Woo, it has been an exhausting yet incredibly interesting and informative week. On 10 January, 20 college students from the University of Maryland came on a short-term (10 day) service trip that their Hillel runs with the JDC.
Menahem, Sam, and I, along with their staff/capitan Ellie, and other JDC employees were given the opportunity to show them around Addis Ababa, as well as Gondar, in the north of Ethiopia. While in Addis they got to check out the clinic where Rick works, as well as do a little bit of sight seeing and shopping. After they had gotten a feel for Ethiopian culture, food, and people, I accompanied them to Gondar. There, we went straight to work, helping to construct a building that would soon become a schools library. In addition, we helped to de-worm over 400 kids from ages 6-16.
For my part, I found my time with the Maryland group very interesting, and my time in Gondar quite eye-opening. I got to see another side of Ethiopia, and listening to their reactions and answering their questions in short helped me to see new perspectives. Hearing from the college kids made me understand better what someone at home, for instance, will want to know, and this in turn will assist me in explaining (hopefully) what my experience here has been like... no easy task.
I thought Gondar itself was incredible. The mountains were stunning, the work incredibly meaningful and tangible, and the air just a bit fresher than smoggy Addis. The only thing that I didn't really enjoy were kids shouting money money money and you you you at our cars. Maybe they're more vocal, or haven't seen any white people, or maybe, I started thinking, all other white people do is actually give them money. Not stick around and actually try to make some long lasting difference. I still have to think about this, the benefits and cons of bringing in a lot of young foreigners to work, and how to best communicate to both groups of people what is going on, and what it is supposed to mean.
Sadly yesterday I received some tragic news, and in addition my computer seems to be broken. The start of the weekend hasn't been super easy for me, but being in Ethiopia, and hearing about the passing of a dear friend, really makes me appreciate where I am in the moment. Although I'm really really bummed about my computer, I am happy to say that I think this year has been good to me in that I know now more than ever what is really important in life and to enjoy every day.
On the lighter side, I also got to hang out with the JSC volunteers in Gondar, Max and Liz, who are super sweet and great people. I am excited for them to visit Addis soon. Besides this, I am recuperating from 14 hour work days, and am planning to enjoy tomorrow's national holiday Timkat or Ethiopian Epiphany. The people are already out on the street, and the flags are all over, The traffics getting bad and since I'm going to have to walk everywhere because of this, I better watch where I step because there will be loads of mass re-baptisms going on all day!!
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