thinking about how far I've come in the past 14 months…and about how
far I still have to go in the next year. I remember stepping off of
that plane exhausted, disoriented, and terrified. Lugging my 80+
pounds of luggage to the bus they had rented for us and staring,
stunned, at the city, which was empty as we drove through it around 10
pm, on our way to the hotel. I remember thinking, more than once,
"what have I gotten myself into?"
With this new group arriving, and with the departures from Bahir Dar
of two dear friends (one a short term intern from Germany, the other
Teddy, my first friend at I-TECH), I've been imagining my own
departure. It's hard to fathom. I can't picture what it would be like
to say goodbye to these people, to this place, that has become my
home. I suppose that's a good sign—that I am indeed settled here. I
have a feeling that, for better or for worse, that this next year is
going to fly by.
It's been a while since I've posted an update. I moved into a new
house about a month ago. My old landlord, not unsurprisingly, given
ridiculous inflation, tried to increase my rent when my contract ran
out in October. The surprise was that he wanted to raise it by almost
50%. So, with the help of just about everybody I know in Bahir Dar, I
found a new place, not far from the old, and moved in. I love this new
place, and kind of can't quite remember how I survived a year in the
old one. I have a kitchen, an indoor bathroom, and quite a bit more
room than in the old house. And particularly nice is the fact that I'm
not alone on my compound any more. There's a wonderful family sharing
the yard with me. Mom, Tsehay (which means "sun") is a jewel: kind and
helpful and with such a warm smile. She often brings me an injera and
a little pot of wot if there's extra. Dad works for the Ministry of
Capacity Building and is often out in the field, but also seems quite
nice. Two kids, Tsion (age 9), and Beniam (age 4), are super sweet,
though still a little bit shy and not quite sure of what to make of a
ferenji living on their compound. They both go to a good private
school in town, and are learning English. Yesterday Tsion came to my
door after school, her first exams of the year in hand. She wanted to
show me how well she was doing (20/20 in English!). I gave her a
high-five. She also drew a rabbit for me to put up on my wall, having
seen drawings from other kids hanging there. Beniam won't really talk
to me yet, but I can see by his shy smile that he wants to like me. We
have a full year—I'm sure he'll be my buddy by the time I leave here.
Holiday time again now, and much better than last year. I remember
being lonely and unsure of myself last year. At Christmastime, we'd
only been in Bahir Dar a little over a week. It's so nice to have
friends and a home and to know how things work here. We orchestrated,
along with 6 volunteers, a huge Thanksgiving celebration at Charlie &
Dee's (my adopted parents here) house, complete with a turkey special
ordered from the US Embassy. What a treat! Their house is lovely and
warm, and they're incredibly generous. A friend from the States had
come for a visit, and acted as a Thanksgiving-food-mule, delivering
cranberries, huge golden onions, celery, and sweet potatoes. Charlie
and Dee's guard didn't even recognize the onions—they look nothing
like our little tiny red onions here. We shared an incredible dinner
(how good to have such friends!), and then spent the afternoon
painting a mural on the inside of Charlie and Dee's gate.
My parents are arriving in Ethiopia in less than three weeks. I know
that they're excited about seeing my life here, and I'm excited to
show them around. It will be interesting to see how they react to life
here. Sometimes it's easy to forget, in the routine of it all, how
different my life here is. I know that all of my friends here are
eager to meet them, as well.
What else? I'm struggling again with finding productive work, but am,
at least, making progress on my thesis. The goal is to have my
proposal done and submitted to the ethical review boards in the US and
Ethiopia by the first of the year. I'm planning to look at the
factors—demographic, clinical, and social—that are associated with
poor outcomes in the first six months of HIV treatment. We're seeing a
lot of clients coming in to the hospital acutely sick, getting tested
for HIV and started on treatment, and then never showing up again.
Will be interesting to see if we can sort out just who the patients
are who are most likely to drop out of care. I'm also hoping to
conduct (through a translator) a few interviews, to try to tease out
some of the problems people encounter with HIV treatment. My best
guess is that transport costs, fear of stigma (and therefore not
telling others about the treatment and not having any social support),
and perhaps drug and alcohol use, will show up as issues. But I
suppose I'll have to wait for the data to tell me…
So life is fine here. It's starting to feel like I've been away for a
very long time, and I'm sure that it will be nice to have a short
break with my parents (and who wouldn't be excited about spending a
few days on the beach in Zanzibar?!). I miss all of my friends and
family back in the States (and around the world…). Know that I'm
thinking of you often, and particularly during the holidays. Hope that
you're all well.
