27 months.: What a Wonderful Year!

Well, one year into my Peace Corps adventure, I can truly say I’ve fallen in love with Ethiopia. The people, culture, food, scenery; it is all so beautiful and incredible. And I think perhaps injera (the national food, a spongy pancake like food you use to pick up different “wots” aka stews, lentils, etc.. and eat them with your right hand) has an addictive quality, as it feels “off” if I don’t eat it for at least one meal a day! It is made from t’ef, a highly nutritious and TINY grain. After 12 months in Ethiopia, I feel like I truly belong here.

An evening of coffee with my wonderful landlady, Zenebech.

Well, what have I learned this past year? I have learned so much that it is hard to know where to start. It really is nearly impossible to put this experience into words, it has been so powerful, challenging, exciting and rewarding at the same time.

Scenes such as seeing a man carry a sheep on his shoulders, or seeing someone balancing dozens of injera on their head as they walk down the street have become commonplace. My 4x6 meter room feels like home, and washing clothes by hands has become a rather soothing and meditative activity.

Life here is so beautiful, yet as I look around me life is so very difficult. Grains are bought at the market, after families in the rural areas spend weeks and months of hard work plowing with oxen, and harvesting by hand. Then the grains are dried in the sun, sifted and sorted, and then either ground or roasted, based on what the desired product is. Grass grows very tall during the rainy season (about June-September), and then it is all cut BY HAND using a sickle, and then bundles and sold, to use as animal feed or to cover the dirt floors in houses, or as a decoration during coffee ceremonies. Tree branches, wood, grass, hay, and more, are all carried on people’s backs each morning, as the sun is rising and the fog is settling in Mezezo.. I see this each morning as I run along the dirt road in Mezezo, greeting the people I pass and looking at them in awe and with much respect. Food is prepared using charcoal. I think a new joke should be how many foreigners does it take to start a charcoal stove? The answer is at least 8; at a Thanksgiving celebration with several volunteers the power was out, and so we prepared all the food using charcoal stoves, and after a good 30 minutes we pushed aside our pride and asked the neighbor, who like a pro graciously started the fire for us.

Highlights of my time here include the smallest interactions that really make a lasting impact. Hearing children yelling “Hana, Hana” as I walk down the road (including about a 2 year old baby, which is absolutely priceless), singing the “Hokey Pokey” with the English club that I help lead as we all are smiling and laughing, listening to Adele’s new album with my best friend Hibist and humming along, and evenings spent without power drinking coffee by candlelight with my compound family, making turkey hands with students and having them explain in English what things they are thankful for, explaining to the Health Center staff what a zucchini is (they grew well in the garden)and how to cook them. These experiences are ones I will never forget, and my family and friends in Mezezo have already had a lasting impact on me and teach me so very much each day. Running in the Great Ethiopian Run, the largest road race in Africa was another great memory from the past year.

English Club!

Our Thanksgiving dinner, prepared on charcoal stoves; beets and carrots, mashed sweet potatoes and cabbage!

The Great Ethiopian Run start line!

Related to work, one of the most rewarding experiences has been helping to lead Grassroot Soccer, a curriculum designed to teach HIV/AIDS education through sports and games. At the high school, with groups of 30 students, my counterpart Aman and I teach the students for 1-2 hours a day. It is incredible to see them come out of their shyness and speak up about the topic, and stay after to play soccer together. We do team cheers, funny “ice breaker activities”, and if we need comic relief I will show them my attempt at Ethiopian dance (for reference google Ethiopian Amhara Region dancing; it is all about the shoulders..) HIV/AIDS is such an important topic to discuss, but it can be a difficult topic to address and through Grassroot Soccer, we are able to cross the bridge of stigma and address the difficult topic and hopefully share lasting knowledge to the students.

Using Grassroot Soccer to teach about HIV/AIDS at the primary school.

Teaching Grassroot Soccer with my counterpart, Aman.

Some of the English club members reading a Children's book
(very special for them, because Children's books do not exist here)

I originally was going to write a “Day in the Life” article, but then I realized that would be impossible. Each day here is unpredictable, equal parts challenging and rewarding. I have learned though that everything always works out, and it is important to not try and ensure that it does, simply let it happen. Do not panic if you are two minutes late to meet the students, or if you do not have the right materials (the Health Center staff proved this point by making a hand washing station for materials all found in the trash); take a step back, don’t be afraid to ask for help, and it will all work out.

I cannot believe I only have a little over a year left in Mezezo. It feels and is much too short. I can’t think about leaving my family and friends here, so instead I will focus on the exciting plans ahead; continuing Grassroot Soccer, beginning nutrition classes for mothers at the Health Center, continuing with English Club for primary school students where songs like the “Hokey Pokey” and “Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes” leave us all laughing and smiling as we walk home, spontaneous opportunities to teach students or give health presentations at the Primary School, and last but not least show my friends how to make smores.

Hibist thoroughly enjoyed her first smore!

In Peace Corps there is a phrase that says we plant trees under whose shade we will never sit, meaning we generally won’t see the impact of the work that we do here. But on the other hand everyday I learn so many valuable lessons, meet great people who have ad continue to teach me so much and have wonderful conversations that will be with me forever and have so many memorable experiences that it is beyond worth it.