I haven’t talked too much about it yet. Let’s clarify. I am intern in the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). UNIFEM has sub-regional offices, country offices and project offices. The office where I work in falls under a specific ‘’UN project’’. This is the Liaison Office with the African Union and the UNECA (Economic Commission for Africa). Those latter have the biggest UN compound, just next door to our old and grey building. We are the outsider of the UN. Soite. Anyways, basically the overall goal of the establishment of the UNIFEM Liaison Office is to strengthen UNIFEM institutional capacity to strategically and systematically engage in policy dialogue, partnership development, and to provide technical assistance to the African Union and UNECA. To be simple. Haha. ’’ One of UNIFEM Liaison Office’s missions is to promote and support the African Union leadership towards state accountability for women’s human rights in Africa. Its role is as much to influence policy development as to raise UNIFEM’s visibility at the AU level, working closely with other parts of the UN system, as well as regional women’s rights networks. UNIFEM supports the participation of gender equality advocates and influences the AU department to promote the implementation of its gender equality commitments.’’ SO this is a lot of policy advises and lots of documents to get familiarized with.
The problem they have is that they are only two programming staff. Actually, one is Programme officer (Tikikel, with who i share the office, who is young, Ethiopian and very nice) And the other one, Florence (the boss from Uganda) is the representative to the AU and ECA. Then comes Firdawok, the logistic and administration officer, Gadlu (I finally got his name btw) the nicest driver and me, the intern without computer (yet) nor internet (probably this I will never get, today’s news. So pissed off!). Being a project office, we fall under two different administrations: 1st the UNIFEM headquarters in N-Y, second we are also dependent on the UNDP office for strange reasons. So for example, to get a computer for me, we need to get the authorization from N-Y then to go beg UNDP to get the Purchase O and then go to the supplier. Mouaha, so everything takes unbelievably long and most of their work in occupied by administration. This is already frustrating!
Anyways, my position. Being a Liaison Office, they should have quite a lot of communication with their partners. Right? They actually don’t really. The office exists since a year and a half and hasn’t done so much programmes and projects so far. They helped the AU to create the ender Policy. They organised workshop and did lots of other thing i still have to figure out. But They haven’t have the time or resources to create a real communication strategy to link all the partners on regular and formal basis. So it is basically what I am here to do. I believe there is a lot to do and I hope i can manage to get the information and the contacts I need to put something in place.
The first concrete project is the newsletter. ‘’The newsletter will help the different structures involved to communicate more closely on a regular basis, to keep them updated on the gender activities of the AU and other organs. It will also motivate those actors to work more closely together, as it will help them to understand each other’s roles and to identify the potential area of collaboration. The overall goal is to ensure a regular flow of information on gender equality and women empowerment within the AU, and offer a platform for dialogue between stakeholders.’’ I handed in the first draft of the concept note and got positive feedback. We’ll meet there Gender Directorate of the African Union next week to present the concept note, to work on it together and to finalize it as well.
If there is a real will to start a formal communication process from the different sides of the partnership and if people are responsive, there will be lots of work. We aim at stimulate involvement from the commissioners themselves (of the AU Commission) or at least from the directors of the department. Hopefully some will be interested and not only talking. The gender policy is a first important step, but now remain to see if they are ready to take action…
mercredi 29 juillet 2009
Another blablabla...
Time is just flying by... I end up being quite busy. I work from 8.30 till 5.30 or 6. Last week, every day after work, I have been wandering around, taking a big street and following it until my legs could not continue. Then back home which sometimes can be complicated as i take public transport. Mainly, this is small buses called taxis, white and blue, which stop in ununderstandable places and go to area with unintelligible names, shouted very fast and very strangely ‘’Bassabassa mezkomezko (meaning Mexico!), bolbolbolbolbol (meaning Boley area)’’. It is tricky to manage to get the right one, especially when you don’t really know the name of the area where you live and want to go! I get used to it fast though.
This is another problem of Addis. They don’t really use streets name. The system has been introduced only less than ten years ago (even less the five i think). So Ethiopian people don’t refer to this system to find their way...I haven’t figured out which system they use... They have area names that are usually too long to be remembered (some manage, but not me yet). Moreover, if you want to use the good old system (that we Westerners actually find useful), this is not as easy. The ones who got the contract to make the signs of the street of Addis are....guess who.... the Chinese! Bad luck? A bit, as the Chinese people and the English language make twenty. So almost all the signs have spelling mistakes which doesn’t motivate locals to use them (nor us indeed).
Anyways...it makes busy weeks and I don’t see the time going on. When I am walking around or just hanging around with Ethiopians, i always think about the things I want to write to you. Some funny some not. The things I see in the street or what people tell you. But when I am in front of my computer, it is a bit hard to remember them all and gather them in a readable text! (Sorry, i am not really organized, this blog is becoming a mess!).
For example I visited houses for my boss who wants to move, which allowed me to get inside many compounds of middle high class people. Very interesting. I saw a dead dog in a pile of trash. I found the coolest bookshop in the street, with only books from the 30’s till the 60’s.. great fun! We drink lots of excellent Macchiato and we eat lots of different kind of food from Chinese to Lebanese, from Ethiopian to Italian. There are slums and business buildings, small houses and mud houses. It is rainy but still quite warm. We play badminton, volleyball in the courtyard of the house which is really cool. What else...? the smiles of Ethiopian, how helpful and nice they are. The beggars in the street, all the blind people (water problems), the awful smells when you cross a bridge on top of the garbage river (not as bad as in Kathmandu though!) ...The heavy pollution that squashes down the city .Just billions of small things that are so hard to describe and hard to remember. Observations, thoughts, feelings...
Another example. Giving your telephone number. Yeah, lots of nice Ethiopian who you meet in the street for small talks want to be able to meet you again, or keep contact. As naive as I am, I undoubtedly will leave my phone number. What harm could it do? Um... I start o understand that I should not do that too much! While I was going to look for bamboo furnitures for my room (cheap and best), I have been helped by this adorable Taricu, who barely speaks English but has been really helpful. I gave him my number. Next day: seven missed calls! Ok, he calls once again, I hang up. ”Alice? When you go Bambis?(the supermarket where i met him)”. ” Hum i don’t know ”. ” What time? Tell me”. ” Hum i don’t know, later...” And he calls every day now to ask me when i am at Bambis.... heartbreaking but i can’t go to Bambis all the time and anyways our conversation are sooo limited as his English is really basic (or less). What to do? Haha and thy are also giving my number to their friends,,, haaa!!!
This is another problem of Addis. They don’t really use streets name. The system has been introduced only less than ten years ago (even less the five i think). So Ethiopian people don’t refer to this system to find their way...I haven’t figured out which system they use... They have area names that are usually too long to be remembered (some manage, but not me yet). Moreover, if you want to use the good old system (that we Westerners actually find useful), this is not as easy. The ones who got the contract to make the signs of the street of Addis are....guess who.... the Chinese! Bad luck? A bit, as the Chinese people and the English language make twenty. So almost all the signs have spelling mistakes which doesn’t motivate locals to use them (nor us indeed).
Anyways...it makes busy weeks and I don’t see the time going on. When I am walking around or just hanging around with Ethiopians, i always think about the things I want to write to you. Some funny some not. The things I see in the street or what people tell you. But when I am in front of my computer, it is a bit hard to remember them all and gather them in a readable text! (Sorry, i am not really organized, this blog is becoming a mess!).
For example I visited houses for my boss who wants to move, which allowed me to get inside many compounds of middle high class people. Very interesting. I saw a dead dog in a pile of trash. I found the coolest bookshop in the street, with only books from the 30’s till the 60’s.. great fun! We drink lots of excellent Macchiato and we eat lots of different kind of food from Chinese to Lebanese, from Ethiopian to Italian. There are slums and business buildings, small houses and mud houses. It is rainy but still quite warm. We play badminton, volleyball in the courtyard of the house which is really cool. What else...? the smiles of Ethiopian, how helpful and nice they are. The beggars in the street, all the blind people (water problems), the awful smells when you cross a bridge on top of the garbage river (not as bad as in Kathmandu though!) ...The heavy pollution that squashes down the city .Just billions of small things that are so hard to describe and hard to remember. Observations, thoughts, feelings...
Another example. Giving your telephone number. Yeah, lots of nice Ethiopian who you meet in the street for small talks want to be able to meet you again, or keep contact. As naive as I am, I undoubtedly will leave my phone number. What harm could it do? Um... I start o understand that I should not do that too much! While I was going to look for bamboo furnitures for my room (cheap and best), I have been helped by this adorable Taricu, who barely speaks English but has been really helpful. I gave him my number. Next day: seven missed calls! Ok, he calls once again, I hang up. ”Alice? When you go Bambis?(the supermarket where i met him)”. ” Hum i don’t know ”. ” What time? Tell me”. ” Hum i don’t know, later...” And he calls every day now to ask me when i am at Bambis.... heartbreaking but i can’t go to Bambis all the time and anyways our conversation are sooo limited as his English is really basic (or less). What to do? Haha and thy are also giving my number to their friends,,, haaa!!!
lundi 27 juillet 2009
Week end 2
Saturday morning, week 2
The plan today was to rent an old Mercedes 4 wheels drive to go 300 km out of the city to go see some crazy waterfalls. But no. We were supposed to get the car at 6am. But no car. So we have been wondering for a while what to do…We ended up deciding to stay in Addis, go get a pedicure, go to the swimming pool (with hot springs water) and probably the cinema…but who knows what we are going to end up doing? It is another rainy day here so we’ll see.
Sunday evening
As you noticed, I started to write Saturday but I didn’t really finish. Electricity cut. Actually, we are part of the privileged one here. We have a generator. So even when no electricity in the area, we have some on the evening, but we don’t start it during the day. Anyway, I didn’t have battery to continue. The electricity of the city is divided by “area”. Not every one can use it at the same time, especially during the rainy season. So it is one day on, one day off. One day on, one day off.
We had a really nice week end in Addis finally. We went to have breakfast in a very small place very charming, where the food was excellent. Actually, it is funny because in Addis, qouazi all the shops and restaurant, even the smaller are totally over staffed. For example, the one we went in yesterday is only a very very small room, with two tables and I think there were four or five to work! It is always like this. Interesting.
Then, we decided to go to the pedicure. Then we became totally absorbed by the “menu” of the services. Full massage, aroma massage, facial, stone massage, Moroccan bath… and all this for really amazing prices. So we got done our pedicures (first time in my life! It is so really so nice, I just loved it. I have baby feet!); then we wanted to be “waxed”. But no electricity in this area, nor in the two or three other areas we called. The people of the salon helped us find another place where we could do it! So amazingly nice. Not Parisian style like “no we are the only one in town to do that, come back tomorrow”. Adorable. So we found a place then met James at the swimming pool as we didn’t want to join us in our pedicurish-waxish-girlish activities.)
The swimming pool was immense. It is inside of a fancy hotel, the Ghion Hotel. We had good time. It was amazingly cold, we had to change ourselves in the “cottages”, sort of round “balconies without house” (Tim you see…) with absolutely no where to hide to get changed. There was also a bunch of people hanging around observing the ones swimming. It was funny to have observers. Then, after freezing our asses long enough, and shared one towel for three, we were totally starving and headed to the Chinese restaurant next door. Unfortunately, it was closed.
We finally reached the place just before I fainted from hunger. We order almost everything, ate half and took away the rests in nice doggie bags. Very good food but damm why Chinese cut the chicken with all the bones? Seriously it is weird to chew them!) . Totally food drunk. We walked a bit to reach the cinema which allowed us to see a very funny scene. Actually I think principal actor didn’t have so much fun. Few fareingi (étrangers) were walking on the road in front of us, probably heading to a party to have their Saturday night fever. For some unexplainable reasons, one of the guy went to walk on the sidewalk. He kind of jumped on it… actually not on but in. it was not hard. It was just a very deep-muddy-disgustant-stinky area of thick water/mud. Hum nice! So surprised, he bounced on his feet in the mud before realizing he only had to go back on the road, wet shoes and awful feeling. It was funny for us but poor guy, I think he directly went back home and had his saturday night fever in hos shower with a soap! It least it is what I would have done!
We went to the cinema the, saw the shittiest movie of all(most) all time! “buy borrow steal” don’t go to see it, it was too bad. Not even acceptable for an excessive-Chinese-food digestion.
Today, Jyesha (it is actually spelled this way!) and I went back to the salon (already addicted!) and we had a Moroccan bath. Steam bath + black soap+ amazing body scrubing+ hair washing+mud+massage= 2 hours of happiness. Then just had a slow motion sunday.played badminton, volley ball and football in the courtyard. Had a great time.
That was my week end. Quiet and nice!
Ho and Friday evening after visiting houses with my boss ( good experience to see how people live…and how UN people live!) I met James in this look-like german bar who has its one beer, we had some very cheap giraffe with Ethiopian friends from James’s work. We met up with Jyesha in a salsa bar, nice and funny.
Have to tell you about my work but now it is getting late and I am tired from all the sport!
So good night
The plan today was to rent an old Mercedes 4 wheels drive to go 300 km out of the city to go see some crazy waterfalls. But no. We were supposed to get the car at 6am. But no car. So we have been wondering for a while what to do…We ended up deciding to stay in Addis, go get a pedicure, go to the swimming pool (with hot springs water) and probably the cinema…but who knows what we are going to end up doing? It is another rainy day here so we’ll see.
Sunday evening
As you noticed, I started to write Saturday but I didn’t really finish. Electricity cut. Actually, we are part of the privileged one here. We have a generator. So even when no electricity in the area, we have some on the evening, but we don’t start it during the day. Anyway, I didn’t have battery to continue. The electricity of the city is divided by “area”. Not every one can use it at the same time, especially during the rainy season. So it is one day on, one day off. One day on, one day off.
We had a really nice week end in Addis finally. We went to have breakfast in a very small place very charming, where the food was excellent. Actually, it is funny because in Addis, qouazi all the shops and restaurant, even the smaller are totally over staffed. For example, the one we went in yesterday is only a very very small room, with two tables and I think there were four or five to work! It is always like this. Interesting.
Then, we decided to go to the pedicure. Then we became totally absorbed by the “menu” of the services. Full massage, aroma massage, facial, stone massage, Moroccan bath… and all this for really amazing prices. So we got done our pedicures (first time in my life! It is so really so nice, I just loved it. I have baby feet!); then we wanted to be “waxed”. But no electricity in this area, nor in the two or three other areas we called. The people of the salon helped us find another place where we could do it! So amazingly nice. Not Parisian style like “no we are the only one in town to do that, come back tomorrow”. Adorable. So we found a place then met James at the swimming pool as we didn’t want to join us in our pedicurish-waxish-girlish activities.)
The swimming pool was immense. It is inside of a fancy hotel, the Ghion Hotel. We had good time. It was amazingly cold, we had to change ourselves in the “cottages”, sort of round “balconies without house” (Tim you see…) with absolutely no where to hide to get changed. There was also a bunch of people hanging around observing the ones swimming. It was funny to have observers. Then, after freezing our asses long enough, and shared one towel for three, we were totally starving and headed to the Chinese restaurant next door. Unfortunately, it was closed.
We finally reached the place just before I fainted from hunger. We order almost everything, ate half and took away the rests in nice doggie bags. Very good food but damm why Chinese cut the chicken with all the bones? Seriously it is weird to chew them!) . Totally food drunk. We walked a bit to reach the cinema which allowed us to see a very funny scene. Actually I think principal actor didn’t have so much fun. Few fareingi (étrangers) were walking on the road in front of us, probably heading to a party to have their Saturday night fever. For some unexplainable reasons, one of the guy went to walk on the sidewalk. He kind of jumped on it… actually not on but in. it was not hard. It was just a very deep-muddy-disgustant-stinky area of thick water/mud. Hum nice! So surprised, he bounced on his feet in the mud before realizing he only had to go back on the road, wet shoes and awful feeling. It was funny for us but poor guy, I think he directly went back home and had his saturday night fever in hos shower with a soap! It least it is what I would have done!
We went to the cinema the, saw the shittiest movie of all(most) all time! “buy borrow steal” don’t go to see it, it was too bad. Not even acceptable for an excessive-Chinese-food digestion.
Today, Jyesha (it is actually spelled this way!) and I went back to the salon (already addicted!) and we had a Moroccan bath. Steam bath + black soap+ amazing body scrubing+ hair washing+mud+massage= 2 hours of happiness. Then just had a slow motion sunday.played badminton, volley ball and football in the courtyard. Had a great time.
That was my week end. Quiet and nice!
Ho and Friday evening after visiting houses with my boss ( good experience to see how people live…and how UN people live!) I met James in this look-like german bar who has its one beer, we had some very cheap giraffe with Ethiopian friends from James’s work. We met up with Jyesha in a salsa bar, nice and funny.
Have to tell you about my work but now it is getting late and I am tired from all the sport!
So good night
lundi 20 juillet 2009
Day 7
Here it is, my first week! Once again, i am writing from my room and will post it from the office tmw.
So, a wrap up… I moved in on Wednesday, Thursday was the last day of the workshop. We finished late to close the report. Then I went with my roommates (James & Jaïsha) to a restaurant where we ate sizzlers (like in India), before going to the newt door Jazz bar Alizée. There was a band of Ethiopian, playing a mix between traditionnal-jazzy-reggy-smothie music. It was very nice. It ended up with a guy coming up the stage and dancing like crazy. He was dancing traditional Ethiopian dance, with a very special shoulder’s movement very impressive as it goes faster and faster. It was great.
Friday was a normal reading day at work. Just got a good news : every Friday at the UN in Ethiopia, we finish work at 2pm. Great news. I am already realizing a many week ends outside of the country i need to actually see a little bit of Ethiopia. Dam big country !
Saturday was a quiet day with my roommates. We had breakfast at home then we went to the National Museum and stopped on the way to visit the Hilton and check out the prices of the famous swimming pool. Arrived at the museum with Jaïsha, we decided we were hungry and stopped first at the museum’s restaurant. Then we met some of Jaïsha’s friends who told us we should go to the Ethnological museum on the University campus. We changed plans and did that.
While visiting the museum, the rain started to pour outside and never stopped until the morning. We had a quiet evening with a movie in the cozy living room. We also encountered couple of cockroaches in the fridge. James was just talking about the inhabitant of the fridge corner in the kitchen when they showed up. Demonstration.
On Sunday morning we decided to go horseback riding. Mouhaha that was fun. We went with a friend who has a car. We drove for about an hour outside of Addis, which allowed me to realize how spread the city was. The buildings of the centre are slowly replaced by small mud house looking like countryside villages. More and more goats are on the roads and more and more kids look dirty and not cared of. The countryside was beautiful, even though it was very foggy. We finally arrived after a (too) long car trip. Actually, we had been told there was a new road to reach the place and that it was a big straight clean road. But the road we took was just muddy, bumpy and curvy. Weird.
Then the whole horse riding thing under the rain was of course hilarious. There was two Danish (very posh and well equipped women, with white pants, leather boots and proper gloves). There was also two English medicine students in Ethiopia for holidays. And there was us, with Jaïsha riding quiet good, James and the Ethiopian friend (too hard name, still not used) riding for the first time, and the three of us scared like hell. Finally we did a 2 hours promenade in the area. We had lots of fun, after having found a bit of courage and confidence, after having managed to trot a bit and left the too good running in front. James had a horse that was so lazy he looked like being on a stubborn donkey, bouncing on all sides. I was quiet proud of myself and was impressed of how capable I was. I stopped being stressed and started having fun. We all did very well, even though no special inner talent has been discovered.
We came back to the city. We realized how bad the air of Addis is. So much pollution, dust and smoke. It was really nice to be out in the fresh air. I think it will become a “must” of every weekend: get out of the city at least once, to go breath air. On the way home, we ate in an Italian restaurant. Too much food for me, I got so tired (also maybe a bit the horse riding and the 7’ o’clock wake up) that I did a nap and here I am, writing to you. Now, I ll go in th eliving room to take care of the fire we just made. Hooo yes, we have a cheminee in our home !
Tomorrow work with every one back in the office.
So to sum up: my first week was excellent. The work seems interesting. I meet lots of people, even outside of work, who are interesting. I get already plenty of ideas for a potential thesis. I really like my roommates who are very nice and very easy going. I like my room and the house. I love the food and the smiles of Ethiopian. I know there is so much to see and do in Ethiopia that I will fill my days without any problems. Anyways, good conclusions, every thing is great around here! Hope it is the same back home(s).
So, a wrap up… I moved in on Wednesday, Thursday was the last day of the workshop. We finished late to close the report. Then I went with my roommates (James & Jaïsha) to a restaurant where we ate sizzlers (like in India), before going to the newt door Jazz bar Alizée. There was a band of Ethiopian, playing a mix between traditionnal-jazzy-reggy-smothie music. It was very nice. It ended up with a guy coming up the stage and dancing like crazy. He was dancing traditional Ethiopian dance, with a very special shoulder’s movement very impressive as it goes faster and faster. It was great.
Friday was a normal reading day at work. Just got a good news : every Friday at the UN in Ethiopia, we finish work at 2pm. Great news. I am already realizing a many week ends outside of the country i need to actually see a little bit of Ethiopia. Dam big country !
Saturday was a quiet day with my roommates. We had breakfast at home then we went to the National Museum and stopped on the way to visit the Hilton and check out the prices of the famous swimming pool. Arrived at the museum with Jaïsha, we decided we were hungry and stopped first at the museum’s restaurant. Then we met some of Jaïsha’s friends who told us we should go to the Ethnological museum on the University campus. We changed plans and did that.
While visiting the museum, the rain started to pour outside and never stopped until the morning. We had a quiet evening with a movie in the cozy living room. We also encountered couple of cockroaches in the fridge. James was just talking about the inhabitant of the fridge corner in the kitchen when they showed up. Demonstration.
On Sunday morning we decided to go horseback riding. Mouhaha that was fun. We went with a friend who has a car. We drove for about an hour outside of Addis, which allowed me to realize how spread the city was. The buildings of the centre are slowly replaced by small mud house looking like countryside villages. More and more goats are on the roads and more and more kids look dirty and not cared of. The countryside was beautiful, even though it was very foggy. We finally arrived after a (too) long car trip. Actually, we had been told there was a new road to reach the place and that it was a big straight clean road. But the road we took was just muddy, bumpy and curvy. Weird.
Then the whole horse riding thing under the rain was of course hilarious. There was two Danish (very posh and well equipped women, with white pants, leather boots and proper gloves). There was also two English medicine students in Ethiopia for holidays. And there was us, with Jaïsha riding quiet good, James and the Ethiopian friend (too hard name, still not used) riding for the first time, and the three of us scared like hell. Finally we did a 2 hours promenade in the area. We had lots of fun, after having found a bit of courage and confidence, after having managed to trot a bit and left the too good running in front. James had a horse that was so lazy he looked like being on a stubborn donkey, bouncing on all sides. I was quiet proud of myself and was impressed of how capable I was. I stopped being stressed and started having fun. We all did very well, even though no special inner talent has been discovered.
We came back to the city. We realized how bad the air of Addis is. So much pollution, dust and smoke. It was really nice to be out in the fresh air. I think it will become a “must” of every weekend: get out of the city at least once, to go breath air. On the way home, we ate in an Italian restaurant. Too much food for me, I got so tired (also maybe a bit the horse riding and the 7’ o’clock wake up) that I did a nap and here I am, writing to you. Now, I ll go in th eliving room to take care of the fire we just made. Hooo yes, we have a cheminee in our home !
Tomorrow work with every one back in the office.
So to sum up: my first week was excellent. The work seems interesting. I meet lots of people, even outside of work, who are interesting. I get already plenty of ideas for a potential thesis. I really like my roommates who are very nice and very easy going. I like my room and the house. I love the food and the smiles of Ethiopian. I know there is so much to see and do in Ethiopia that I will fill my days without any problems. Anyways, good conclusions, every thing is great around here! Hope it is the same back home(s).
Day 3 en retard
Yesterday, I went to bed a bit stressed because I didn’t find neither a cheaper (decent) guest house nor an apartment, because I didn’t have a cell phone to call the potential places and because I got stressed of paying that much my (very modest) actual room. Today, I spent the day in this workshop i told you about, hunting down interns to find some good tips. The day has been long so to say, as I didn’t find any concret solutions to my problems. Moreover, I was a bit illegally in the building of the UN and I had to explain every time I was going somewhere why i didn’t have a proper UN card that allows me to be inside. Not good. Coming out of eight hours meeting, i was really fed up and just wanting to run around Addis to find something. I randomly found the driver on the way out (first good surprise of the day). He is my saver. He is a thin guy who speaks so so english, who is coming from a very poor family but who strongly believes that when you want to get out of misery, you just can work so much that you can manage anything and he is the nicest person I met so far. So he fixed my UN card (just have to go get it tmw to get out of illegality), he drove me to a cheaper guest house to visit (much nicer then what i have now), he bought me a sim card for my phone (btw, my ethiopian nm is : 00252-912 436 038) and took me to this famous supermarket where people put ads on free appartment. The first one I called was people looking for a roomate. We went to visit it.
And there, all my day became a happy day. I found a place ! and it is just… hum.. how to say… an AW-SOME place ! Not far at all from work (walking distance), it is a big (no… huge) house that I share with three people. I met 2: one girl from the US here until September and a guy from the UK here for undetermined stay. They seem really nice. The houseeeeee mouahaha I am so excited! Je me ris de ma trouvaille! I think it belongs to the guy that I haven’t met and who is Ethiopian. There is a big kitchen (comme à la campagne), and big leaving roo, an extra toilet and a bathroom, with a bath and hot water. And a …. Wait for it…. Washing machine! Mouahhaha. There are four rooms; mine just has a big bed and a big cupboard. It is amazingly quiet because….. haha.. there is a garden, which looks like a small paradise inside of the dusty city. I smelt the fresh air for the 1st time! Incredible! It looks like an outside squared room, without a roof, with a palm tree in the middle and grass all around. So green and fresh that I almost fell in love with the place! We have a guard, a gardener and a maid. I am not paying that much (though it was going to be soooo out of reach first!) and the rent includes the fees to send the girl of the maid to school. Mouhaha.
So yes, it is great! Tmw, I’ll leave my shitty place at 8 to move over there. 140$. F^¨*£.M%°. Sacrebleu.
What else to say! Bravo Bravo!!!!
Ok I wanted to tell you first about the GM in the REC and SRO, in collaboration with IO and CO, and the perspectives on GE/WE for the MDG. But I am too excited for that. Really sorry, I know you are disappointed.
I have to pack and sleep, and try not to have the shitty dream of giving away babies like bananas like I had yesterday (thank you white couples of the hotel!).
Kram Kram! (ho, only negative point, no Swedish roommate, would have been to perfect!).
Ps: I am just living my first big storm, lightenings are lightning (oui je sais c’est nul) my rooms, thunders are tonitruants (??) and water is pouring like a cow that piss. Haaa les tropiques!
And there, all my day became a happy day. I found a place ! and it is just… hum.. how to say… an AW-SOME place ! Not far at all from work (walking distance), it is a big (no… huge) house that I share with three people. I met 2: one girl from the US here until September and a guy from the UK here for undetermined stay. They seem really nice. The houseeeeee mouahaha I am so excited! Je me ris de ma trouvaille! I think it belongs to the guy that I haven’t met and who is Ethiopian. There is a big kitchen (comme à la campagne), and big leaving roo, an extra toilet and a bathroom, with a bath and hot water. And a …. Wait for it…. Washing machine! Mouahhaha. There are four rooms; mine just has a big bed and a big cupboard. It is amazingly quiet because….. haha.. there is a garden, which looks like a small paradise inside of the dusty city. I smelt the fresh air for the 1st time! Incredible! It looks like an outside squared room, without a roof, with a palm tree in the middle and grass all around. So green and fresh that I almost fell in love with the place! We have a guard, a gardener and a maid. I am not paying that much (though it was going to be soooo out of reach first!) and the rent includes the fees to send the girl of the maid to school. Mouhaha.
So yes, it is great! Tmw, I’ll leave my shitty place at 8 to move over there. 140$. F^¨*£.M%°. Sacrebleu.
What else to say! Bravo Bravo!!!!
Ok I wanted to tell you first about the GM in the REC and SRO, in collaboration with IO and CO, and the perspectives on GE/WE for the MDG. But I am too excited for that. Really sorry, I know you are disappointed.
I have to pack and sleep, and try not to have the shitty dream of giving away babies like bananas like I had yesterday (thank you white couples of the hotel!).
Kram Kram! (ho, only negative point, no Swedish roommate, would have been to perfect!).
Ps: I am just living my first big storm, lightenings are lightning (oui je sais c’est nul) my rooms, thunders are tonitruants (??) and water is pouring like a cow that piss. Haaa les tropiques!
vendredi 17 juillet 2009
Day 5
Wahoo.. already the end of the week. I am a bit stupid because i wanted to update all the messages i wrote on my laptop sitting in my room, but unfortunately, i forgot the best one. The one where I tell about my house! Because yes, now i left the gloomy hotel to move in my new house. I have three nice roomates with who i share a big house ten minutes walking from work... But be patient, I ll post the description soon. I am too lazy to write all over again!
So apart from that, i just finished the workshop yesterday, and i am back in the office without much things to do but read and read again on the work of UNIFEM. It seems to be interesting but it is always nicer to dive into the work directly.
Yesterday, i went to a jazz bar with my roomates (I have three, one american girl, one english guy and an ethiopian guy). It was very nice. We went to a fancy restaurant next door, with perfect service and good food. That was fun. My roomates are really nice. The girl is too beautiful, which makes it a bit annoying, but she is really nice and they are both easy going and talkative. The Ethiopian guy I haven t seen him that much but they are all nice and good company!
I also met couple of interns from the UN. Apparently, they are organizing a "UN intern gathering" which will be perfect to get to know some people. Some poor, unpaid and exploited nice UN intern coming from all over the world.
Ok enough, you ll know soon about my paradise house when i can post the other message. For now, i need to go back to reading!
Kram Kram (hoo i am worried, my Swedish will go away so fast :( )
So apart from that, i just finished the workshop yesterday, and i am back in the office without much things to do but read and read again on the work of UNIFEM. It seems to be interesting but it is always nicer to dive into the work directly.
Yesterday, i went to a jazz bar with my roomates (I have three, one american girl, one english guy and an ethiopian guy). It was very nice. We went to a fancy restaurant next door, with perfect service and good food. That was fun. My roomates are really nice. The girl is too beautiful, which makes it a bit annoying, but she is really nice and they are both easy going and talkative. The Ethiopian guy I haven t seen him that much but they are all nice and good company!
I also met couple of interns from the UN. Apparently, they are organizing a "UN intern gathering" which will be perfect to get to know some people. Some poor, unpaid and exploited nice UN intern coming from all over the world.
Ok enough, you ll know soon about my paradise house when i can post the other message. For now, i need to go back to reading!
Kram Kram (hoo i am worried, my Swedish will go away so fast :( )
Day 2
Monday. First day of work. Meeting at my hotel at 8.-8.30 (early). The car came finally at 9. after I almost fell asleep again. My boss was there, made me a warm welcome and we went to the office. Then started a “usual” kind of first day. Saying hello to everyone, introducing yourself, not getting the name of anyone. Reading all the presentations, strategies and projects documents and making a list of all the new strange names I need to know but I don’t (yet). I went to have lunch with Fidawok and Gadjo dilo in the UN ECA cafeteria, in the huge compound of the ECA (Economic Comission for Africa that has its headquarters here). The UN has an immense conference centre there. Built ten years ago it looks much older but the fancy decoration makes it impressive.
Tomorrow, I will directly dive in the active work. My boss is going for a week in Rwanda for a conference. But they organized from Tuesday to Thursday a workshop with the ECA, gathering several stakeholders involved in the GE/WE issues (it is on my list= Gender Equality and Women empowerment) on: “Assessing and strategizing on gender mainstreaming”. So. I will have to assist to the whole workshop and write a note on what has been said. Soit. C’est cool. It will be a bit scary first. There will be one representatives for each of the regional economic communities (REC, on my list), one representative of the African Union and one for the UNECA. And, it will be in the big UN conference hall (Robin, tu vois de quoi je parle je suis sûre).
Hoo what I forgot to say about my hotel and that I remember now (I am sitting in my room writing, while plenty of baby making noise on my front door). Actually, this is the place for the white couples coming to Ethiopia to adopt. Apparently, they have to stay in Ethiopia for three or four weeks before they can go home with their babies. So here they are, talking of the long process of getting a baby during breakfast, exchanging tips in the corridor on how you can adapt your baby’s food and so on. Nice and a bit disturbing at the same time. Apparently (my boss says) the adoption in Ethiopia is very often badly done. Westerners come and give money to NGOs while local families consider that sending one baby to get a good education might be a good long-term investment. She says that “if you went to be rich by launching a new NGO, get into adoption”. Glauque. Enfin dans un sens, c’est aussi un peu maison du bonheur ici!
Now I will go out under the rain to find an apartment. Wahou. After, I’ll go dip my bandage in a good Ethiopian soup with my new funny friend (un petit rastafarai-haile-salaissie-fan qui me fait penser à Ahmed).
Btw, the weather is okay, beautiful yesterday but today rainy and a bit colder. A big storm came with big Tropic Thunders (Jaaaack) and impressive lightenings.
Ps: merci les parents, bien sûr que c’était malin de prendre mon ordinateur. Les cyber cafés sont lents et pleins, et ma chambre au calme est plus sympa pour prendre le temps de faire un blog et trier des photos. Je l’avoue vous aviez raison.
Les photos viendront un peu plus tard, je n’ai encore la wïïfïïii et je ne serais pas au bureau cette semaine.
Bisous à tous
Tomorrow, I will directly dive in the active work. My boss is going for a week in Rwanda for a conference. But they organized from Tuesday to Thursday a workshop with the ECA, gathering several stakeholders involved in the GE/WE issues (it is on my list= Gender Equality and Women empowerment) on: “Assessing and strategizing on gender mainstreaming”. So. I will have to assist to the whole workshop and write a note on what has been said. Soit. C’est cool. It will be a bit scary first. There will be one representatives for each of the regional economic communities (REC, on my list), one representative of the African Union and one for the UNECA. And, it will be in the big UN conference hall (Robin, tu vois de quoi je parle je suis sûre).
Hoo what I forgot to say about my hotel and that I remember now (I am sitting in my room writing, while plenty of baby making noise on my front door). Actually, this is the place for the white couples coming to Ethiopia to adopt. Apparently, they have to stay in Ethiopia for three or four weeks before they can go home with their babies. So here they are, talking of the long process of getting a baby during breakfast, exchanging tips in the corridor on how you can adapt your baby’s food and so on. Nice and a bit disturbing at the same time. Apparently (my boss says) the adoption in Ethiopia is very often badly done. Westerners come and give money to NGOs while local families consider that sending one baby to get a good education might be a good long-term investment. She says that “if you went to be rich by launching a new NGO, get into adoption”. Glauque. Enfin dans un sens, c’est aussi un peu maison du bonheur ici!
Now I will go out under the rain to find an apartment. Wahou. After, I’ll go dip my bandage in a good Ethiopian soup with my new funny friend (un petit rastafarai-haile-salaissie-fan qui me fait penser à Ahmed).
Btw, the weather is okay, beautiful yesterday but today rainy and a bit colder. A big storm came with big Tropic Thunders (Jaaaack) and impressive lightenings.
Ps: merci les parents, bien sûr que c’était malin de prendre mon ordinateur. Les cyber cafés sont lents et pleins, et ma chambre au calme est plus sympa pour prendre le temps de faire un blog et trier des photos. Je l’avoue vous aviez raison.
Les photos viendront un peu plus tard, je n’ai encore la wïïfïïii et je ne serais pas au bureau cette semaine.
Bisous à tous
Day 1
So, J’ai un problème, I have a problem, jag har ett problem. Plusieurs personnes m’ont demandé de ne pas écrire en français parcequ’elles ne comprennaient rien. Någon frågade mig att prata svenska därför jag måste praktisera. Men jag kan inte för att min svenska är för dåligt. I thought about starting in Amharic, but unfortunately, I don’t have the adapted keyboard for that. Tyvärr! So, naturally I end up writing in English. But I’am sure it will be mixed. So sorry par avance för mixade språk.
Welcome to Africa.
First thing coming out of the plane that stroke me was the smell. The air was neither cold nor hot, but loaded with different smells, between burnt tired and dust, fresh mountain air and heavy atmosphere. Yes it was very different and informed me quiet quickly that i was finally arrived (after a Paris-Istanbul flight, 5 hours waiting at the airport before flying above a beautiful sunset towards my final destination, Addis Ababa).
The driver of the UNIFEM came to pick me up in a nice 4*4 of the UN. First appearing difficulty of Ethiopia : names, in Armharic of course. My boss is called Florence, which is easy. But then comes Firdawok, the assistant administration/logistic, « Galidoli » (noticed that i actually still have no idea of what is name is, this try have been composed on memory of the vague sound i got). An other girl of UNIFEM Ethiopia (we share the office) is called « Nojhshifle » and her boss is « Bhzilhsb » (still no idea). Anyways, it is a bit hard!
Bref, on Sunday Fidawok came to pick me up for breakfast. Very welcoming, he invited me to discuss and introduce a bit himself and give me some tips. Then i just wandered a bit in the area to see where i had arrived last night. I like arriving at night in a place. In the morning, you realize that you are in a crazy place and that you didn’t notice the day before, as it was all dark.
I met funny people, everyone says Hello, children ask you for food, guys are selling and chewing khât (activity that shows the extensibility of cheek’s flesh), dogs, cats and goats are running around. The strange mixed between very wide avenues with only cars (no bikes no motorbikes, what a surprise and deception!), high buildings (quit modern with big malls inside) and slumish small houses (with no pavement but dust). All this covered by a huge cloud of dust surrounded itself by nice mountains (Addis is 2400 metres high). Interesting so to say.
I went out on the evening to look for cheaper guesthouse but they all looked a bit gloomy and not that cheap in the end. My guesthouse is in a nice building not far from the centre. It has a roof with a beautiful view, common kitchens and my room is okay, with its own bathroom and cold water. Exclusively, bien sûr. I have electricity from 22 to the morning and a bit in the afternoon.
Food is good and my new kind of friend calls me “Bon appetit”. We went to a restaurant. I had to figure out how to eat with my right hand, knowing that I just cut my right thumb the day before my flight (je sais, c’est nul), and that eating with the left hand is not really well seen. I managed, in the end, even if it was a bit “dégoutant”.
I read my book until too late (that you Mum) before falling asleep with the sweet noise of street dogs. (By the way the book, Americain Darling of Russel Banks, is excellent. Jennie, lis le! C’est une américaine qui retourne au Libéria après s’être marriée là-bas puis enfuie pdt la guerre).
Welcome to Africa.
First thing coming out of the plane that stroke me was the smell. The air was neither cold nor hot, but loaded with different smells, between burnt tired and dust, fresh mountain air and heavy atmosphere. Yes it was very different and informed me quiet quickly that i was finally arrived (after a Paris-Istanbul flight, 5 hours waiting at the airport before flying above a beautiful sunset towards my final destination, Addis Ababa).
The driver of the UNIFEM came to pick me up in a nice 4*4 of the UN. First appearing difficulty of Ethiopia : names, in Armharic of course. My boss is called Florence, which is easy. But then comes Firdawok, the assistant administration/logistic, « Galidoli » (noticed that i actually still have no idea of what is name is, this try have been composed on memory of the vague sound i got). An other girl of UNIFEM Ethiopia (we share the office) is called « Nojhshifle » and her boss is « Bhzilhsb » (still no idea). Anyways, it is a bit hard!
Bref, on Sunday Fidawok came to pick me up for breakfast. Very welcoming, he invited me to discuss and introduce a bit himself and give me some tips. Then i just wandered a bit in the area to see where i had arrived last night. I like arriving at night in a place. In the morning, you realize that you are in a crazy place and that you didn’t notice the day before, as it was all dark.
I met funny people, everyone says Hello, children ask you for food, guys are selling and chewing khât (activity that shows the extensibility of cheek’s flesh), dogs, cats and goats are running around. The strange mixed between very wide avenues with only cars (no bikes no motorbikes, what a surprise and deception!), high buildings (quit modern with big malls inside) and slumish small houses (with no pavement but dust). All this covered by a huge cloud of dust surrounded itself by nice mountains (Addis is 2400 metres high). Interesting so to say.
I went out on the evening to look for cheaper guesthouse but they all looked a bit gloomy and not that cheap in the end. My guesthouse is in a nice building not far from the centre. It has a roof with a beautiful view, common kitchens and my room is okay, with its own bathroom and cold water. Exclusively, bien sûr. I have electricity from 22 to the morning and a bit in the afternoon.
Food is good and my new kind of friend calls me “Bon appetit”. We went to a restaurant. I had to figure out how to eat with my right hand, knowing that I just cut my right thumb the day before my flight (je sais, c’est nul), and that eating with the left hand is not really well seen. I managed, in the end, even if it was a bit “dégoutant”.
I read my book until too late (that you Mum) before falling asleep with the sweet noise of street dogs. (By the way the book, Americain Darling of Russel Banks, is excellent. Jennie, lis le! C’est une américaine qui retourne au Libéria après s’être marriée là-bas puis enfuie pdt la guerre).
samedi 11 juillet 2009
Départ...
Voilà, nous sommes le 11 juillet 2009 et je suis partie pour ma nouvelle aventure. Assise à l'aéroport d'Istanbul en transit, j'ai quatre heures à tuer en attendant mon prochain vol. Un café très cher permettant un accès illimité à la wifi, j'en profite pour commencer ce petit blog sans grande prétention pour vous permettre de rester en contact et suivre mon long voyage éthiopien.
Je serais de retour en France le 21 décembre. En attendant, restons connectés!
Pour l'instant rien de bien spécial à raconter, je ne suis partie que depuis 6 heures! Alors juste un aéroport normal, plein de russes et de duty free, de kebab à 9$ et de chinois fous. Rien à signaler.
Je tenterais d'alimenter le blog le plus souvent possible, alors n'hésitez pas à en faire de même!
A très vite
Je serais de retour en France le 21 décembre. En attendant, restons connectés!
Pour l'instant rien de bien spécial à raconter, je ne suis partie que depuis 6 heures! Alors juste un aéroport normal, plein de russes et de duty free, de kebab à 9$ et de chinois fous. Rien à signaler.
Je tenterais d'alimenter le blog le plus souvent possible, alors n'hésitez pas à en faire de même!
A très vite
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