Thursday 20th February 2003

I completed the In Country Training and moved out of the hotel last Friday. So, I now have my own little house and have started work.

Let me describe my house.

I have to say I was not too keen when I first saw it. Obviously I was thinking about home and the lovely house that I have left behind. But there is no point comparing and I have to look at it from a VSO perspective.

So, from a VSO perspective it is actually quite nice. It is very small. It has one bedroom with a single bed and a wardrobe. The bed rattles about a bit and the wardrobe is rather tatty but it is neat and clean.

The living room is small but it is clean and has simple furniture that suits me fine.

The kitchen is rather sparse but seeing as there are no cooking facilities beside a kerosene stove and an electric ring I don’t mind too much.

A nice cuppa
I usually make myself a cup of Earl Grey tea in the morning, eat some bread and jam and fresh fruit and then eat out or cook something really simple like pasta and tomatoes for tea.

Food here is really cheap and there is loads of fruit and veg and really nice bread.

I'm steering clear of the Injeera that I told you about earlier.

Back to the house.

There is a "bathroom" with a shower that is actually quite good. Of course a shower here is nothing like the shower in England. A rudimentary tap turns the water on and a kind of handle sticking out of the wall acts to regulate temperature.

The shower head is a bit like the top off a watering can. But it works keeps me clean.

The sink in the bathroom is really funny. The taps are both different and they stick out at really odd angles.

Interesting loo
Now to the loo - I’ll start with the good bit.

It does flush and is clean. However, it is a squat loo and not altogether perfect for someone of my age and sensitivity.

But a VSO is a VSO after all and if I had everything perfect I’d feel I was cheating – wouldn’t I?

I dream of a hot bath and a long sit on the loo reading the Guardian!

There is a little courtyard too and it has some beautiful exotic plants growing in it. I am able to sit in my "conservatory" area and look at the plants and the sunshine.

Getting from A to B
I started work last Monday and travel there in what are called Line Taxis.

Buses are to be avoided. They are crammed to the hilt, belch out black smoke and do not look as though an MOT has ever passed their way.

Line taxis are the main means of public transport. As their name suggests they follow particular routes around the city and the art of getting about in Addis is to understand the routes and which line taxi to get in. Easier said than done when you’re a stranger I can tell you.

The line taxis are blue and white mini buses (bit like Bedford vans with windows). They have "conductors" who stand by the taxis at terminal points shouting destinations or they just stop anywhere and pick you up if you look in need.

I am going on a tour of Addis on Saturday and hopefully the mystique of the line taxis will disappear.

At the moment I’m just proud of myself in terms of getting too and from work.

When I leave home I have about a five minute walk to the main road (where I get my taxi).

The track is rough and stony and on one side is a flattened out area that acts as a driving school.

Driving school Ethiopian style
This driving school is like nothing you’d see in England. It is about the size of half a dozen football pitches and it has cones and obstacles strategically placed.

Tiny little cars (well they’d have to be given the size of the patch) move up and down, round and round and in and out of the obstacles. I’ve no idea what make the cars are but they really are like miniatures. It is all very bizarre.

My guess is once the drivers have done a couple of circuits they are given their license to drive on the roads.

What can I say about the standard of driving? Let me put it this way you just close your eyes and pray at times. Again I’m looking at this with English standards in mind.

Here everyone seems to accept the driving the way it is and everyone seems quite happy with it.

We had a lift a week or so ago and I think all of the VSO’s in the van were sh***ing themselves.

The driver just went straight for crossroads and seemed of the opinion that everyone else would stop – which of course they did.

Well, the driving school is one of the more fun things that I see. On the other side of the road ( and of the coin as it were) is the line of beggars that I pass each morning.

Dealing with poverty
These are people who suffer from the most appalling levels of poverty. They are mainly old people who are dressed in rags. Many of them are disabled in some way. I have to say if you stopped to help everyone that you would like to you would get nowhere fast.

There really are some terrible sights and of course when you see children it makes you realise just how lucky children back home are.

I think of my grandchildren and am so, so happy to know that they will never have to experience what some of these poor children do.

I’d better move on – tears are coming to my eyes.

On to happier things. The people here are very friendly and though you do get called Ferengi (white man) it is done without malice and is generally used as an obvious statement of difference.

I am after all in a massive minority. Interesting how that makes you feel.

Keeping in touch with the BBC
I am at work for most of the day and spend my evenings alone – so I do get a bit lonesome. I’ve bought myself a world space receiver – the only thing that picks up BBC radio. I listen to the world service all of the time and dread to think what I’d do without it. It cost me almost a month’s salary but it was worth every penny!

It actually rained yesterday and my landlord, concerned about the world space receiver (which has to be placed outside), put it into a plastic bag to stop it getting wet.

Needless to say it could not pick up the signal from the satellite and it took me a while to realise why I had no radio – I was getting panic stricken I can tell you.

I will sign off for now but just one more thing before I go.

As you know, there is a major drought here in Ethiopia. The way that I am affected is that electricity supply is cut off at set times.

On Monday’s my workplace has no electricity and on Wednesday my house is cut off.

Minor problem here in Addis but major problems elsewhere. I do get to travel a little next week and that should provide some interesting diary type news.

Speak soon

Take a look here for previous diary