Landing in Ethiopia…
I landed in Addis Ababa last Thursday very jet lagged but excited to be here. First impressions are always very general, but here goes.
Addis is at a high altitude (~2500m) which means it is very pleasant during the day but gets a bit cool (15 C, 60F) in the evenings. No one that I have seen has a heater or air conditioner so you just add a blanket or put on a jacket if needed. It’s currently the rainy season which means lots of mud. While the main roads are paved, most side streets are not. Big puddles are the norm and everyone does this zig-zag walk to get around the sloppy parts. In terms of the layout, Addis is rather spread out and isn’t really a walking city. Sidama Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (SCFCU), the organization I am working with has a driver who picks me up and drops me off after work each day. When I’m not working, I either take the minibuses (think 15-person run-down, packed vans speeding down the road with a boy hanging out the side door screaming out the destination while trying to round up potential customers), a small taxi or get a ride with a friend.
In terms of work, I will be helping the SCFCU mainly with fair trade certification issues. SCFCU is a union of 47 individual co-ops representing about 9,000 farmers in the southern area of Ethiopia called Sidama. I believe it is the second largest coffee producer in all of Ethiopia. If you didn’t know, Ethiopia is the birth place of coffee and is considered by many to produce some of the finest coffee in the world. Coffee is the main export of Ethiopia and provides the livelihood for so many people here. If you are interested in learning more about the coffee industry, I suggest you check out a wonderful film titled ‘Black Gold’ that was recently released. It details the Ethiopian coffee industry and explains why fair trade is so important. Also, if you are looking for a bit more information about fair trade, check out http://eq.tv/fair_trade_the_story for a short clip about TransFair, one of the organization responsible for sending me to Ethiopia.
My social life has been lots of fun. I have a friend who is an Ethiopian-American currently visiting her family in Addis and she has been showing me around and introducing me to her friends. On my second night here, she took me to a traditional Ethiopian restaurant where people were dancing and singing to traditional songs. Everyone got into it and soon my shoulders were shaking and my feet were moving (to the best of my ability) with everyone else in the place. So far, Ethiopians have been incredibly warm and welcoming. It’s cliché, but little kids love to wave at me when I drive by and everyone goes out of their way to make me feel welcome.