A great Week of Research!

So I finally started my interviews with Community Health Promoters and Health Extension Workers for my thesis work. I am doing an impact assessment of one of the components of the overall Essential Services for Health in Ethiopia Project that I am writing my overall field paper on. It was a great time. Last week I went to North Shewa which is the area north of Addis Ababa and south of Amhara Region. On Monday we started at the office and left in the afternoon for a town called ChanCho. We spent the night there at the nicest hotel of the week (running HOT water! and a toilet- 3$ USD) and in the morning there was a training in the town for HEWs. All of these HEWs were part of the CHP program so I was able to hand out interviews and they were able to answer in Oromifa because my friend Dillnesaw translated the questions into Oromifa a few weeks ago which was key to my getting as many interviews done as we did. We were able to finish 23 interviews!   After Chancho we left for Kuyu a town about 100 KM to the north (I think). There we started interviews after lunch with Community Health Promoters. This is no easy task. First of all we had to find the guy in charge of all the HEWs and then we had to find a HEW and after we found the HEW we had to go off road (over fields/rocks/really bumpy paths) to find the CHPs at there homes. Once we found the CHP we would start interviewing. Ato. Getachew (a really great guy I will get to him later) would ask the questions in Amharic and the HEW would then translate the question to Oromifa if the CHP did not speak Amharic and then the answer would be given in Oromifa which Ato. Getachew could understand and he would translate into English and I would write the answer down and then ask follow up questions. This whole process took about an hour per person. We were able to do two at a time when there were two CHPs who lived close together because the zonal HEW organizer spoke English as well. But that didn't happen often.   The first afternoon we got through 3 interviews. Not a great start. If you are wondering why we didn't just have the people fill out the questionnaire it is because most of the CHPs are illiterate. The whole idea of the program is to extend the reach of health care to the rural areas through the HEW system and then through volunteers who come from the community who learn basic health messages (like wash your hands with soap after using the toilet, how to build latrines, immunization, optimal breastfeeding, caring for sick children, and preventing malaria) Once the promoter has learned the messages they try them in their own families and then when they see the benefits they teach their neighbors.   The next day in the morning we had fool for breakfast- a spicy bean dish eaten with bread-- really good. (Suzi if you read this it was excellent fool not like what we had in Adama! I love fool now!) That morning we did four more interviews and then in the afternoon three more. The hotel we stayed at in Kuyu was not my favorite. They wanted to charge me a frienji price of 2$ more-- but Ato. getachew was able to get me the local price. I hate paying frienji prices.The cost of this hotel was also 3$ USD, but no toilet or running water at all-- water was out in the city the whole time we were there. Oh and lots of fleas! I finally recovered from my last run in with fleas and now I am starting the healing process all over again. Thursday and Friday were totally worth it though.   On Thursday morning we back tracked a few hours to pick up another JSI staff member who was going out to the town of Dera, so that is where we also went for the last 2 days of interviews. The drive to Dera was awesome! It was really beautiful. We drove 3 hours on a dirt road down winding roads through a gorge and back up the other side. The whole research trip was worth just that drive. When we got to Dera it was lunch time so we checked into the hotel (2$USD no running water or toilet and fleas) and ate lunch. After lunch we set out again to find the HEW organizer and then the HEWs and then the CHPs. We went to the office and the HEW organizer was not around. He was at a model home graduation (a government run program with HEWs to teach community members health messages that they then have to practice and if they do they are then called model homes and are invited to a party). So we ended up finding some nurses who knew where the graduation was taking place. It was in a rural area. When we arrived there there were many CHPs who were also model home people. We were able to load them in the land rover and take them back to the health center where we interviewed nine CHPs!! It worked out very well. Due to our limited interview time because of the longer travel it was great to get so many done at once. After we finished the interviews we were invited to their celebration. Where of course we ate a lot of injera and wat-- very giving people.   On our way back to the town we decided to seek out another HEW to set up interviews for early in the morning. We headed down a very steep "road" or path. I don't think it was meant for vehicles. Most of the ride I was being held back by my seat belt. It was fun and very beautiful. We were able to set up interviews for early the next morning and made plans to meet them at the side of the road so we didn't have to try to drive down the path again. Then we headed back up the path as the sun was setting. The next morning two CHPs and the HEW hiked up the path and we interviewed them.. Ato. Getachew and I did this while our driver and the other JSI employee finished up business in the town. When we finished we started walking back to the town it was a nice hour and a half walk. So in the end we finished with 21 CHP interviews! Now I am planning to try to do this on my own in East Shewa (where I live) and then with JSI in SNNP Region.   I think that this research was really fun because of Ato. Getachwe. He was really funny and he treated me like his daughter. He ended up giving me an Ethiopian name- Chaltu (it means the one above the rest-- he liked my Amharic and Oromifa skills and the fact that I tried to go with the flow). And he called me his Abasha daughter (Ethiopian daughter). We had a good time together and he was always on time- which is very uncommon in Ethiopia.   He has a family that lives in Addis. He just moved from Adama so we had a lot to talk about. He leaves every Monday and travels around East Shewa all week. He stays in hotels and lives out of his bag. Then he goes home to Addis Ababa and his family on Friday. But on Saturday and Sunday he spends eight hours each day taking college classes so he can become a Health Officer. He is a very busy guy! Anyway, he made the trip for me and now I have a new friend in Ethiopia!    I have not looked at the results of my research yet because I have to get some of it translated, but it should be interesting! I hope to find out what is working and what isn't so the program can be improved. And also what the impact of the project has been so far.

Sertomadig

Last Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday my Home Based Care and Income Generating project had their first meeting. It was a training on basic business skills  and the formation of rotating savings and investment groups among the nineteen families that are included in the project. This new association also named themselves Seromadig (work and grow). They set their first group meeting for next Thursday.    The training went really well. The families seemed to be happy with the training in general and were very happy that they are now organized so they can help each other and work together to start individual small businesses.During the training they learned how to write a business plan and how to keep track of expenses. They also were given ideas of business that work and those that do not. Part of the training was also about building up their confidence so that they have the will to try to start a business. Some of the members are illiterate, all of the members are very poor, and HIV positive. There are four male members and the rest are women. Most are single mothers because their husbands have already died or left them due to HIV. The group also includes two new mothers of four month old babies, and an 18 year old who has been an orphan since he was seven and had to stop going to school in the 5th grade.   The large group will meet twice a month. During those meetings business proposals will be reviewed by the group. The group will decide if the proposal is a good one or it it needs  revision. Then the approved proposals will be submitted to the three Home Based Care volunteers for a final revision. If it is approved then a loan of 1,800-2,000 Birr (180-200 USD)  will be given to the individual. The large group was then broken down into three smaller groups. These groups will meet once a week to help each other write their business plans, support each other, save money from the earnings of their business, and repay the loan to the group pot. By repaying the loan and savings to the group pot the group will be able to take future loans to expand or improve their business.  Members will take turns borrowing from the group pot and then they will repay the loan so the next person can do the same. So that is the plan. Now it is up to the members to do the work of starting their own micro business. Hopefully, all will go well and the families will be able to support themselves in the future.  This has been one of my main projects and it will be interesting to see if it succeeds now that it is up and running!

Teff

So I have been back in Ethiopia for about three weeks now, and things are going well. My projects are coming along nicely. My thesis is going well, and – it took a little getting used to again, but I am back in the swing of things. Life for Ethiopians, however, is not going all that great. When I first arrived I was told that there had not been much rain and it was hot! Then it started to rain—a lot! Rain at this point in the season is very very bad for the crops here, and is unusual. Just like corn, teff needs to dry out before it is harvested—unlike corn rain makes the grain fall off the shoot of teff. So it poured for about two weeks and then the crops were ruined. Now when I drive by the fields they are full of heaps of rotten teff instead of the golden shoots that they should be collecting for the months ahead. I was talking to my land lady yesterday and she told me that she paid 1,500 Birr for a quintile of teff. That is a lot of money- $150USD. She used to be able to buy it for only 300 Birr and that was only about a year ago. So the increased prices are pretty difficult for the city dwellers, but can you imagine how the subsistence farmers feel right now! Ethiopia is made up of about 80% of people who rely on subsistence farming- meaning they grow what they will eat for the year and sometimes trade what they grow for other food. Last year the short rains did not come and lots of people were in a bad situation and went hungry. Then the long rains did come and they worked hard all season to have a good crop. Everything was going great and the harvest was going to come in so soon, and then two weeks of unexpected rain wrecked everything!!             I was talking to Aba Abraham the other day and he said that not only teff was wrecked, but other crops as well. Also, the second vegetable season did not go as planned either. He also told me that shopkeepers have stopped selling the teff they still have from the last harvest so that the price will increase because they know they will not have any to sell in a few months. So, overall things are not looking good for the food situation in Ethiopia. Hopefully, someday that will change. The outlook does not look good.

Graduation!

Yesterday, Shashi (my landlady) graduated from university with a degree in Pharmacy from Rift Valley University College!!! I got to go to the graduation ceremony. I played the role of babysitter and camera woman. Ato. Abiy is still in Jimma for training, so I got to go and keep an eye on the kids. It was scary! The boys were great-- they did not complain once in the 3 and a half hours we waited to get into the hall. We also almost got crushed to death twice trying to get in. The first time Mickey fell to the ground and we all got separated in a crowd that was pushing so hard to get in they broke the glass in a door!! They were pretty scared and so was I. The second attempt to get in was with Ato. Tamesgan. He is the man that I am working with at RVC on the HIV seminars. He saw me and he took the boys and me to another door with less people. This is when we were almost crushed the second time, but Ato. Tamesgan was able to push us through. It was total craziness! They really need to work on their crowd control. Once we got in there were plenty of seats and more people could have been allowed in. Some graduates were not even let into their own graduation. The ceremony it's self was nice. Lots of speeches and singing and dancing! Only the top 3 graduates in their class and degree got to receive their diploma on the stage. After the ceremony I got to take a ton of pictures of Shashi with her friends and with the boys. On the way home we stopped at the Orthodox church to take pictures there as well. Back at the house we had a lot of food! I got to witness the killing of a goat and its preparation two days before. I stuck to the fasting food! Shashi has 12 brothers and sisters and Ato. Abiy also has 12 brothers and sisters!!! So there were a lot of people around. Most of Shashi's family still lives in Gondor though. Anyway, it was a fun day except for the almost being crushed twice part!

Boohey

So a few weeks ago I got to celebrate the festival of Boohey. It is also known as Boy's day. Actually, it is a period of fifteen days of prayer, fasting, and lots of bowing for the Ethiopian Orthodox followers. I found out about Boohey when I noticed many young boys with bull whips practicing all the time. I heard these whips being cracked almost constantly. Then I noticed boys in large groups singing and chanting. When I asked about this I was told it is Boohey and HoyaHoya. The Boys go around asking for money and they will sing HoyaHoya songs for you and wish you a good life. Then I was told by the boys on my compound that I had to join them at night for the fire! The boys had three bunches of sticks that Asageditch set on fire. They walked to the front of the house and set them in a bunch on the ground then they started singing the HoyaHoya song and ran around the fire clapping and singing. Then they stopped and sang by the fire with their mom, and finally we jumped over the fire and sang. I was a participant, and I also took pictures and movie of the festivities. Then Shashi invited me in for a great dinner. I love fasting food! We had a great conversation that night about giving birth in Ethiopia because there was a story on ETV about a woman who had a premature baby and the doctors pronounced it dead and five hours later they found it alive! We ended talking about how in Ethiopia the woman does not leave the house for 40 days if she has a girl and for 80 days if she has a boy. I am not sure if this is true for all women in Ethiopia, but it was for Shashi. Anyway, the burning of the sticks and singing is to celebrate the Transfiguration (although it seems more like a pagan holiday-- or like Halloween). Then the fasting ends with the feast of Mary. It was a very interesting celebration!

Thanks Mom and Dad

I am going to be coming home in a little over a month for a nice month long vacation!!!  This was made possible by my parent's generosity. So thank you very much mom and dad! I will be home October 24th through September 22nd. I will also be visiting my boyfriend from the 6th of October to the 15th in NC. So if you are around give my parents home number a call and come and visit. I am looking forward to family and friends and good food and hot showers!!!!

Olympics

I have been able to watch some of the Olympics while here in Ethiopia. It is really great to be able to watch the Olympics in a different country. It is just a reminder that they are for everyone. I have not been able to watch more than Track and Field and football because that's what is played on Ethiopian TV. There is only really one station which is controlled by the government. Unless you have satellite-- my family has a satellite but it is now working right now. T&F has been a lot of fun to watch in Ethiopia because of all the great long distance runners here.  I think that almost all Ethiopians know all the runners. I watch the Olympics with the two boys who live on my compound and with the woman who works for my landlords. The boys are 9 and 10. It is really fun because they get very excited and they yell and cheer for both the Ethiopian and the Americans. They talk very fast and loud in Amharic about the runners which makes it hard to hear the announcers in English. The boys knock on my door whenever a race comes on to invite me into their house to watch it with them. Today is the women's 5K final and we are planning to watch it together! Go Truenesh Dibaba! Did you know her first name means 'she is good'. Did you also know that she is married to the man who took second in the men's 10K—She took 1st in the women's 10K. She also broke the world record a few months ago in the women's 5K. She is one fast lady! A few months back Ethiopia held the all African T&F meet in Addis Ababa. I was at my house in Adama when Asegaditch invited me into the house to watch the meet on TV. I got to watch Ethiopia take 1st 2nd and 3rd in the 10K! It was insane. The crowd went crazy. They were singing and clapping and stamping in the stands and lighting papers on fire to hold up as torches. I hope it will be held in Addis again next year—if it is I plan to go! Yesterday, I was walking down the street in Adama and I saw something that you see in commercials advertising the Olympics and how it is a world wide event. I saw about 5 little kids all under the age of 6 who had marked a line on the ground and had another line made with bottle caps. They were shot putting a large rock!! It was neat! Anyway, I have been able to see some of the Olympics—Ethiopian style.