the Social Worker. The education officer works with the sign language teachers, tutorial programs (tutoring for deaf students), allocating and finding resources, books, materials for deaf students, and inclusive schooling. The Social Worker is in charge of all the community awareness programs. In the past there have been a handful of projects that SLTSSA has created, but most of them get phased out after 5 years.

The first program was "Talk with the Deaf." The program focused on reaching out to the community and those working in basic service areas, and teaching them sign language so they could communicate with the deaf and help them access basic services. This included health care providers, nurses, judges, lawyers, police officers, etc. However, the problem (and I'm sure a problem they continue to have) is that people weren't retaining the information. If those who learn aren't frequently practicing or practicing at all, they won't be able to remember the language when they need it. The second program was "Include the Deaf." They went into sub cities and got sign language training teachers to meet with parents, family members and social service individuals. The third program was "Social Support" program they focused on social work skills and deaf friendly services, it was here where they realized that it was important to intervene in a deaf person's life at an early age specifically below the age of 6. This way they could work with their families from a young age.

The reality of the matter is that most people believe that being deaf (or any disability) is a curse from God, a punishment for their sins. Most parents were embarrassed and would hide their deaf child. They also believe that deaf children are dumb that they can't learn. The manager explained to me that they have the wrong perspective/attitude and they needed to work on awareness especially with families. So their next program, "Early Childhood Intervention" focuses on identifying deaf children under the age of 6. They want to provide training for their families and help the child get education. They help educate and bring awareness about what causes deafness, so that more families will be willing to reveal their deaf child. They also provide classes for families as well as family counseling.

In order to do this they not only use mass media, but they make home visits, school visits, participate in community meetings, speak at health centers, and even have experience programs (where model parents with deaf children talk about their experience and create a supportive community for families). I thought the health center visits were a really interesting way to raise awareness. They call them Morning Sessions, because what they do is go to specific health centers every morning and speak for 20-30 minutes to the group of patients at the health center that are waiting to be treated. They raise awareness about the causes and the preventative measures of deafness. Although these individuals aren't expecting to learn about deaf people, SLTSSA is actually able to identify lots of deaf children this way because their families start to understand that there are services for their child and they aren't just "dumb." This is also a good time to inform these patients of ways they can prevent deafness.

They even have other side activities like sports and arts competitions for students to understand the "can do" attitude and to empower them. I also got to meet Wondimagagn kugna, one of the social workers who leads some of the Morning Sessions. He told me that every week, they plan different meetings and activities in the community that they want to engage in and then they have to report how they did. What were the results? Did they meet their goals? If not, why not? They are always planning ahead. They have been very effective in the past in terms of identifying individuals. They market themselves by trying to be out in the community as much as possible. They make calls and look for opportunities to speak at meetings. They build relationships with individuals and officers that are directly linked to the community. They also work to help schools by training their teachers with sign language.

Wondimagagn! (Although this picture was not taken on my first day, I still wanted to put a face to a name! Plus, as you will find out I spend the majority of my time with him)

Organizational Funding: SLTSSA

The organization is a local organization, however it is solely funded by the Danish organization, Essy International (again not sure on the spelling). The Denmark Church of Christ Mission first came to Ethiopia with a focus on adoption, but saw another need. SLTSSA still has a good relationship with the organization especially since they fund it 100%. However, the manager did tell me that they were looking for others donors, just to be safer. This is probably not the most sustainable model. And I think there are actually a lot of opportunities for SLTSSA to become more independent or just less reliant on the Danish funding by taking a more social entrepreneurship approach especially since they offer so many different programs. They might be able to actually charge for some of the trainings and programs. I think it could be wise to branch out into a larger donor pool as well (although I'm not sure if that would make Essy International uncomfortable and they could take away their funds!) I hope to delve deeper into funds including what types of new money sources are they looking for and are they actually actively looking?! I hope to follow up with more information soon!

Day 4: Friday (11/15)

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Friday, 11/15: Today was my first visit to SLTSSA (Sign Language Training and Social Service Association) and the Makanisa School for the Deaf. And wow I learned a lot. We started off by going to Makanisa's Chapel service. I couldn't understand anything as the message was in Amharic, but I did pick up on a few signs. The Makanisa School is now an inclusive school, which means that it has both deaf and hearing students. I learned that it is very important for deaf students to learn how to integrate and communicate with hearing students and people, and it is also very good that hearing students learn how to sign so they can communicate with the deaf population.

School and SLTSSA Entrance (from the inside of the compound.

However, most of my day today was spent with SLTSSA. I meet Demere, one of the founders of SLTSSA who is the Vice President of the Board. But, I spent most of my time interviewing and learning from the Manager of SLTSSA. In the States the title Manager might not sound very exciting, but in Ethiopia the Managers are the ones that are appointed to run the organization. His name is Fikremarcus Admasu. I learned so much from him today. Not only about SLTSSA, but about Ethiopia's government structure in relations to charities. I will try to summarize what I learned because I think it's very interesting.

Fikremarcus, Manager of SLTSSA

The government has a Charities and Societies Agency, and within the agency, there are two different types of organization you can be: either an Ethiopian Charity or an Ethiopian Residential Charity. Ethiopian Charities focus on advocacy, rights, laws, and the political system. These organizations must be funded internally within the country with no more than 10% coming from outside of Ethiopia. (I can imagine this would be very difficult.) SLTSSA falls under the other type of organization, the Ethiopian Residential Charity. These types of charities focus on development, infrastructure, educational resources, logistics, and health support. They are about providing resources such as teachers for schools, supplies, and support. They are not focused on advocacy. And these organizations can be funded by organizations and countries outside of the country (and there's no limit). I think this is one reason why SLTSSA is an Ethiopian Residential Charity, since they are funding 100% by an foundation in Denmark (Essy International, which I could be completely spelling incorrectly.. please don't quote me on that). Even though SLTSSA does a lot of advocacy and awareness they do it in a way that isn't directly advocating themselves, since they are technically not allowed to. They must stay within the bylaws set for an Ethiopian Residential Charity (just as Ethiopian Charities have their own set of bylaws, rules, and regulations.)

Another thing I learned that I thought was really interesting was how charities or organizations are formed here. When people have similar interests about an issue they form interest groups. So lets say I was really interested in children's education, by word of mouth, I would find other people with the same interest. There are many different interest groups that exist. Then these interest groups register legally to become a General Assembly. The people most interested and passionate about the issue are the founders. They discuss and create a vision for what they want to see changed within the issue the care about. And in order to put the vision that they have into action they elect a board. These 5-7 people discuss a way to make the vision come to action by creating an organization that the board oversees. They are the ones that appoint (through interviews and applications) a Manager to oversee the activities of the organization. This is unlike the States where someone has a vision for change and then decides to create a non-profit organization or social enterprise. They usually find a board of directors after they’ve had the vision for the organization. In Ethiopia for charities, organizations are formed because of interest groups and Boards. This method makes a lot of sense to me, because it gathers together like minded people to discuss how they can accomplish their shared vision (as a community). In the United States, because of our process and method, we have a lot of similar organizations doing similar things.  

However, I can see some areas where this might be challenging. The board choses the manager, but since the vision comes from the board, but the manager really overseas and coordinate the organization's activities, the board must choose the manager very wisely and clearly communicate their vision. The board, similar to the states, is comprised of unpaid volunteers. The board also helps the manager take on some of the responsibilities and task, however, sometimes this is difficult as the board members are very busy and have their own jobs. Sometimes they aren't able to help as much as wanted (which also happens in the states). But what I gathered is that the Board does more than just oversea and give guidance, they are suppose to be more involved. I found this whole process to be very interesting and in my mind even further confirm the importance of community within the Ethiopian culture, where people with similar interests come together to figure out ways to make a difference in the community.

(Much more was learned today... See my next post to learn about SLTSSA)

Day 3: Orientation and Intro to Addis

Thursday, 11/14. After arriving to Addis in the middle of the night, my sleep schedule was really thrown off. I only could sleep a few hours and woke up around 6:30 am and by 7:30 am I decided to just get up for the day. I spent the morning chatting with Mindi about Ethiopia. When Amy arrived to the house we had a yummy breakfast of fresh fruit, pancakes, and freshly squeezed pineapple and papaya juice! (Mindi has this great chef!) We spent the day eating talking, eating, walking around the neighborhood, and some more eating.

 I learned SO MUCH about Ethiopia just from the conversations we had with Mindi and Dereje. Ethiopia is still considered one of the poorest countries (by the UN) however, it's in such an exciting time of rebirth. Money and construction are being pumped into Addis, and there are a lot of changes trying to happen. The education system is in the process of getting updated (mandating that all kids go to school), although there are still things to work out (like how to enforce this), in the last five years the number of Universities has gone from 7 to 35. Also, some slum areas are getting renovated for sewage and electricity (although they will have to move all the people living there out as well as the Merkato, which is the biggest open air market on the continent, so it will be pretty sad to see it go as it's rich in history for Addis). I also learned that at 7th or 8th grade, students began to learn English AND all of their classes are taught in English. And no, they don't learn English in school before that. They just have to start right away with English. Doesn't that sound impossible?! Also, I found out that if you get top grades in your class you might be one of the lucky few to get into public University and it's free (a place to live and meals!), of course you still have to pay for some transportation and books, but isn't that amazing...! But again you have to be in the top and it's very competitive. Medical school and other higher degrees are also free, but again so competitive that students will try to steal books from each other. But wow... can you imagine, free University?! However, many don't make it that far.

 But what stood out to me the most today was on our walk. I guess this could be considered one of the "cultureshock" stages of adjusting to a new place. We decided to take a walk and there were lots of people out on the streets. School had just gotten out and many people were trying to catch the autobus. And well there was just a lot of staring. Either I just forgot what it's like to be a foreigner or there were more stares than last time I was in Africa, but we definitely stood out. In my mind I just wanted to smile at people and have them smile back, but mostly we got stares (which I completely understand). So really I tried to avoid eye contact because I didn't want them to think I was staring at them... Sad. I know. One guy (high on chat) started yelling at me because I was taking a picture.. I felt awkward. I don't want to make anyone mad! And I really don't think people were staring in a mean way, but it still feels awkward. But we also came across a lot of friendly people. I tried to say thank you to everyone in Amharic to get a smile out of them. It seemed to work. Either way, it will be interesting to see how I feel tomorrow when I get to meet people at my organization and start building a relationship instead of just walking pass people on the street. I'm looking forward to learning more about the organization, the leaders, and the kids. I'll be attending the morning chapel. I hope that I'm not too much of a burden on them, and I hope I can spend tomorrow just trying to get to know them. Ethiopia is more of a warm culture meaning that relationships are very important to them. I look forward to seeing how I feel after this initial meeting, I'll probably be a lot less anxious! Okay well it's 8 p.m. and I've been up way to long. Good night Friends!

A view from our walk

Day 2: Travel

**Please note that the date and time of when I post blogs is not the same as when I actually write them. Posting is definitely very much delayed.

Hi Friends! I've arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and it's about 3 a.m. I'm about to go to bed but I thought I should give you some of the highlights from traveling. Nicole and I traveled on Turkish Airlines flying 13 hours (I was an hour off in my last post) to Istanbul and then had to run to catch a 5 hour flight to Addis. Let me just say Turkish Airlines is pretty nice. I got to watch 3 movies including Star Trek and Great Gatsby. Also as soon as we were up in the air we were served Turkish Delights, and the nuts weren't your standard peanuts, they were hazelnuts. Anyways, to make a long story short, the flight and traveling actually went really well. Praise Him!

The only two things that could have been "complainable" issues were a screaming baby and the lady sitting next to us sobbing the whole time and drinking her sorrows in wine... But honestly it was good. Enough about the details of traveling and more about my thoughts:

1. Travel Buddy: Nicole is a fun travel buddy and I think in general its nice to travel with someone. 
2. People: There are a lot of nice people who want to talk to you. We definitely met at least 3 different people who started conversation with us. One lady in particular sat with us on our flight to Addis. She was German, but works for their military doing administration and finance. She's lived in a ton of different cities for her job. What I thought was so interesting about our conversation (and which ties into my previous blog post) was her rant about Spaniards and how they only know Spanish and don't try to learn any other languages. Obviously this is just one person's opinion, but it confirms what I said earlier about trying to learn other people's languages and how far that can go. Also, she must have been polite, because she knew we were Americans, and let's be honest most US citizens that are born here only know English. 
3. Smell: On arrival, the smell (not a bad one, but just a distinct one) brought me back to Africa when I first came. I started to get flooded with memories and emotions from just the smell. I know it's not the same country, but still. Wow. It made me realize how powerful our senses are in connection to us.
4. Arrival: I think Nicole and I were a little disoriented when we landed but that's normal. We weren't actually sure where Dereje or Mindi (the couple we are staying with) was going to pick us up, and we found out that they don't let people wait in the airport. So at 1:45 am we ventured outside to see if we could find them. Dereje found us! And I'm not going lie it made me a little nervous to be walking (even with Dereje there) past all these Ethiopians waiting to give people taxi rides. Just staring at us. It makes me realize that we really are afraid of the unknown, and that's not completely a bad thing as it helps us stay safe, but we can't let it hold us back from learning, meeting, and experience new people and cultures. Just something I want to keep in mind as I go through this experience. 
5. Addis: As we drove through the city to get to the place we are staying, it was quiet. Not many cars or people (a few dogs). And although Addis is a city there are a lot of buildings that look old, run down, and honestly... poor. But I'll be very interested to see what it's like in the morning.
6. Mindi's Place: It's beautiful. I can't wait to show pictures. All the rooms are painted different colors, and wow, seems very nice compared to the places we were passing. Okay, well I'm off to get some sleep and try to get on a normal pattern. I can't believe I'm here. I'm a bit nervous and anxious, but also very excited. I continue to trust God and find peace knowing that He is with me. I can't wait to see what He reveals!

Nicole, my travel buddy!

Mindi and Dereje's beautiful house

Day 1: Travel

Hi Friends! Wow, I can't believe today is the day I leave for Ethiopia! It's a 12 hour flight to Istanbul and then another 5 hour flight to Addis. The good news is that my friend Nicole will be flying with me to keep me company.

The question I've gotten a lot the last few days is.. "Are you ready?" The easy answer is: "Almost!" I'm just about finished packing with only a few more things to do, but in reality I'm still praying that God will prepare my heart for what I know will be a huge adventure and opportunity to open my eyes to a new culture, people, and plan for my life. There's so much more I wish I had done before I left, I just started to learn some basic words in Amharic the language of Ethiopia, but it is honestly very hard. But I know that just trying to learn and say greetings in Amharic will go a long way with the people I meet, showing them that I do care about their language and culture. (Well that's what I think and what I've noticed in the past, I'll get back to you on that one, once I try it out.) I really wish I researched more about the city and country, the good news is that I'm bringing a travel book on Ethiopia on the plane so I should have plenty of time to catch up.

Well, I don't know when I'll blog next, but I do know I will be in Ethiopia when I do! Thanks everyone for the prayers, support and encouragement. As I start on this journey I mediate on this verse: Psalm 51:10-12 "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me." I know it's important to get my heart in the right place, AND to take time to pray for the people of Ethiopia, the ones I will encounter and the ones that I won't be fortunate enough to meet.

LOVE,
Brittany