National Holiday to celebrate the overthrow of the Dergue Regime

Wednesday 28th May

Today I did more training – English workshop for 2nd cycle teachers. Tomorrow I fly to Addis and will then take a two week break to have a look at the tourist trail with Monty.

National Holiday to celebrate the overthrow of the Dergue Regime. A generally very noisy affair that I didn’t participate in but heard as the procession went past the house. Mekdes came and I said she didn’t need to work but could stay and do language or go home and enjoy the holiday. She chose to stay.

Not everybody thinks there is much to celebrate but like anywhere else, people often like an opportunity for a party and this was the day set aside for it.

Life at the moment is getting more difficult for people. Prices are soaring – particularly for teff and kerosene. The electricity cuts appear to be increasing. I had no power at all yesterday which means it should have stayed on today but it went off for about 3 hours in the afternoon. Candle prices have doubled since I arrived!

Had a long session teaching Mekdes how to type a letter on the computer. First thing was convincing her that it wouldn’t bite and that she really wasn’t likely to cause any major problems. She wants to do an IT course next year and is trying to improve her English and learn about computers in preparation. It’s hard teaching someone how to use a computer, but when that person doesn’t have much English, it is painfully slow. Mekdes kept wanting to take breaks to make the bed, do the washing up and endless other tasks with which she fills her days. But I was a hard task master and made her complete the project on the computer. She wanted me to do it for her. I wanted to do it for her! But in the end, she achieved the objective (oh bloody hell – what’s the matter with me?).

In the afternoon Metush rang to invite himself round to visit this evening. I thought I might take him out to dinner but decided that cooking at home would be a better bet for my health.

Left the house at 5ish to visit my neighbours, only to be greeted by hordes of children. One of which decided it would be a good idea to look through my bag and when I made it clear that wasn’t an option decided to throw stones at me instead. The other children laughed including a young adult female. I returned to my house. When Metush arrived we went and found what was left of the group and he spoke to them. I hope that will sort it.