World AIDS Day!

World AIDS Day

Flexibility is a key word in the Peace Corps, and in my opinion it is one of the characteristics required to be a volunteer.  Those of you who knew me pre-Peace Corps know that I was someone who liked to schedule things to the extreme, and I liked to stick to plans very strictly.  Flexibility was not one of my strong suits to say the least!! The past 11 months, little by little, I have learned to be flexible and to go with the flow, and it has been very valuable for me.

On a Wednesday morning I was doing laundry, finishing up several “loads” aka about two hours. Note: washing clothes by hands, once you’re used to it, becomes rather therapeutic and enjoyable.  Something about the repetition and being able to turn off your mind while you do it is rather soothing.  Although, I admit I may go back to using a washing machine in 2017J  As I finished up my laundry, I got a call from Bantayehu, my great counterpart and coworker, saying we were just appointed to go give a presentation at the Elementary School for the students, for World AIDS Day.  In the ten minutes following the phone call, I changed into my Grassroot Soccer t-shirt, gathered some materials including two tennis balls (from Grassroot Soccer Training), and met Bantayehu to go to the school.  Along with Aman, my counterpart from Grassroot Soccer Training, we planned and discussed while walking along the dirt road to the school. 

Upon our arrival, a bit of chaos ensued, as the students realized that Hannah, a “ferenji” aka foreigner had stepped foot onto the compound.  Students of all ages crowded around, greeting me, giggling and smiling, as we tried to get an icebreaker game started to entertain them until our lesson began.

As class let out for the morning shift (students here go to school for half days only), about 400-500 students gathered, and we presented about HIV/AIDS by using True/False questions for the students.  Then, we proceeded to select 20 students, 10 boys and 10 girls, and in the center of the mass of students, we played a game from the Grassroot Soccer Manual called “Find the Ball.”  Standing in two lines, facing each other, standing shoulder to shoulder and with their hands behind their lower backs, students passed a tennis ball from one student to the next, while students sang a song in the background.  When the song ended, each team would guess where the other team’s tennis ball was. The second time we played the game, the ball represented HIV. Both times that we played the game, neither team was able to successfully guess who had the tennis ball.  The message?  You cannot tell if a person has HIV/AIDS by looking at them.

Today was a wonderful reminder of the importance of flexibility, and it also was a great opportunity to start sharing the great knowledge and skills I learned in Grassroot Soccer.  Shout out to Aman and Bantayehu, in Mezezo, for leading this lesson and program today!

What is Grasssroot Soccer (GRS)?

Such a fun week!

I had the opportunity to spend four days in Addis, where I participated in a Grassroot Soccer Training called Peace Corps Skillz.  Fifteen Peace Corps volunteers from throughout the country met in Addis, and each brought one counterpart (a motivated person from their respective towns) to the training.  Together, this group of 30 people spent four days together learning about GRS and at the end of the training we all graduated as “Peace Corps SKILLZ Coaches”.  This means we are now equipped with the knowledge and skills to be able to carryout the GRS program in our own towns.

With a group of fellow volunteers!

One of our great coaches!

To set the stage, let me provide some background information about HIV/AIDS.  As of 2012, 34 million people were affected worldwide, and of that, 23.5 million were in Sub-Saharan Africa.  Looking specifically at Ethiopia, the HIV prevalence is 1.3% (.9% for males and 1.8% for females.  There are 1 million AIDS orphans in Ethiopia (note: AIDS orphan is defined as one parent passing away due to AIDS).

While the numbers can be shocking and overwhelming, some statistics are promising and show progress.  The number of people tested for HIV annually has increased from 40,000 in 2005 to 10 million by 2011.  In addition, the proportion of women aged 15-49 who received an HIV test in the last 12 months and who know the results has increased from just 1.9% in 2005 to 20% in 2011, and for men the increase was from 2.3% to 20.7%. 

Grassroot Soccer is helping to fight HIV/AIDS by providing knowledge and skills to youth ages 12-19 through familiar and fun games such as soccer, in a safe space with trained coaches.  GRS partners with many organizations, one of which is the Peace Corps.  It teaches about key behaviors that are driving the spread of HIV in Africa, which include unprotected sex, multiple sexual patners, older sexual partners, and gender-based violence.  GRS, along with its partners have provided education and prevention related to HIV and life skills to more than 700,000 youth since 2002, in 57 countries. 

Practicing one of the GRS activities with some volunteers!

PEACE

I am very excited to do this program at the secondary school in Mezezo, alongside Aman, my counterpart and coworker at the Health Center.  One GRS training/curriculum consists of 11, 60-minute lessons, and at the end there is a graduation where family and friends can come, and each student is praised and receives a certificate for completing the program.

Officially graduated as Skillz Coaches!

I had an incredible time at the GRS training in Addis, and now in Mezezo I have all of the materials I need; a Skillz Team t-shirt, 2 tennis balls, 12 cones, and 2 indestructible soccer balls (literally indestructible). The first round of students will graduate next week from the program, and we are all having a great time together, meeting each morning at the school for 2 hours!  Stay tuned for GRS updates from Mezezo! 

With Aman, my great counterpart from Mezezo!

All in a day: Making History and Cooking Zucchini

As I sit in my room writing this blog, night has fallen and I hear the howls and barks of dogs in the distance, and much closer, I can hear Zenebech, my compound mom, companion and friend, rhythmically grinding coffee by hand with a wooden mortar and metal pestle.  The rhythmical and repetitive sound is soothing, and reflects the start of an important nightly ritual in Ethiopian households.

These sounds have become very familiar to me as a part of my daily life in Mezezo.  where I have now lived for 7 months (which have flown by!). After being gone for about 3.5 weeks (1 week Peace Corps training in Bahir Dar in Northern Ethiopia, 2 weeks in the States with my family, then a few days in Addis for a meeting), it feels so great to be back.  I feel like I have returned home, with everyone giving me such warm welcomes, a lot of coffee, and great conversationsJ

             

This morning at the Health Center, it being a Monday morning, I needed a little bit of motivation to get me going for the week and so I decided to mention to a fellow worker at the Health Center that it would be neat if we could somehow build a “Tippy Tap” (a hand-washing station made from wood and nails and a jug of water).  In spite of its vital role in servicing the area’s wellness needs, the Health Center in Mezezo had absolutely no place for patients or staff to wash their hands. Bantayehu was very intrigued and we walked around the Health Center to the back of the compound, to where the town’s trash pile is located. We carefully navigated up a rocky hill, taking great care to avoid a green spiky plant called “sama,” which if touched causes a painful burning and itching sensation that does not quickly subside. Among the trash we discovered a lot of wood as well as a plastic jug called a “jerry can.” This is a good example of “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure!”  I wonder if that is even a phrase in Amharic. I am guessing it might not be, because recycling and repurposing trash is very common and hardly anything is ever thrown away or wasted!  The only other thing we needed was a saw, which another co-worker said they would bring after lunch. We went our separate ways for lunch and when we reconvened in the afternoon, the construction began!  As I am every day, I was extremely impressed with the resourcefulness that surrounded me!

Using a saw, my co-workers cut tree branches to be the foundation/legs of the tippy tap and another branch to go horizontally across the top.  Instead of using a shovel, the staff used a thick tree trunk as a hammer to whack the legs of the tippy tap into the ground, and then used a rock as hammer to put in the nails that held the tippy tap together.  The plastic jug that we found in the trash pile had no lid, but we found one on the other side of the Health Center compound, and after some deep cleaning it was ready to be put to good use! A nail was used to put a hole hear the bottom of the plastic jug, and when the lid was loosened and the nail was removed, the water flowed nicely in a thin but steady stream (thanks to some aspect of physics that I do not fully understand!), ideal for washing hands!  Some electrical wire that was stripped of its outer coating was used to hold up the soap container (which is the bottom of a plastic jug found in the trash), and some rope also found in the trash held up the jerry can/plastic jug containing the water.

By the end of that same day, for the first time ever, the Mezezo Health Center had a place for patients and staff to wash their hands (history being made!).  It felt great to admire the result of our labor, which provided a great sense of accomplishment, especially because it demonstrated so clearly the creativity of my Ethiopian co-workers who somehow took a mere idea and with remarkable speed and ingenuity, transformed it into a completed tangible reality!

Cutting and measuring wood for the base of the tippy tap. Notice the plastic jug in the foreground which will also be used.

"Hammering" in the posts!

Putting the final nails in to hold the foundation together, using a rock as a hammer.

Cutting a plastic jug found in the trash, to use as a soap container!

All smiles after the project is complete!

Proud of the final product!

If this project had been up to me to do alone, I would never have even begun, because I would still be hunting for the proper tools and materials that I thought were required for this project (and wouldn’t have found them here)!  This was a wonderful and valuable lesson for me, and a reminder of how much I learn from the people I am surrounded by every day in Mezezo; incredibly strong and inventive people who have become my family and friends, who I laugh with everyday, and whom I love!

A great crew!!!

The final product! (In the background you can see the latrines)

Testing out the newly made handwashing station/tippy tap!

As I left for the Health Center for the day on this Monday, five staff members were taking home zucchinis that were over a foot long a few inches in diameter; HUGE!! Side note: when I came back from vacation, pumpkins and zucchini had grown in my garden and there were plenty to share! There was some good conversation that probably was rather amusing to listen to, as I tried to explain to my coworkers, in Amharic, how to prepare and eat zucchini, a food they have never heard of, let alone seen!!  I’ll be eager to hear their reports J

Zucchini from the garden! (Note: they are bigger than they appear in the photo...)

Happy 2008 From the Land of 13 Months of Sunshine!

Ethiopia is unique in many ways, one of which is that Ethiopia uses a different calendar than the rest of the world.  New Years is celebrated on September 11^th, with the exception of every fourth year, when it is celebrated on September 12^th, for leap year (as it was this year).   In addition, the Ethiopian calendar is 7 years behind the rest of the world.  This year the Ethiopian people celebrated 2008; Happy New Year!

I enjoyed making Happy New Year cards to share with my friends and the Mezezo community!

Now for some brief background information about the Ethiopian Calendar: there are 13 months and each month has 30 days, except for the 13^th month.  The 13^th month, pagume, has 5 days most years, but 6 days when it is a leap year.  In Ethiopia, New Years is one of the greatest celebrations during the year.  In every household you can find people celebrating wearing traditional white cultural clothes, and enjoying together with:

·      Difo dabo (large bread made for holidays)

·      Tela (homemade beer, made from barley

·      Buna (coffee, freshly roasted and ground by hand)

·      Injera (the national food)

·      Doro wot (chicken stew with eggs) and/or other siga wot (meat stews)

·       

All families celebrate with the same foods and drinks, which I find to be a very neat part of the culture!!

The New Years Celebration in Mezezo was wonderful.  There was a great deal of preparation all week, as women washed clothes, prepared bread and injera, and cleaned their homes.  On New Years Eve (Pagume 6, the 6^th day of the 13 month), which fell on a Friday, I enjoyed a coffee ceremony and dinner with my compound family, and watched the New Years program on TV.  There was no “ball drop” but there was plenty of music, dancing and also speeches by well-respected people and leaders such as the President and Prime Minister.

As in Ethiopian culture, the dirt floor in my compound home was covered in grass for the holiday!

 On Saturday, the games began.  The day started with heavy rains and it was very cold even by my standards.  As a thick fog spread over the town, we stayed inside and visited, waiting for my compound Dad to return from the town (a 5 minute walk from home), where he went to collect the 20 USD (400 birr) worth of meat that he purchased.  The meat was prepared fresh (to put it in non-graphic terms) that morning, and soon my compound Dad returned with a large grocery bag full to the brim of fresh meat.  Fresh is taken to a whole new level when as you’re eating meat with injera you realize that the animal was walking around 2 hours before. It also takes the term local and sustainable to a whole new level!  It really makes me ponder and think about food systems elsewhere in the world, but that is a topic for another day and another blog J

Celebrating with Addis, a friend from Mezezo!

Back to New Years Day; breakfast consisted first of a coffee ceremony and bread, while the meat was cut and Tibs were prepared.  Tibs consists of small pieces of meat cooked in oil, along with onion and green pepper, served with injera and a local spice called “meatmetah”.  We ate together (my compound parents and two of my compound father’s children ages 28 and 35), and then visited together while my compound Dad cut the raw meat; it took him a good 2.5 hours.  I wanted to help, but it involves a special technique with no cutting board and using your hands to cut it into a long string-like shape, and I am not quite that advanced in Ethiopian culture.. yet.  Stay tuned for next year…

Just part of the pile of meat that my compound dad cut!

 At noon, I dressed in my cultural dress and headed into town where I had many invitations waiting.  At each home they had prepared exquisite food and also coffee and bread, and so the continuous feast began.  Spending this special day with so many of my Ethiopian friends and family in Mezezo was truly delightful!

A quick photo at my compound with Hibist, my friend and running partner, before venturing into town!

Upon returning home for lunch (which now was essentially my 4^th lunch), a group of 7 kids followed me and as I arrived they began singing to me and clapping.  Luckily I was prepared because other children came earlier during breakfast and did the same thing, and I learned it is a New Years tradition.  Children go from home to home and sing, and then the family gives the children 1-2 birr (20 birr=1 USD).  The kids are very creative and they sing the same general song but change the words depending on the audience.  For my song they included my name and other details that I couldn’t quite make out amidst the clapping and laughing!

 

The group of 7 kids singing and clapping for me!

Sunday, the 2^nd day of 2008 was equally as full of celebration as the day before.  Many people invited me to their homes and I celebrated at 5 different homes and unfortunately had to turn down a few others because I was stuffed to the brim!  Talking with the community of Mezezo on this special day, it was clear how proud the community is of the uniqueness of Ethiopia and how eager they are to share their culture and this special celebration with me.  Everyone had questions about how Americans celebrate New Years, and they asked my impression of the holiday.  It was hard to express my gratitude joy, and awe of the great holiday to my friends and family in Amharic, but I hope my smiling face, very full stomach, and cultural dress helped to get the point across!

Celebrating with Itagenyish, who is like my Ethiopian mom!

Ethiopia truly is a land of “13 months of sunshine.”  It is a special and unique place, with such rich and diverse culture; truly amazing.  What an incredible experience, and cheers to 2008; in Amharic, latenachin!!!

Celebrating with Sosina and Addis, two beautiful sisters!