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.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
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.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
And finally...
The ladies that got me into this adventure and the Sox in the DR (dearly beloved by many Dominicans)
P.S. A special "thank you" to my supporters and a shout out to my Connecticut family:)
P.S. A special "thank you" to my supporters and a shout out to my Connecticut family:)
DR-Last one
What else we did
In addition to our scheduled activities, we spent a lot of time in the community visiting families. Right away I noticed the great number of children in the community and learned that many of the women did not have husbands, but "migrating" boyfriends (hence the number of kids). Despite this sad and dire context (many kids, no husband, no job), the kids truly find a way into your heart. From the very first day there, I met so many kids who would just come to hang out, hug us, want to take us to their homes, and just want to be around us. Their simple love and affection was another big blessing to me on the trip, reminding me of the childlike faith and generous hospitality that Jesus talks about. They were also the hardest to say "good-bye" to. Instead of saying a lot, here are some of their faces.
In one of the homes
Posing
My personal entourage
DR-Part 3
Our agenda
Even though we were in the DR for only a week, it seems that each day was packed with various activities. The majority of the week we spent working with the women's coop in the mornings and with a larger group of women from the community in the afternoon. The coop currently has about 15 members who meet several times a week to sow and make crafts---the goal is to find ideas for crafts/sown products that they could make with minimal input investment and sell to either local or international markets to serve as means of income generation. Last year they were successful in making Christmas ornaments that were then sold in the US.
The coop
The Christmas ornaments
In the afternoons we worked with about 40 women from the community doing crafts, sharing our testimonies, and just hanging out---the purpose of these meetings was for the coop leaders to screen potential members of several future coops (similarly to how the first coop got started). Each day we made several different crafts, and through that I got to know a lot of the women and their stories, and was amazed at their creativity.
On Thursday, we organized a banquet for the local staff of Mission Emanuel which number about 70. One of the American ladies very skillfully coordinated the decorations making the room look beautiful. The local staff were really touched by this event, and we had a great time decorating and serving food.
The banquet staff
On Friday morning, we went to a leprosarium--this was a very challenging experience. This place is run by Catholic nuns and is home to about 40 patients. People with this disease are still shunned in the Dominican society so many of the patients are not visited by any family members. Since leprosy is now a treatable condition, all the patients at the leprosarium are older and some have even been released after they finish their course of treatment. They loved visiting with us and listening to several songs that we performed for them.
Even though we were in the DR for only a week, it seems that each day was packed with various activities. The majority of the week we spent working with the women's coop in the mornings and with a larger group of women from the community in the afternoon. The coop currently has about 15 members who meet several times a week to sow and make crafts---the goal is to find ideas for crafts/sown products that they could make with minimal input investment and sell to either local or international markets to serve as means of income generation. Last year they were successful in making Christmas ornaments that were then sold in the US.
The coop
The Christmas ornaments
In the afternoons we worked with about 40 women from the community doing crafts, sharing our testimonies, and just hanging out---the purpose of these meetings was for the coop leaders to screen potential members of several future coops (similarly to how the first coop got started). Each day we made several different crafts, and through that I got to know a lot of the women and their stories, and was amazed at their creativity.
On Thursday, we organized a banquet for the local staff of Mission Emanuel which number about 70. One of the American ladies very skillfully coordinated the decorations making the room look beautiful. The local staff were really touched by this event, and we had a great time decorating and serving food.
The banquet staff
On Friday morning, we went to a leprosarium--this was a very challenging experience. This place is run by Catholic nuns and is home to about 40 patients. People with this disease are still shunned in the Dominican society so many of the patients are not visited by any family members. Since leprosy is now a treatable condition, all the patients at the leprosarium are older and some have even been released after they finish their course of treatment. They loved visiting with us and listening to several songs that we performed for them.
DR-Part 2
The team
My team was made of lovely ladies most of whom were from several churches in North Carolina---I got to know each one of them through our devotions, fun bus rides, serving together, and just hanging out, and was so blessed by each one of them. Most of the ladies were older, but had tons of energy, good jokes, and even some crazy stunts. There were also 2 girls my age on the trip, so we ended up bonding and talking a lot.All these ladies were perhaps one of the bigger blessings of the trip---I was so humbled by their love for the Dominican people, their willingness to serve no matter how tired they were, and their ability to look beautiful and put-together in the midst of hot and humid climate (true Southern ladies). Btw, the color of the trip was Pink:).
The team in Club Bamboo
The youngsters
My roommie and her entourage
My team was made of lovely ladies most of whom were from several churches in North Carolina---I got to know each one of them through our devotions, fun bus rides, serving together, and just hanging out, and was so blessed by each one of them. Most of the ladies were older, but had tons of energy, good jokes, and even some crazy stunts. There were also 2 girls my age on the trip, so we ended up bonding and talking a lot.All these ladies were perhaps one of the bigger blessings of the trip---I was so humbled by their love for the Dominican people, their willingness to serve no matter how tired they were, and their ability to look beautiful and put-together in the midst of hot and humid climate (true Southern ladies). Btw, the color of the trip was Pink:).
The team in Club Bamboo
The youngsters
My roommie and her entourage
Friday, March 7, 2008
Dominican Republic
Finally, here is the recap of my already not-so-recent trip to the Dominican Republic. It was an eye-opening trip, and unfortunately the pictures cannot capture all the impressions from that week.
Purpose of the trip
The reason I decided to spend a week in the sunny DR (besides escaping the January DC cold) was to work with a group of Dominican women organized into a coop through a Christian development organization Mission Emanuel that works in 2 peri-urban communities near Santo Domingo. This organization aims to improve the lives in these communities by providing several good schools, a health clinic, and various income-generating sources such as a water-processing plant and the women's coop. The way most things get done are through various church teams that come from the US throughout the year to work in various capacities and projects. As a former development student, I was very impressed with how this organization functions, how wisely they approach any new ventures, and how much they have been able to achieve with so little. They even work with a Haitian community by supporting a Haitian school and supporting a local Haitian church---this is especially admirable because Haitian refugees are despised and looked down upon in the Dominican society; they constitute the poorest layer of the society and are not given any social services
The women
The children
The beautiful surroundings
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