Addis Ababa
Trip Start
Sep 29, 2007
1
3
12
Trip End
Oct 29, 2007
Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Rain and coolness after hot, humid Dubai, where is my jacket?
Green and then more green, even roofs are sprouting grass, trees.
Vibrant people working as hard as the green plants to nurture and grow,
Emphasizing family and communal effort to overcome adversity.
Yes, there are potholed streets, non-working traffic signals, garbage pickers, shanties,
Old cars and buildings, at least compared to ultramodern Dubai.
Dave Johnson addressing Finot Rotary
Sheep, goats herded into town, butcher them yourself for fresh meat.Donkey strings bringing firewood and veggies in, the scene seems primitive.
But modern community action is alive and strong, their family, communal sense
Giving rise to self-help NGO groups, many financed by locals alone.
So we should not be surprised to see vibrant Rotary Clubs
Ready to tackle those problems all know: dirty water, malaria, HIV AIDS.
Our friends back home will not believe Finot Rotary Club:
No bar time, no lunch or dinner, only directed talk of project work.
Yes, there was some joshing of sign-ups for helpers with Canadian polio team
Due next week: Do I really have to find maple leaves, what do they look like?
Club President Yigibashal did not raise her voice or plead, they listen and act:
Club spark-plug Abere Mihrete has benefit of years with Anti-Malaria Association
Spreading the message of finding opinion leaders in local communities
Then facilitating the true community needs into action plans
HIV Woman brings child to sewing class
.Or Timret Le Hiwot (Alliance for Life) creating an umbrella organization
To catalog services for HIV / AIDS victims into a compact readable booklet,
At least for someone conversant in Amharic. At the same time organizing
Training for women saved by drugs, back usefully into the community.
None of these projects are perfect, fool proof, assured of success.
The Ethiopian Rotarians and we must talk, consider, hopefully find
Their project to take back to States and Canada with graspable goal
Well defined plan and evidence of local support, that will be success.
