COVID Delays and Other News

I have been vacillating between calling this update "A Middling 3 Weeks" and "A Covid Journey". I am writing on the eve of my much-anticipated departure from Addis to join my family back in Arusha for at least 3 weeks all together (before Rebecca comes to Addis for a few weeks in April). 

Rebecca gave an update on the family in the Tanzania blog a couple days ago, but I have been remiss in adding much on this end, because frankly, since their departure and return to Arusha, life here has been quite routine. I have needed to be in the office, which since it is located in our compound, does not even require me to open the front gate. (Hence, very few pictures in this update.)

Among the projects we are focused on, finding a way to respond to the Tigray crisis in Northern Ethiopia is one of our high priorities. The Ethiopia Mennonite Church (MKC) actually has about a dozen congregations in the region, and also has a fairly high capacity relief and development department that has submitted a proposal to distribute much-needed food aid to communities in which they are located.

I had a chance to discuss this with pastors and church leaders from the region who were in Addis for a trauma healing workshop. They described extensive property damage from burning and looting, a breakdown of civil order in areas that have been abandoned by the Tigray Party (TPLF) but not under Govt. control either. Many have fled, there is no electricity, medical supplies, and acute shortage of food as well as means to buy anything. 

We are hoping to do a procurement of teff (grain for injera bread) as well as blankets through MKC to support about 700 of the most vulnerable people in two of the cities that have not been effectively reached by other aid organizations.  

This is a good point to break off and talk a little bit about COVID and weighing risk and urgency in terms of deciding what I can and can't do of my job here. The positivity rate has been steadily climbing in Addis since my arrival. It was at about 8% when I got here and this week it was up to 25% on several days last week. That is alarmingly high. I avoid going out a lot, but I have gone shopping for groceries, and occasionally gone to the large (50 meter) outdoor pool in Laphto Mall to swim. I always wear a mask, and in fact, we only allow 4 people to work in our offices at a time and we wear masks, even though we are in separate rooms, the whole day when we are in there. 

But the visit to discuss the Tigray with pastors put me in a situation where many people coming from rural areas were not fully compliant with COVID protocol, and the meeting was not something that I was in charge of. In order to be there I had to weigh the importance of the discussion, and my own risk tolerance when I was one of the few wearing a mask. (I do now have a way of stapling a surgical mask to it fits like an n95, something I have had to learn as I find more and more COVID fatigue and non-compliance as the duration of this plague continues to extend.) Gone are the days for me when I will ever wear a cloth mask assuming that I will protect you while you protect me. 

All that to say, I felt the meeting was worth the risk. To hear firsthand, reports from Tigray to be able to communicate back to our constituents seems very important now. This is a major crisis that actually threatens to destabilize the country. There is a power struggle that falls on old ethnic fault lines, but also involves some opportunistic revenge killings by Eritrean forces who have had a longstanding hostile relationship with the TPLF. In the news, you may have heard of a number of reported atrocities and stories of ethnic cleansing. From what I am hearing, the situation is complex and involves historic animous and concern about legitimate provocation from the TPLF who would like to be back in political power nationally. 

Besides that meeting, however, I have not been among large groups of people very often, preferring to keep to myself. The exception is church which has strict COVID protocols. The past two Saturdays I have gone back up to the Entoto Mountain Park which is a great place to walk a 10k (or run if one was so inclined) It offers a very long steep descent which you then have to ascend again, the 10,000ft altitude provides a workout for the lungs as well. 

I have been swimming about twice per week. From Arusha, in the cold season, I have become acclimatized to very cold water, and I would say that the pool water here is at the lowest point in that season. I try to swim 2 kilometers, which takes just under an hour, but on a few occasions, I was not able to stay in the water that long, even swimming furiously. You can just feel your body temp. dropping each minute. Even getting out requires a kind of slow rewarming to get back to normal. Still, I do have a bit of an addiction to a very cold water swim. 

The other big work event has been a process of hiring a new staff member. Sisay, our food security program manager will be taking a position with MCC Malawi and we are in the process of replacing him. Because of a quick turnaround time, we have been doing this as expeditiously as possible. I was supposed to be here until last Wednesday but realized I needed to stay until at least Monday to be here to finish all the interviews we wanted to do (a huge sacrifice because our family has been really strained from 8 weeks of me being away). It was an interesting setup interviews with Rebecca and Sarah, our regional HR manager, in Arusha and Kigali respectively, then Solomon, our program officer, and me in Addis live, with the candidate. It worked quite well and we set up a good socially distant room arrangement to make it possible. We finished on Tuesday just on time for my rescheduled flight on Wednesday.

I know air travel is discouraged in the US for good reason. Internationally countries do allow travel but require a negative COVID test within 48-72 hours of flying in order to board. I don't know how often readers of this blog go in for COVID tests, but I am guessing if you are not a health professional, it is not too often. The PCR test, the one we get, as most know involves a fairly unpleasant swab jab deep into the nasal sinus cavity. One of the most annoying feeling procedures I have endured. But it is nearly masochistic to endure it as often as we have in order to travel for work. I feel like I get one about once per month. 

For travel, one does not expect to get a positive result if one is asymptomatic, and the biggest shock of this past Tuesday was a call from the clinic where I went to tell me I had received a positive result. I was frankly stunned, devastated, and very anxious simultaneously. Stunned--because I just did not believe it was possible for a person of my age to have it and be completely asymptomatic and feel, frankly, fantastic. Devastated-- because there was no way I had time to get another test that would allow me to travel the next morning. Anxious--because if it was accurate, then I was probably pre-symptomatic had the prospect of becoming seriously ill, alone and away from family in Addis. 

I spent the next 2 days assuming that every time I cleared my throat it was an indication that I did indeed have COVID. (Note: I did not give up my brutal 30minute HIIT routine every morning!) Finally, on Thursday I went back because I just did not believe it was possible that I had it. I got the result that night-- negative, and quickly booked a flight for Saturday, which at the writing of this blog is tomorrow. I am counting the extra week of being here as a trial, and an opportunity to feel grateful for the chance to go back to be with my family. I hope I can be a more patient parent after enduring all of that.

I will say by way of prologue that I did not waste time around the compound doing nothing. One of the more rewarding tasks was doing some rearranging of furniture in the house to make it more our place. After all we inherited fully furnished from the previous reps. I have put up a few photos showing my efforts. I have expanded the living room out and moved another table into the dining room. Interestingly, it looks a lot like Charter Hall now, the place we spent a lot of 2020 in lockdown. It was a very peaceful place, so perhaps the resemblance is not a coincidence. 

Tomorrow I fly out to spend about 6 weeks in Arusha before returning here. I will update on the Tanzania blog. 

Rep Sendoff and a Field Visit to Ziway

Once again, time slips by without an update and I look back on the jam-packed last two and a half weeks and feel daunted by the prospect of documenting them. There are a number of highlights that I will capture here. 

As mentioned in the last entry, we have been (and now completed), our Rep transition to Ethiopia. That is not to say that the whole family has moved here, but the steps in taking the reigns of the Ethiopian program is now complete. It started with me alone coming for three weeks but was then joined by Rebecca and the boys for the last week of transition with Bruce and Rose. 

To say those days were filled seems a bit of an understatement. When the family arrived on a Thursday night I moved out of the container guest room I was staying in at the MCC compound and moved up to a nearby guesthouse with the family. It had a very commanding view of the city from its roof.

The next morning we headed to the MCC compound and Rebecca spent the day with our accountant Yerusalem and Bruce learning about the financial system here. I should mention as well that Wawa, the MCC Area Representative was visiting as well, so all of us were involved in orienting Rebecca and Wawa to the context here. 

David had a great time playing with his new pet dogs, Friday and Bella, and tending chickens and collecting eggs. He was really ready to move in fully. 

Wawa was also here to debrief with Bruce and Rose as they completed their assignment, as well as participate in festivities around their departure. The most elaborate one was an all-partner gathering at a hotel to which a representative from all MCC partners was invited. It was both an opportunity to say goodbye to Bruce and Rose, and to welcome Rebecca and I. Wawa played the role of master of ceremonies for the event. 

Prior to any departure activities, however, we had an out-of-town field visit which also allowed the family and Wawa to get a taste of the countryside outside of Addis. We departed for Ziway, a small town on a lake to the South of Addis. We left on a Sunday right after church. It was good to be able to go to the International Lutheran Church as a family since this is almost certainly where we make a church home here in Addis. Although smaller, it is not unlike our church in Arusha. Both Oren and David were able to connect with some potential new friends their age during the fellowship time right after the service. 

We returned to the MCC compound and Wawa, and my family got on a mini-bus rented for the purpose of taking us to Ziway along with Solomon our Peace and Education Coordinator (and translator during this visit as well). The trip took about 5 hours including a stop for lunch at a nice little restaurant next to a strawberry field. One of the features was a strawberry smoothie--made entirely of blended strawberries. 

We arrived in Ziway at the hotel where we were staying, which was right next to the lake (Haile Resort). We were a bit worried about how crowded the place would be as there was a large wedding celebration going on there during our arrival. Fortunately, they were not overnight guests and it settled down by evening. We were COVID wary the whole time and chose to wear masks indoors and did all of our dining on a patio next to the restaurant. The food was good and accommodations comfortable. Sadly the lakefront right by the hotel was completely overrun with water hyacinth which made fishing or even seeing the water impossible. 

Rebecca and I took a short walk down the shore to a kind of pier to explore the possibility of fishing elsewhere as David had his heart set on it. From the pier, we had a great view of a variety of species of birds (although maribou storks were by far the most common). We were also surprised by a hippopotamus that swam by the pier--not an animal I was expecting to see here.

On day two, we had a plan for a full day of field visits to one of our church partners (BCDA--under the Beza church), who was doing a school WASH project at 3 primary schools in the town. Among the most important contributions they were making was the construction of an improved latrine system at each school along with shallow wells to give access to water for handwashing and drinking. To understand the need for such an intervention, imagine a school of 1500 students served by two rudimentary pits dug into the ground, protected by a doorless shack. the problem of open defecation on the school grounds, a serious health hazard, was understandable. The intervention also provided girls with washable, reusable sanitary napkins, a provision that greatly reduces absence rates among girls. 

We left in the morning and met Gemedi, the project manager, at his office and traveled with him to visit 2 of the 3 schools. At the first one, we were able to meet the 'sanitation committee' which included school officials as well as parents who talked quite a bit about the need for this. We also met a student hygiene club and heard them talk about their work at improving sanitation on school grounds. I was very grateful to have Solomon along as a translator so we could understand what was being said. 

At the second school, we met with school staff and were given a tour of the current sanitation facilities. There were two stalls for the entire student body. The water source was nowhere near the facilities so handwashing was not possible after using the toilet. It was again a reminder of what we can take for granted coming from a North American context. 

We returned in the afternoon and Solomon arranged a boat trip for our family. It was enjoyable going out on the lake. David and I both tried fishing off the boat but had no luck despite the fact we were told there were a lot of catfish. We did circle a small island aptly named 'bird island' which seemed to be a nesting site for numerous species of waterfowl including, spoonbills, pelicans, cormorants, and herons. 

David and I tried fishing off the shore once we returned but sadly never caught a fish. Our family enjoyed playing cards before dinner, and read stories before bed. 

The next morning we did a second series of field visits, this time to a project run by the MKC, the Ethiopia Mennonite Church. It was a women's empowerment project and was focused at helping very marginalized, vulnerable, women and girls learn entrepreneurship skills and start a small business. The beneficiaries targeted in this project were women who had been forced into lives as sex workers because of poverty and had contracted HIV/AIDS. Although they had access to ARVs through the govt., they desperately needed an opportunity to get out of the sex trade. 

The project has been extremely successful and we were able to stop and visit 5 women at their place of business. It was quite impressive to see women as young as 18 running a business. And to hear their testimonials was heartwarming. It was clear that they were grateful but also committed to the opportunity for a new start. 

Rebecca wrote up a trip report with details about the work of each of these women, I took photos. Here is the story:

Itsubi Wondwesen stands with a shy but dignified smile under the shade of her own small business. She’s only 18 years old, but already she runs a small hair salon inside a one-room shop and also sells plastic wares right outside. The Ethiopian Mennonite Church Relief and Development Association (MKC-RDA) in Batu region became aware of her as an orphan, living with HIV/AIDS and in need of assistance. She joined one of the self-help groups run by the church committee and over the course of a year, learned about how to be a hairdresser and how to run a small business. She is healthy, receiving free ARV therapy from a government program, and also continues to attend 10^th grade three days a week (schools are running on shifts during this COVID period). She says that she makes 300 to 400 (USD$ 7-10) birr a day in income and is able to save 50 Birr a day as a contribution to the traditional savings group she’s part of.

The businesswoman next to her, Dirb Buksa, is also a member of a women’s savings group, supported by MKC-RDA, although not the same one. She laughingly says, “No, I’m part of a senior’s group. Itsubi is just a teenager and she has her own group.” Still, Dirb has encouraged Itsubi along the way, helping her to realize that she could diversify her business by selling plastics along with doing hairstyling. Dirb herself was a commercial sex worker in the past but hated her past life. “I was living between life and death,” she says. Her group members assisted her to come out of this profession and start a new way of life. She started a very small business selling groceries and has gradually built up her business; now piles of red onions and tomatoes stand outside her small shop, and snack bags of roasted barley hang in the windows. Along the way, she accepted Jesus as her Savior and now has a joyful outlook on life. Both she and Itsubi each pay 1100 Birr per month to rent their shops, and they are able to afford a much better life for themselves.s The older woman even watches Itsubi’s shop three days a week while she attends school.

MKC-RDA uses an existing traditional structure to bring women together to talk about important issues in their lives. Normally, people sit together for the traditional coffee ceremony. Over the three rounds of coffee service, people would typically use the time for gossip and back-biting. But the community organizers in Batu have used that time as an opportunity to discuss good business practices, gender-based violence, and ways to escape commercial sex work.

Just around the corner down the cobblestone street, donkey carts passed by carrying water, and we walked over to speak with Esther, 35, the owner of a small restaurant selling injera, pasta, and fasting food. Esther could not stop thanking Endale, the project coordinator, for the MKC-RDA project. About 10 years ago, he invited her to be part of a self-help group, and that’s how she was able to get tested for HIV and to learn her positive status. Thanks to Endale, she was able to start ARV treatment and gave birth to a healthy child. She stopped selling local beer and started selling kolo (roasted barley), but Endale encouraged her to think bigger because she was so industrious, and so she got business training and now runs her own restaurant. She became very emotional as she considered the change in her life. “It’s not about the money; it’s the counseling. Many of my friends have died, but I am alive, healthy and living a blessed life. Without this guy, I would be dead by now.”

Across the street, Hiko sells clothing and fuel-efficient stoves for making injera, the traditional Ethiopia pancake-like staple. She also used to be a commercial sex worker, smoking, drinking and using chat. She’s 47, but she admitted that she probably looks older than she should because of the hard life she lived in the past. Now she has a totally changed life. The counseling and teaching she has received as part of the savings group has really helped her. Now she can afford to eat three meals a day, instead of just one, and to send her two girls to school. Her sister gave her a space outside their family home to set up a plastic shelter and run her business. The impact of the work of MKC-RDA also brought tears to her eyes: “I have been brought out of darkness into light. Now I am a dignified woman.”

MKC-RDA also sponsors health education programs in local secondary schools. We were able to briefly step into a half-day roundtable discussion on Gender-based violence and forced early marriages in the time of COVID. About 50 young women and men gathered in a large room (socially distanced and masked) to learn more about GBV and how to stop it. The months of lockdown and school closures have been especially difficult for young women who found themselves facing rape, abuse, and early marriage away from the protected space of the school. MKC-RDA partners with school staff and government officials to foster good discussions about these issues.

We stopped by another hair salon, run by three young ladies, Afomia (19), Samira (18), and their friend Madinit. They grew up in the Batu area and got connected with another local NGO (Africa Service Committee), which provides HIV/AIDS testing, counseling, treatment, and vocational training. They all took a year of training in hairstyling, and also have been working with ASC to raise awareness in the community as part of a dance troupe to spread health messages. MKC-RDA often partners with other local NGOs like ASC, and so they were able to provide start-up capital to the young women to begin their salon. They have only been in business for about a year and have had to pay off investments in their salon equipment, but they should be able to start saving in the coming months.

MKC-RDA Batu has just two paid staff, Endale, and his assistant. Most of the work is run by volunteers from the local Mennonite Church, who see it as a mission to their community to meet with groups of needy women, encourage them, counsel them, and offer them training. The board chair of the project, Getu, is himself a Medical officer. He runs a clinic to offer free or low-cost medical care to low-income women, including family planning services, prenatal care, and routine treatment of common diseases such as malaria and respiratory infections. In addition, he volunteers his time as the Chair of the MKC regional board. The local church even supports the project with free office space, along with the time, energy, and love of church members who join Endale to come alongside women living with HIV and who need help to seek out a healthy lifestyle. As we kept hearing over and over, it’s not the money that has made the difference. It is the counseling and the care of group members who have assisted women to change their lives. 

After these field visits, we left Ziway and headed back to Addis with another lunch stop along the way. Coming back was significant because, while we were gone, Bruce and Rose had moved out of the house to the guest house we had stayed in so we could have a few days as a family in our new home. It was a very kind gesture as they were only days away from departing. Although unfortunately, their departure date was up in the air due to a positive COVID test, which two days later was negative again, allowing them to travel. 

The last goodbye event for Bruce and Rose was a lovely gathering at the MCC compound of all the staff, (4 office staff, 4 guards, and cook) along with Wawa and our family. We had a fabulous Ethiopian feast outdoors followed by a goodbye ceremony in which many gifts were given and heartfelt words were spoken. It was a fitting final ceremony before their departure. 

They left the next day, followed by Wawa hours later, which left my family, alone for the weekend in Addis before they were to depart on Sunday morning. Given the short amount of time we had, we did our best to make the most of what Addis had to offer. We tried out the Coldstone creamery not far from our house and visited the mall. On Saturday we went to a place called Entoto Mountain Park which is very new and completely awesome. It is in the mountains on the outskirts of town and features long hiking trails along with attractions like zip lines, trampolines, go-carts, restaurants, coffee shops, and more. We walked about 3 kms away from the car, stopped at the trampoline house when it started to pour. We ended up running in the rain back to the car (with one stop at a coffee shop.) It was cold because the altitude on the mountain was about 10,000 feet, but we survived. 

We stopped for pizza on the way home, and despite the rain, we had a good time and were happy to know about the place.

I took the family to the airport last Sunday morning without difficulty. After they left I went to church. 

The last week had felt lonely as I am here alone for several more weeks. The one highlight was this past weekend when I attended a retreat for the church we are joining here. It was at a lake called Lake Babogaya. It was an amazing place- a retreat center lakeside owned by a mission. It has a great dock where you can swim or fish, kayak or canoe--no water hyacinth either. I can't wait for David to get back here to see it.