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!