Kat's Ethio-Blog: 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.