Research status

I haven’t written much about my research, though that is part of the objective of keeping this blog. I arrived in Addis about 7 weeks ago and my research objective at that time had several components:

1)      To establish connections with officials and experts in Addis in order to collect about 25 interviews at the national level.

2)      To gain permission to enter the dam site and conduct interviews in the region.

3)      To connect with researchers at the main university, Addis Ababa University, in the hope of including them in my field work or research somehow.

4)      To gain an understanding of the general issue of the dam in Ethiopia.

5)      To figure out logistics for field work and how to live and operate in Ethiopia.

6)      To study Amharic language.

I waited to write about the research project until I actually had something to share. As circumstances are when you travel, things can connect in a myriad of complicated, and surprising, but very helpful ways. I attribute this to the Divine guiding the way as long as we are open and flexible. I have also had to trust strangers, and though most of this time this yields great results, it can also backfire, so I have to learn to be more discerning in the future. In regard to my objectives…I bagged the idea of learning such a complicated language in such a short period, and although I have gained permission to access the dam, I am still working on gaining permission to speak with the people who will be relocated because of the dam.  

Deciding to stay with the Franciscans when I first arrived was a very wise choice, as from there I started my Addis Ababa network. Within about 5 weeks of arriving in Ethiopia, I collected the first half of the interviews for my research, successfully traveled to the dam site with the project manager, and located a translator of Gumuz language.

My design calls for about 25 interviews at the national level (with officials) and 25 interviews at the local level (with stakeholders). The interviews I’ve conducted thus far are of the former, and have included employees of the Ethiopian government, UN, and other international development agencies, professors at Addis Ababa University, and members of NGOs, or as they are referred to in Ethiopia, civil society. I have also spoken informally about the dam project with taxi drivers, cooks, teachers, nurses, park guides, priests, students, and just about anyone here as it turns out this dam may be the important project in Ethiopia. Drawings of the dam appear on billboards around Addis. This became more prevalent after the late Prime Minister Meles passed away, as it was largely his push that started this project.

Ethiopians are paying for the project themselves and almost the entire working society has contributed some portion of their salary, usually one month’s worth, to help build the dam. They are publicly pledging to do this a second time now, after Meles’ death. What I have found so far is that although this dam is about development, in Ethiopia and the East Africa region, also the dam is just as importantly about national identity and an Ethiopian renaissance.

The challenge in working on any politically charged issue, really anything related to water, is in finding the right path to conducting research safely and effectively. In the case of Ethiopia, there is a very complicated system of official permissions that I am still in the process of obtaining in order to continue my work on the local level. The region where the dam is being constructed has about three checkpoints for access with federal police. I cannot just move about freely and as I am a guest in this country, I should not expect to. I am not a journalist looking for a scoop, but an academic looking to get a thorough understanding of a phenomenon. I am very pleased with how open and friendly the Ethiopian government has been in my requests to have access to information surrounding this very high profile project.

An example of how things move: I wrote about some of my Sodo experiences in a previous post. One of the days while in Sodo, Abba (meaning Father) Ayele and I went to an official Meles funeral. We were seated with the authorities in a special section and I can write about what being up on stage in front of 100,000 grieving Ethiopians is like some other time. At this event, Abba Ayele introduced me to a manager of the construction firm, Salini. This guy had just delivered a diplomatic speech at the event and was being ushered to a car and back to the dam site of Gibe III (a controversial dam being constructed in Ethiopia on the Omo River). As we were walking in this throng of people from the stadium, he passed on the phone number of an employee of the government run Electric Power company in Addis. When I returned to Addis, I phoned this young man and he met me for coffee. He explained that in order to have permission to enter the dam site, I should approach the CEO of the company and ask, providing him with a letter of explanation from my university. That same day I decided to do just that, as I felt in a rush to make sure I got some data in the case that things got too chaotic politically with the death of the leader. I went to the head offices of this power company, went up to the CEO’s office and spoke with his secretary. I provided my letter. At first she said she would pass it on and I was dismissed. I said I preferred to wait. We then engaged in some small talk as she worked. Some 15 minutes passed. She then got up to check if he was in his office. He was, and she gestured for me to enter. For the next 45 minutes we had a very engaging conversation. He strikes me as a brilliant man and felt inspired in his presence about the future of Ethiopian development. I was totally floored when he not only said he would give me the appropriate permissions, but wanted to arrange and sponsor my visit to the dam with the project manager. A week later, I did just that.

Over the interim week I met with several other employees of the company to learn more about the overall national energy strategy, and then the project manager, Engineer Semegnew. He explained that he would arrange everything and that we should travel after the Ethiopian New Year. So that is how I found myself flying to the Assosa, the nearest town to this megaproject, then traveling over dirt potholed roads through vast amazingly beautiful landscape and (forged through) rivers for 3 hours, with the lead engineer and project manager and the Ethiopian Television crew. I stayed on location for 4 days and I saw firsthand how much work has gone into just one year’s worth of construction. There is no question that the Ethiopian government is building this dam. I had access, through this visit, to the remote and beautiful Blue Nile river valley, and saw the Ethio-Sudan borderlands. I also had the opportunity for walks in the hot humid afternoons to look at the super diverse array of birds. But what I didn’t have was access to speak with the local people.

Arriving in Ethiopia with a weak initial network, I have been able to regardless move quickly to finish all of the official level interviews I am interested in collecting to this point. I am totally appreciative that things have gone this way. The idea was to gain an understanding, through the general trends of answers to 7 questions I developed about the dam. The returns were, what is called, saturated, by the 11^th or so interview. I was at first disbelieving, but after confirmed and interested to find that out of all of my interviews, not one person in Ethiopia that I have met objects the dam. This dam appears to transcends politics, age, whatever and reaches into the hearts of Ethiopian national identity. 

Addis Ababa from the air

 Airport in Assosa

 Coffee ceremony in Assosa

 We got a flat en route to the dam...

 the road for three hours

 the Grand Renaissance Dam site

 The Blue Nile Valley that will be flooded for the reservoir

 Ethio-Sudan border town.

 New bridge across the Nile river downstream of the dam

New Year in Addis

Ethiopian New Year is on September 11th. Leading up to the New Year celebration the mood started to change in Addis. I realized that since I arrived the country has been in mourning. First for the Patriarch, and then for the Prime Minister. This shift in people's spirits was totally uplifting. The radio started playing the upbeat Ethiopian folk music, people were busy buying new clothes or animals at the informal markets around the city, there were more smiles and laughter. It is good to see the Ethiopian people moving past this difficult time. There is still much regret about losing their leader, but you can see things changing. Simultaneously, the weather is changing. We are moving out of the monsoon rainy season into summer and the dry season.

I was living with an Ethiopian family for two weeks, but decided that I needed more time to work on my research than was afforded me at the house. The six hours of tutoring a week agreement changed to many more hours and I could not commit to this given the speed of my data collection and the brief amount of time I am actually in Ethiopia. I have moved again in with a religious community, the Christian Brothers. They teach at and run most of the Catholic schools throughout the country. This time to a wonderful neighborhood of families and activities - it is technically a slum, but this word has such negative connotation. The neighborhood is called Kechene. The houses are made of corrugated iron and there are communal water taps, much like Sister Carol's neighborhood. But there are women washing clothes, dogs and children running around, and constant activity and movement along the street. I love it. People walk up along side me to chat or seek shelter under my umbrella if it is raining, and kids come up to shake my hand. When I first arrived I never took their hand as I was too concerned with germs. Now I always take the hand offered. For one thing, it is important and polite. For another, there is a culture of handwashing in Ethiopia. I have not been in many bathrooms without soap and people wash their hands before any meal as they eat with their hands. The compound is surrounded by a cemetery, and beyond that on one end is a Mosque, the other end an Orthodox church. The calls to prayer compete in the evenings and it is quite a cool sound to listen to. The dogs in our compound howl when this starts up. It is quite the humorous thing. I still continue to see and try to mentally log all manner of different bird species. I wish I had that East African bird field guide I hear so much about.

the house in old airport where I lived with the family

the Christian Brothers community room

 the kids I took care of for two weeks

 Kelemwork and the New Year breakfast spread - injera is the traditional "bread" seen here in rolls in the basket.

 The guard Wolke and driver at the family's house

 Coffee ceremony with Belaye

 Lala the dog

For the New Year there were men standing with flocks of sheep and goats in every muddy empty lot. People led the animals away and brought them home to slaughter. It is tradition here to slaughter an animal to eat for the feast day. Also traditional is on New Year's Eve to build a bonfire. I did this with the kids and working staff in the Ethiopian family's compound. We had special bundled wood, not sure which tree it came from, that we all were meant to put into the bonfire and hold over the flame while singing a song. The song is a call and response and I found it easy to catch on and join the singing. The song was asking if you'd seen the flowers that grow in the spring here - we have been in their "winter", really cold monsoon season. I haven't actually seen these flowers yet, but I am told they grow in this period in and around the city. We lit off two roman candles and then as the fire died down, I was told that we were meant to jump over the flames. This is symbolic of cleansing the previous year and moving fresh into the new one. It felt exhilarating to jump the fire and also good to make this symbolic act and move into a new experience.

lot near to where I lived in Old Airport with small remaining herd on the day of the holiday and remnants pile. this place was full of animals the day before.

 negotiating over the hides

typical rainstorm in addis

guard slaughtering the sheep

new neighborhood - walk to Addis Ababa University in the early morning

After I watched as the Ethiopians demonstrated traditional dance moves and the daughter competed with modern ones. We all had a good laugh and even Lala, the resident poodle, joined our party. The night before was my first night out in Addis to check out the live music scene. I went with an Ethiopian colleague to a traditional house that is geared toward special events and tourism. The musicians play traditional instruments and there are dancers. I didn't have my camera with me for this, sorry. The people in the hall were dressed to the nines. There are about 80 ethic groups in Ethiopia and the different regions have distinctly different music and dancing. So the performers went through these and the dancers came into the audience to get audience participation. I found myself doing the shoulder dance - you can find this easily on youtube. The movement and beats to some of the Ethiopian music are very exotic for our ears and eyes. In fact some of the movements look otherworldly. Overall it is a very happy and high energy type of music and dancing. After the traditional place we went to one jazz joint that was finished and then to an underground Ethiopian music club. The sound was entirely too loud in this place and I could not hear properly for two days afterward. But Ethiopian reggae may convince me to start listening to reggae again. The club was hosting a singing competition. Three different performers cycled with the band and all the Ethiopian men were on their feet dancing traditional dances. Again, this music, though electrified and accompanied with bass guitar, had particular regional origins and there are corresponding dances. In Ethiopia, the dance scene is just the opposite of the States. Groups of men get up and dance together and the women hang back. When I could stand it no longer, I got up to dance and to my relief, a group of Ethiopian women from the next table got up to dance as well. It felt great to be out and dancing and happy.

A typical day in Addis includes the line taxis. These are minibuses that are almost all falling apart. They are painted blue and white, as are the private taxis, but cost only 2 birr rather than 80 birr to get across town. There is 17 birr to $1.00. There are boys who call out the destination of the taxi and you find them clustered in groups in certain areas of the city. Usually you can stand on the street of a given line and hail one down. They pack these things to the gills and people will sit on the sideboards and wooden benches improvised alongside the proper seats. These felt very novel when I first started to take them, but now to me they are just essential for travel around Addis. The offices I visit are usually very far apart. During the holiday people were even transporting tied up sheep and chickens either in the back or just at our feet.

Yesterday morning I woke up to the bleating of a sheep in our yard. One of the guard then sat in front of this sheep as it was eating to sharpen his knife. I had to leave the compound for a meeting, but in order to do so, I had to pass the slaughter. I tried to get out before it happened, but I was too late and then had to wait as the animal struggled with its throat slit on the ground. It all happened very quickly, and when the man had tied the animal upsidedown to the tree, I was able to pass by without feeling squeemish. I just don't like to watch anything die. Last night the sheep was served for dinner, and though I really wanted to eat it as I love fresh meat, I couldn't bring myself to. I hope I get over this feeling, it seems a bit silly.

I have completed the first phase of my research in Addis. In my next post I will speak more about this and what comes next. I am about to travel again and may be traveling and in the field for the rest of my time in Ethiopia. I cannot believe how quickly the time has gone!

Ethiopia New Year approaches

I've been posting stories about Sodo, but that was two weeks ago. Since then I have been in Addis making good headway on my research. The weather is still cold and rainy and yesterday we even had a hail storm. I had to travel across town in a taxi and the streets were absolutely flooded. It was mayhem. When I am in Addis, between working with the two children I live with and my research, I do not have much downtime, excepting Saturday/Sunday afternoon/evenings.

Last weekend we went to the Mother Teresa orphanage for their birthday celebration. The kids put on a variety show. It was fun to participate in their celebration. There was funny moments when the kids would dance to Ethiopian music, then cut to American hiphop, then back to Ethiopian. The Ethiopian folk music caused the boys to smile and dance in a cute way, whereas the hiphop caused them to display attitude and pull breakdance moves. Another skit was a karate demo with some absolutely impressive moves. I sat next to a Benedictan monk from Yorkshire who was a character and enjoyable to converse with. Kelemwork brought her kids and also Sister Carol joined us. The funeral was on Sunday and it was announced that religious services had been cancelled, but we all went to the Vatican for the English language mass that was held. I met new Comboni Missionary priests from Mexico and Peru who were telling me the difficulties of learning the Amharic language.

This past Friday I thought I'd have a quiet day of library research. I had a meeting in the morning with the Director of the institute who helped me to obtain my visa and is meant to host me here. He reinforced that the institute is really not prepared or equipped, or maybe it is lack of willingness, to help with my research. But it matters little since I have been able to make such good contacts and headway regardless - with the generous help of the Catholic community here. Then I had a chance meeting with a guy I go to school with in Oregon. I just ran into him on the street. I had no idea he would be here, but he then offered to bring me to two offices I had been trying to locate in town (unfortunately the people at the Institute have mentioned that they know these offices but were unwilling to take me there or tell me where the offices are). The first offices we visited, the Nile Basin Initiative offices along with the an Ethiopian specific office for the Nile, were empty of any employees. We were told they were traveling. The second office seemed empty. We called the number and a woman answered saying she could see us on the street and let us in. I was met with a jovial and witty director who then spoke with me for the next 45 minutes about various things concerning the dam. This was not my plan and so I missed lunch and moved to yet another interview at an environmental NGO, did not get to the library at all, and finished my day around 6pm. All of this information is great to gather and I'd rather be spontaneous and go with any opportunity offered.

The story of this dam, from the national level, looks to be very different than I expected. I am interested to see what the results will be once I move to a local level of interviews. I am optimistic about the future of Ethiopia and this region in general. It seems that if conflict can remain out of the way, internal or otherwise, the countries of Eastern Africa have a great opportunity to develop.

The New Year is marked with the buying of sheep or goats and at many places around town you see herders with a mess of the animals for sale and people leading them away by one leg or on a string. Right now there is singing in the air and apparently on the holiday eve there are bonfires and feasts. I don't know what I will be doing for the holiday, myself. I am told that once the New Year passes, the rains stop, and sunshine returns. I look forward to sunshine and summer weather.

I met with some American neighbors last night who live just across the street from where I am living. One man is the friend of a friend in the States, and we laughed at the strange coincidence of realizing that we lived just across the way from one another. They have lived here for 2 years and have a pet tortoise that they rescued from the street. He and his wife hosted dinner and another couple living next door joined. They work for Catholic Relief Services. I may go up and speak with people in their offices about the water projects they are working on in Ethiopia. We had a delicious meal, followed by interesting conversation, wine, and a warm fire. It was an evening of comfort and normalcy that I find, to my surprise, that I miss, and I had a great time with them, though it has made me a bit homesick.

My friend Father Ayele is leaving to his post in the Omo River Valley on Wednesday morning. I will miss him. But, I too plan to travel from Addis very soon, as my interviews are almost complete at the national level. Right now I plan to travel to the south, stay at the convent to process my data, and take a few days off to go to Bale National Park. If you are coming to Ethiopia, please let me know. I'd love to have someone to trek around the Simien Mountains with!