Tuesday 27 July 2010

Ethiopia - Going with the flow

Thanks to Ethiopian Airways’ appalling entertainment offering, an exit row seat and a couple of lightweight sleeping pills I manage to sleep through at least some of the night flight. I head straight for the head office only to find its spread out over three offices in the same neighbourhood; this gives a whole other dimension to the challenge of NGO coordination. After a round of introductions to an array of people whose names I know I will struggle to remember, I go into a ‘planning’ meeting. In my experience, planning has never been Africa’s forte; people instead favour going with the flow. This was no exception. “We will leave at 10am.” I cut short a meeting with the Finance Director to ensure I don’t hold anyone up. We leave at 1.30pm after waiting fruitlessly for a cheque to be signed (3 hours), taking lunch (1 hour) and picking up the luggage of staff (1 hour). “We should leave at 10am instead of the afternoon because we now think it’ll take 6 hours to reach Dessie”. It takes 8 hours and we arrive at 9.30pm. I’ve been away from Africa for 6 months and clearly need re-sensitising to the way things work.

The journey takes us through the Ethiopian highlands, along the rift valley and back up into the highlands. The landscapes are diverse, captivating and unexpected – vast rolling plains of grass, crops and grazing cattle, rocky mountainous terrain, lush flooded valleys. I’m struck by the amount of activity; there’s little sign of idleness or stagnation; everyone seems to be tending cattle, working in the fields, constructing new homes. Ethiopia seems to be on the up, not just in the cities. Another sign of this is the new road being constructed by the Chinese.

The journey is not without it’s hazards though - precarious mountainside roads, frequent standoffs with cattle whose horns wouldn’t have been out of place on a colonial hunter’s wall, stones hurled at the car by brazen children, herds of camel, sheep, goats and donkeys wandering across the roads oblivious or defiant, careering lorries, blankets of thick fog on the mountain tops, landslides, smoke billowing across roads as villagers simultaneously start cooking dinner... The driver smiles throughout; it seems to be an Ethiopian characteristic. I go to bed resolving to smile more and to say “So what’s the plan guys?” less.

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