Hirna High School

AIDS education is a big deal in these parts. I saw many road signs and billboards talking about HIV/AIDS. Most of the messages were focused on having only one partner, but there is a condom company doing a lot of outdoor advertising as well.

I spotted this sign on our visit to Hirna High School.

From Africa 2007

While at the school, we peeked into a classroom and to my total shock, there were 91 faces looking back at me. The room was no more than maybe 40 x 40 with one window and a chalkboard. David and I made the comment that parents in the US go nuts when class sizes get above 22 or 23. These 91 9th graders were crammed in and studying English.

I am blown away by how much Ethiopians value education. The communities are pushing for better and more schools, and the Ministry of Education is doing what it can. But it is not enough. This classroom had no books or materials for example.

Imagine trying to learn a new language, crammed together 3 students at a desk with the heat and flies all around. But those conditions do not disuade the students from attending. They seem to know somehow that this education will lead to a better life.

I unfortunately didn't snap a photo of the classroom, but believe me, it was really amazing. I wonder how we would react in these circumstances.

Teach a man (or a kid) to fish...

We're back in Addis after an absolutely stunning and amazing time in Asebe Teferi. I have much, much to write on what we saw - my head's exploded once again. The drive out was close to 5 hours due east from Addis towards Somalia. The landscape is breathtaking at times and at others totally desolate and empty.

From Africa 2007

The photo above is from an alternative basic (AB) school designed to get kids who were not in school at all and who suffered from the worst forms of child labor basic education. These children were forced to work in the fields, carry water or hunt for firewood in lieu of an education. In other areas of Ethiopia, girls are forced to work in gold mines, many of which are unstable and can collapse at any time.

We arrived and were treated to 2 songs (one was the ABC's, the other a song about Child Labor) and were really impressed by the classroom and the entire feel of the place. The school has 160 children from the surrounding communities. Kids attend either a morning or afternoon shift, and each class is about 40 children. Connected to the school is an exerimental gardening project run by the local community. The children also learn to work the garden, and the community benefits further by making money from selling the carrots, tomatos and other veggies.

The recurring and important theme in seeing these programs in Ethiopia is self-efficacy. All the IRC programming is designed around long term solutions. Cliche as it may be, we are teaching them to fish. It's incredible work and when we saw how IRC water programs are connected (this school's water and the garden is supplied via IRC water taps and reservoirs) the big picture finally starts to come into focus (much more on that later).

I have so much more to blog about, but for now, it's shower and dinner time.

Ethiopia

From Africa 2007

We made it! I've got temporary internet access at the Ethiopia office and wanted to get a quick blog post off.

We landed early and met with the country director and a bunch of other staffers pretty much stragiht away. My head is already exploding with ideas and reactions to what the marketing department has been up to - both good and bad. I love honest feedback (that's a hint for you to comment in the future).

The best part of the day though was a very cool coffee ceremony. I'm didn't catch all of the significance, but it was so cool. I wondered how much trouble I would get in if I tried to light a fire in the NY Headquarters.

The coffee was S T R O N G and I'm buzzing pretty hard right now.

We're staying at a hotel called Queen of Sheba, I hope my room looks like the Taj Mahal. The rest of this week involves a 5 hour drive due East from Addis to various IRC programs. It promises to be an amazing week. Can't wait to blog all about it.

UPDATE: I added the photo - the hotel has (slow, but free) wi-fi. We had dinner last night at the hotel - much of the food here is italian (pizza, pasta etc), but I had a burger. I'm sitting here watching the last few minutes of the Patriots game, and am shocked that they could lose, and that I'm watching NFL football live from Africa.

Special thanks

Special blog-style shout out to the IRC Kenya country and regional staff! I hope we haven't been a burden, our schedule alone is enough to make your head spin.

Thanks to Kellie and Nenad in particular for spending insane amounts of time with us and helping us really understand what it is that the IRC does here in Kenya.

For my loyal non-IRC readers, Kellie is the Kenya country director and hails from Rochester, NY. She is a former Peace corps worker. Nenad is in IT and supports a completely insane amount of technology. He's Serbian and has been living with his family in Nairobi for 5 years.

The rest of the international staff (Nora, Kurt and Patty) and the amazing array of national staff really gave me the true face of the IRC.

Talking with some of the program staffers (all Kenyans) in the car on the way to the slums was great. We talked about football (Kenya not so great), the upcoming Kenyan election and Obama, who if you remember has Kenyan roots. It is in these moments that I shake my head that I have such a wonderful opportunity to know these people.

To really know the IRC, you have to know the people.

Ethiopia

We may have no connectivity at all - I hope not!

Safari Pictures... Finally!

We landed an hour or so ago in Nairobi, and the first thing I wanted to do was share some of these amazing photos with you. It is hard to explain how big the animals are - they seem super-sized compared to what we would normally see in a Zoo. Being the giant dork that I am, I also kept thinking about the movie Madagascar and calling for Marty and Alex to come out to play.

You can see all the photos I was able to upload (I shot more than 450 pictures!) in the slideshow. I want to eventually give some more context to these photos, but the connection here is so slow, I'm getting frustrated. I'm lucky I was able to upload these!



Enjoy!

Back to reality

The last bit of safari was this morning at 6:30 am and we very nearly over-slept.

I woke up throwing up bile around 2:30 am, and after popping a handful of tums, fell back asleep an hour later. I'm fine now, something I ate trigged a rare bout of what felt like acid reflux. I knew that I should have passed on that 2nd helping of vegetable curry.

Speaking of eating, I had planned on losing at least 5 lbs while in Africa, but it feels as if all I've done is eat. The food has been great on the safari, the buffet table has 10 or so main entrees to choose from plus salads and dessert. I think I have gained weight since coming.

I twittered (see right column on the blog) about golf. David spotted a putting green and I just knew I had found my chance to play the greatest game on the dark continent. The 6 hole putting green turned into Pebble Beach for 30 minutes earlier today. My 39 (+4) didn't make the cut however. My vivid imagination also led me to video tape myself, a piece of video sure to make my wife shake her head in disbelief.

I can't wait to share the photos from the safari, and some of the video I've shot. We saw another lion kill this morning. These animals are stunningly massive in person. I wonder if lions have ever been accused of doping. The lioness this morning was the Marion Jones of the animal kingdom.

Finally, I must mention the extreme geek out we are having with the portable GPS David has. We have been geotagging his photos like crazy, and you will be able to see them all plotted on a map shortly. The link is on my link list on the right column of the blog.

We are flying back to Nairobi in a few hours, where I will hopefully have a chance to upload some photos. They are incredible.