Daily Life

Time rushes by – I’ve been here all of three and a half weeks! But it’s already beginning to feel like home. I’ve put pictures and photos up on the wall, unpacked my bags and am back into the work routine.

So far, I work, come home, cook dinner, read, email (listened to the Archers one night!) have a bit of Amharic language practise and fall into bed usually by about 10:30 Ethiopian time. Although there are other volunteers in Gonder, I have not had much to do with them – we are quite separated geographically and I guess it’s still early days. Having spent each day meeting new people and absorbing background information, dealing with the curiosity from the people I meet on the walk to and from work, I am generally ready for a bit of quiet time in the evenings.

On Saturday, I set off for Gonder. The first part of the walk was quiet – a beautiful clear sunny day with a light breeze from the Simien Mountains that provide a backdrop for the town. When I hit an adjoining road, I suddenly found myself in a melee of people, donkeys, goats and carts – market day in Gonder and I was early enough to hit the people coming into town with all their wares and livestock.

I had a list of items that I needed to get but finding them can be difficult. Shops are often not much more than little shacks and you’re never quite sure what each one is selling. There always seems to be someone to help out. In general, Ethiopian people are extremely curious so they stare at you openly and happily respond to greetings. The difficulty for visitors is the young boys who hassle for money. At one point, I was virtually surrounded by a group of boys calling ‘you, you, money, money, ferenji’. I stopped to talk with them asking their names and where they went to school – this caused much merriment and then they explained to me in excellent English that they were very poor and I should give them money. I congratulated them on their language skills, laughed and walked on. Another man then asked if I had a problem and decided he would use the opportunity to practise his language skills. It is difficult to just wander around on your own.

On the way home, I was approached by two boys one each side of me, again begging for money. I made it clear I wasn’t going to give them any and we had a game of follow the leader with me criss crossing the road to get away from them. Given that I was now alone and there were few people around and that these boys both carried sticks, I wondered if I should be concerned. But even though it was unpleasant, I have not experienced behaviour that feels in any way ‘threatening’ nor have I observed such behaviour. Eventually we reached the hotel near to where I live – the guards had watched what was going on and stopped the boys from following me any further.