Hello Amsterdam

How glad I am to be in my favorite airport! By God's grace I was feeling much better by the time we left for the airport, but even though my strong Russian system had finally kicked whatever yuckiness attacked it, I was REALLY ready to leave Ethiopia---sadly, my impression of the country was really affected by my ailments so I didn't even get a single souvenir in Ethiopia.

I was glad to find things neat and nice as always as Schiphol---together with another lady from the workshop, we slept a bit in my fave comfy chairs, had a nice breakfast (yay, I can eat again), went to the airport museum which happened to have some Van Gogh paintings on exhibit (YAYAYAY!), and just walked around the cute shops with all sorts of tulip and clog souvenirs. Now, back home!!!

Welcome to Africa

So, on my third trip to Africa, I got what is painfully familiar to many travelers in Africa: the “African runs.” Im not sure if it is the food, the water (yes, I do brush my teeth with tap water), or a combination of jetlag, altitude, and somewhat greasy food, but since Thursday night I have been suffering from shakes, cold sweats, dizziness, and yes, the runs (the funny thing even the Ethiopians call them "the runs"). I skipped the workshop on Friday since I could barely sit up and lay in bed for most of the day trying to regain some kind of conscientiousness. Saturday was not much better, except for increasing hunger pangs and the inability to eat anything made it a bit worse. Sadly, I missed actually getting off campus, doing some sightseeing and shopping, and interacting with the others from the workshop. So much for boasting about my strong Russian system...apparently, Ethiopia was too much for it (Needless to say, Im done with Ethiopian food, which used to be one of my favorite cuisines).

The Workshop

The facilitation training workshop that Im here for has been quite exciting and interesting, but tiring. The trainer, who is excellent, had us do practice exercises most of the time, so you learn a lot and get to know the other participants quite well. Im definitely learning a lot about group dynamics, facilitation of group discussions, planning meetings, etc.

Getting to know the CGIAR

Every time I take another work trip to another CGIAR center, Im fascinated by how diverse our own narrow world is. First of all, CGIAR (or CG, as we call it) stands for the Consultative Group on the International Agricultural Research. There are 15 centers that are part of the CG, and my institute, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), is part of it. The general mandate of the CG, which was founded by the initiative of the Rockefeller Foundation in the 1960s during the time of post-colonial famine in many parts of Asia and Africa, is to breed new crops that have better yields and are more suited for various climate conditions. Therefore, most of the CG centers are actually crop and livestock breeding centers, and each has a mandate for specific crops and for a specific part of the world. IFPRI is the only exception---we do not do any breeding, but provide analysis of the effectiveness and potential of these new crops. Of course, we do plenty of other things as well, but ours is the only center that does not have any natural scientists (biologists, zoologists, breeders) on staff.

However, Im always reminded when I encounter other CG folks that the majority of the people in the CG system are natural scientists. For a social scientist like myself, the differences are very clear in the communication styles and topics of conversation. For example, since I got here a bit earlier than the rest of the workshop participants, I have been hanging out with a CIP (International Potato Center) potato breeder who is Italian by birth but lives in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. In addition to finding out all about the woes of working in that part of the world, I have also learned A LOT about potato breeding. Good thing my parents made me participate in the potato harvesting in our garden---I could contribute a little bit to the conversation besides just the nodding and the “Oh, I see.”

On another note, the CG is like the United Colors of Benetton---many nationalities, languages, disciplines, and specialties. At this very workshop, I have met:
-An Irish-Australian working on maize breeding in Zimbabwe
-Another maize breeder, from Botswana, working in Zimbabwe
-A Ghanaian economist working in Kenya on wheat and maize
-A Belgian economist working in Kenya on wheat and maize
-The aforementioned Italian biologist working on potato breeding in Central Asia
-A Canadian nutritionist working on livestock forage issues in India
-An Australian plant geneticist working in Syria

This is the CG in a nutshell.

I'm here

I have landed safely at the Addis Airport last night. I must admit that the flight from Amsterdam to Addis with a quick stop in Khartoum was not bad at all. Overall, the whole journey just flew by really quickly, and the weirdest thing is that I was not even all that exhausted---I think Im getting immune to these flights. Of course, today I have a major jetlag headache and can't wait to take a nap after lunch. The weather seems to be very pleasant---70s and no humidity. I have not yet explored the ILRI campus where Im staying (ILRI=International Livestock Research Institute), and even though the rooms are rather basis, everyone is very nice and accomodating.

What I actually came here for is to attend a facilitation training workshop. The sessions should teach us how to skilfully facilitate meetings, discussion groups, panel discussions, and other discussion-type settings, which would be very valuable in my job. The actual workshop starts Tuesday, so I have two days to get settled, acclimated, and of course, get some work done.

Im going to go for a run this afternoon and look for the three giant tortoises reported to wander around this campus.

Ethiopia: the journey

So, as many of you know, my original flight to Addis Ababa with a day stop-over in Nairobi got cancelled, and there was no way to rebook the flight through Nairobi, so I painfully made the decision to bypass being on the Kenyan ground for 24 hours and working with some important collaborators, and decided to head straight to Addis, even though I had to leave a day earlier. Im reporting live from Schiphol, Amsterdam Airport, which now, the 5th time here, really feels like home---I have my own rest spots, favorite bathrooms, favorite places to sit and eat. Even though the flight that got me there was not as good as the usual KLM flight, which I partly blame on the crappy layout and feel of MD-80 (first time flying), I still maintain that KLM is the best European airline. Im feeling fairly out of it, and somewhat dreading my next flight---9.30 hours, through Khartoum!!! (capital of Sudan)---good thing we only stop there for refueling, but Sudan never attracted me as a destination. Ok, off to get some tea and croissant and find my favorite comfy chairs.