Lexxie: Drama Queen Gets a Haircut!

Let's face it when most of us go to a Hair Salon, we're excited.  It's makeover time: a new haircut, maybe new colour to create a whole new look; it's all good!  Somehow when I pull out our Lulu Bag of Grooming Tools, Lexxie always attempts or tries to make a fast exit. She doesn't buy-in to the make-over concept.

Going somewhere Lexxie?

 Paul and I are dumbfounded, but not surprised when Lexxie, AKA the Drama Queen (DQ), does her 'dead man walking' routine.

Paul, put down the book! Lexxie has escaped!

Why does she feel so threatened by our attempts to make her into her birthright: a poodle? It seems she would be just as happy being a dust mop, rather than a groomed poodle. Desperate times, call for desperate measures. Paul and I know we're not trained 'groomers', but "necessity is the mother of invention." Living in Ethiopia has transformed us into reluctant groomers. Lexxie attempts to run, but she cannot hide. She behaved the same way in Ottawa when I took her in for grooming. She shakes like a leaf, yelps when you pick her up and uncontrollably displays her 'Elvis' curl when we touch her feet. We don't take it personally. She's just being a DQ.  Sunday marked the day slated for "poodle clean-up" and Paul and I were the reluctant dispensers of this honour.

Paul began by brushing her:

All smiles: the calm before the storm.

 For those of you who are familiar with the 'Elvis' curl, you will notice the beginnings of one in the picture below. She doesn't like anyone touching or brushing her legs so she's getting ready to lunge and her mouth is beginning to curl into a snarl. The good thing (for Paul!) is she doesn't try to bite, but rather, tries to nudge or lick the hand away. The 'Elvis' curl is her attempt to appear vicious or threatening.  It rarely works!

I dare you to touch me with that brush.

There's no turning back now.  Paul has out the razor. We need the razor for her face and judging by her expression she doesn't agree and definitely doesn't like it.  Oh well, just add it to the list.  She hates everything connected to grooming.

I'm warning you.  Don't let that razor touch me.

She's only 4.1 kilo grams so her struggle with Paul is moot. Her expression and overall body language let you know she is not enjoying it one bit. You can't tell from a picture because our camera has motion stability, but she is just shaking like a leaf. She doesn't appear to have a tail and her back foot is balanced at the very edge of our cooler-table as she is just looking for the chance to take flight.  The very picture of a stressed DQ.

Disclaimer: To all would be poodle groomers, don't be distracted by the panting, the shaking, the whining and the lolling tongue.  These are just normal DQ tactics.  Remember: No poodle was hurt during the hair removal process.

Are you even listening? I said don't touch.

Little help here Ma! I'm starting to hyperventilate.

No, seriously, make him stop. My tongue is starting to restrict my breathing.

My tongue keeps growing and my hair is falling out. HELP!

....and the poodle is re-born or close enough.

Now that it's over she is so forgiving as she tears around the house, shaking off loose hair and rolling off the effects of her imagined torture. She even stops this typical routine (I'm free at last!) to pose for a shot of Paul's handiwork. Paul is becoming quite an accomplished groomer. In earlier attempts he left behind sideburns, which sadly, I missed too during my inspection. A lot of help I am. That caused a lot of laughter as the girls began calling her 'Wolverine'.  But these blunders have made Paul a better groomer and me, a better inspector.  Wolverine sideburns (as we affectionately refer to them as), and any excess hair, find their way to piles on the floor. Despite it all, we feel she's a lot better off; short term 'pain' for long term gain.

She twirls as her ears swirl around her head.

OK, I hear you. I'm beautiful, yada, yada, yada. But I still don't like grooming.

I'm begging you on my knees. No more grooming!

Oh yes, Lexxie is a Drama Queen! She can do all the begging she likes, but when her hair grows out again and she begins to resemble a dust mop, Paul and I will be back in business.

Journey to the South

Driving south of Addis Ababa we came upon the sprawling expanse of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (SNNPR). SNNPR  provides diverse scenery in its south-central location of Ethiopia. SNNPR is considered Ethiopia's most rural region.  Considering it is not currently rainy season I was surprised at how green the region was. Fields were being worked and there was more evidence of livestock being penned rather than roaming free. There are of course many livestock still roaming across the road, but in some cases enclosures were made. The landscape includes high and rugged mountain ranges, undulating plateaus and farm fields, stunning views of gorges and deep river valleys and grassy rolling plains. SNSF currently supports 8 woredas and 8 zones within this area. Our destination on this road trip was Sodo or also known as Wolaita Sodo. Sodo is a zonal headquarters and the woredas in that zone report to them. It is located only 200 kms from Addis, yet the drive (nothing unusual) took us close to 5 hours.  Roads though paved are winding, and drivers have to be alert to the dangers of  pot holes, and other road hazards like pedestrians, livestock, passing vehicles or vehicles swerving into your lane to avoid said hazards. The posted speed limit may be 80 km/hr, but this is only possible for very short stretches at a time and seriously not worth the risk.  

Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region

We left from Paul's office in Addis around 1:30 and we were in Sodo and checked in before 7.  The hotel here was much nicer than the one in Jijiga. We were met by the local food security co-ordinator, who had us already checked in and he then took us to a nice restaurant for dinner.  He had arranged for us to meet the following morning with members of the woreda office in Boloso Sore, just 20 minutes outside of Sodo.  This meeting was also being attended by Celeste (Deputy Head of Operations for the Canadian Embassy), as well as two senior representatives from the Ethiopian Government's Ministry of Finance and Economic Development. This was a meeting for the woreda to show the results of their hard work since the inception of this programme. For me it was an eye-opener.  I sat in the room among employees of the woreda office as their admin officer gave a PowerPoint presentation. Despite the fact that the presentation was made in English, by a non-Native English speaker, the enthusiasm and genuine buy-in to the programme's successes clearly came across.  During the Q &A afterwards there was full participation from the members as they addressed the questions from senior government representatives from both Canada and Ethiopia.  It was so rewarding to hear personal experiences and view evidence of activities that are working and having such a profound affect on the lives of beneficiaries. 

Afterwards Paul invited the members of the woreda office (@ 25) to join us for lunch. Among things I have come to love about Ethiopia is how friendly and genuine Ethiopians are.  It was nice to meet with them in such an informal setting as we sat at various tables and ate traditional Ethiopian fare: injera, lentils, spinach, and shiro. It was a Friday, which is a fasting day (sometimes hard to keep up!) so there was no meat served. It was very traditional (no cutlery) and I,  like a good habesha tore off pieces of injera and scooped up my food. I can do it in a pinch, but obviously still prefer the use of a knife and fork; to each his own. Another distinctive feature of rural Ethiopia is the cost of local food at a restaurant. 25 people ate all they could eat and drink and the total bill, with tip was 500 birr or around $25.00.  You are never going to beat those prices back home. 

After finishing lunch and bidding them farewell we continued north towards Addis.  We stopped again along the way at the woreda office in Lemo.  Lemo is another zonal centre, similar to Sodo.  It was an impromptu stop by Paul to see how the woreda office was doing and he was not disappointed. We were warmly greeted and members were open and willing to discuss and show us evidence of their work successes. 

Our journey home was long  and I must admit that for much of it I lay sprawled out in the back seat of our Ford Everest.  It's pretty comfortable despite the bumpy roads.  I did manage to take some pics which spoke to the rugged landscape complete with greenery, farmland, gorges, mountains and people. These pictures were also taken from the backseat of a moving car so please excuse the electrical lines and some poor definition; still don't really know the features on Paul's camera.  

Some houses were built back from the road

Stick wood frame construction

Plowed fields

Farm structures

Stores along the way

Loved the fact that livestock in this picture weren't on the road

Green, green, green

Mountain range landscape

Growing up nicely: false banana

Greenspace!

Journey to the East

Paul's development project encompasses a large portion of Ethiopia.  He manages the National office from Addis Ababa, but he also needs to travel to various regions, and woredas to assess progress.  On some of these excursions I have accompanied Paul.  These trips have broadened my perspective of Ethiopia and of the work and positive results of SNSF (Safety Net Support Facility).

My first trip with Paul was back in September when we visited Bahir Dar.  It was the first time going beyond the congested confines of Addis and it was like a breath of fresh air.  There was so much open land space, and much fewer people and cars. We also stayed at Kariftu which is a very nice resort by North American standards.  There was no roughing it here, but in my defence, this was my first road trip.

Fast forward 4 months and it was time for further discovery.  Paul asked me to accompany him to Jijiga, a city located in eastern Ethiopia. It is the capital of the Somali Region and it lies just 60 km west of the border with Somalia.  The most noticeable difference when entering Jijiga is the dominant presence of the ethnic group known as Somali.  They inhabit the Horn of Africa (Somali Peninsula) and they are predominantly Sunni Muslim. The language they speak, unlike Amharic which is spoken throughout the rest of Ethiopia, is Afro-Asiatic. Of course this didn't really matter much to me since I don't understand either language. Jijiga's close proximity to the Somalian border provides it with a convenient stronghold for smuggled contraband. Travellers going to and from Jijiga are given close inspection. We found time to visit the 'market' though surprising perhaps to some (?), I didn't buy anything.  The market is very large with many kiosks selling everything from clothes, shoes, material, cosmetics to household goods.  We didn't visit the electronic market, but apparently you can pick up cell phones, TVs, etc for a 'steal'.

The other distinguishing feature about Jijiga is the prevailing use of khat (pronounced 'chat').  Khat is a flowering green plant native to the Horn of Africa. It is an amphetamine-like stimulant and is said to cause excitement, loss of appetite and euphoria.  Khat enclosures (usually just a corrugated metal lean-to) line the streets in Jijiga and chewing khat is a very popular lunch hour past time.  Sacha remarked that these khat 'dens' are the reasons behind 1.5 hour lunch hours.  We were told that chewing khat is the equivalent of drinking 3-4 cups of very strong espresso.  It's not illegal and khat fields all over the area are doing a brisk business, however like any drug there are harmful side effects. It's sad because despite harmful side effects, there appears little reduction in consumption.

We flew to Jijiga from Addis and arrived Thursday before noon.  It's a short 2 hour flight, but our return trip home was by car, so that proved to be considerably longer albeit more scenic.  After the first hour (of a 10 hour trip) however, the scenery somehow lost it's appeal!  But, I digress.  Jijiga was my first experience with typical African travel.  We stayed at a hotel - 1 of only 2 in town where ferenjis stay- which gave new meaning to the term: 'bare bones'.  The room was clean, just very basic and somewhat run down.  They offered 'free wifi", but curiously, it only worked on my phone, not my laptop. There was a TV mounted on the wall (I believe it was a 12 inch), but it didn't work which was fine since I doubt there would have been any English channels. This hotel did offer excellent accommodation for the SNSF training event that was being presented, so it clearly served it's purpose.

The town is quite large (not by Addis standards), but there were only 2 restaurants (aside from the hotel's, which was fine) that Sacha (Mgr teaching the training) had gone to and felt were 'okay'.  It only takes experiencing the effects of "African Revenge" to make you cautious in your eating choices.  It's always wise to take the advice of someone (in this case Sacha) who has eaten at a restaurant. We weren't offered a menu as it appeared the only food being served was: injera, shiro (crushed chickpeas) and beef tibs (grilled with onions and peppers).  Didn't matter, the food was excellent. We sat outside on the patio and the place was just hopping - clearly a popular choice.  If not for the abundance of flies everywhere I would have had nothing to complain (only to Paul) about.  Later that evening we went to the other restaurant that was quite similar except this one had nice cold draft on tap.

After Paul's meeting the following morning we visited the market again because our travel companion, Sega (Paul's Admin) wanted to do a bit more shopping.  After lunch and shopping, we were on the road.  We cut up the trip by stopping 4 hours in and staying at a hotel in Dire Dawa called the Samrat.  This hotel was really nice, with pool, TV that worked, and a lovely restaurant that offered Western food.  The cost of our accommodations, including breakfast: 800 birr or around $40.  I will never quite get use to how reasonable (to down right cheap) the cost of living is here.

The rest of the trip was a lot of driving courtesy of  our driver Robel.  We didn't have our camera (d'oh) so I did the best I could using my phone. It wasn't like our safari of course, but we did manage to see a few baboons and lots of camels.  Camels are very common beasts of burden in these parts.  I found it fascinating to see them roaming about or being lead, laden with sacks or wood.  

Common sight on the streets of Jijiga

Rocks everywhere

Scenery along the way

Camels too!

They almost blend into the background.

My favourite trees: acacia

Rock formations are so 'henge' - like!