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We're back!

On Monday we had a day off and went to the National Museum, where we saw Lucy. Paul's blog tells you more about her. We did some shopping and then indulged ourselves in the hot pools at the Hilton Hotel.

On Tuesday we spent the morning sharing our experiences together with Bev. In the afternoon we prepared press releases and plans for our media and communications activities in the coming weeks.

Yesterday was the journey home via Rome - and farewells at Heathrow, especially to Claire who is moving to Sierra Lleone in January.

It is great to be home but we will never forget this wonderful experience. Tigray was beautiful and its people live simple lives. They still need help - but help is the answer - not handouts. They have an inherent wish to improve themselves but need the catalyst of expertise and start-up materials that CAFOD and its partners can provide to kick start the improvement. Wider help in the form of fairer trade rules also needs to be given at an inter-governemental level.

I plan some more blogs between now and Christmas to talk more about what we saw and the challenges that face Ethiopia (and its neighbours). In the new year we will look into capturing the blogs, pictures and notes into a small book of the trip.

I notice we've had a little rain here whilst we have been away. So maybe the threat of stand pipes at the ends of our roads has receded a little. For us stand pipes are an outrageous prospect. For the people of Tigray they are major progress.

Mike

Ethiopia Runs

On Saturday we visited the University and Markets, hosted by Daniel who had gone with the DireDawa Group. We then met with the 'Ethiopia Lives' team , a local group that CAFOD had trained to be photographers (thier work is on the web page) - all was now gearing up for the Great Ethiopia Run on Sunday.

Before I came I had assumed I would not be part of the run, just walking found as a spectator. However I discovered that I had been entered with all the local CAFOD staff. So as the day approached I decided to set myself a target time of 2 hours (walking around the watersheds had kept me fairly fit!)

I walked with Jackie, s a friend of Bev, who also had set herself a 2 hour target. The atmosphere was fantastic. 25000 people in the same green teeshirts. The noise was incredible, mostly from the runners (the spectators were remarkably quiet) and mostly when we passed Government offices!

As we passed each kilo marker Jackie and I reduced our target; by 8K we set ourselves 1 hour 4o minutes. In the end we finished at 10.35 - less than 1 hour 35 minutes as we didn't pass the start line on the dot of 9.00. A great experience; the others will be sharing their experiences on the blog .

We rested in the afternoon and had a party at the house of Bev and Jannie, her husband and job sharer incharge of the CAFOD/Trocaire office in the evening - they did us proud.

And so now we have some final sightseeing to do and quite a lot of work to write up our experiences and plan what we are going to do on our return.

We arrive home on Wenesday evening - this will be my last blog from here. There will be many more in the days after we return on subjects like: Eritrea, HIV/Aids, the political situation and, of course, all the people, sights and projects we have seen.

I'm glad of these few days in Addis - not just because of the run which was unmissable but to allow a gradual re-entry from the stark but beautiful world of Tigray back to the affluence we enjoy in the UK.

See you soon.

Mike

Friday 24th

Retrun to Addis Ababa

We saw first light at Alitenia before driving back around the winding hills to Adigrat and then on to the Tigrayan captital of Mekele.

We met with Mered and the Deputy Head of REST at their HQ to review the visit. I gave my feedback:

What happens when funding for the project ends in March 07?

Will there be enough progress in this good rain year to see through a possible year or two of drought?

How do we open upmarkets for the new diversified products now being establisfed?

How do we extend the experience to other parts of tigray?

We talked these through and discussed a timetable for seeking further funding (probably from the EU).

I offered to help with both the marketing plan and the funding applications - I also suggested getting Mered onto email at Adua waoul be helpful! I then said farewell to my new friend and we flew back to Addis (without a delay!)

Catherine and i were reunited with Paul Claire and Seb and we all try hard both to talk about our experineces, but at the same time allowing the others to do the same!

Mike

Thursday 23rd

"You being here is worth more than money"

We left Adigrat at 9 after a tour of the Cathedral. The drive to Alitenia was another landscape extravaganza.

Alitenia is a little gem. A village surrounding by mountains with many outlying communities - all very very poor. The Sisters of Charity run a health clinic and kindergarten. This is where Catherine has been for the last 5 days. I feel vey lucky to have beeen able to get a glimpse of her experience as well as mine.

The sisters encourage local women to get together to share their problems and ideas. They are also natural entrepreneurs! Bev, the CAFOD rep spoke about our desire to help but without settting any expectations. The totally genuine reply was the humbling quote above.

Mike

Wed 22nd

Farewell to Adua

Mered took me to meet Government officials in the wereda (Local) Governement office.

Their main source of revenue is from central governemnt - the poor local population only contribute 1%. They have over 900 employees - over 50% are teachers for whom the demand is growing as the population expands and more schools are built.

On the door of every office was a code of practice for all government employees to follw - I'll talk more about this when home. But all the words we would expect to see are there. There seems to be a real attempt to reduye corruption.

From Adua we drove to Adigrat via the ancient temple at Yeha on a road which the Chinese are improving, The scenery was gobsmacking - unfortunately due to unseasonal clouds there was no point in photographing it.

We had dinner wuth the Bishop of Adigrat and talked about many things including HIV/Aids and the stand off with Eritrea. I want to say more about both these topics when home.

Before leaving Adua I did a live interview with Matyn Coote at BBC 3 Counties. I hope I conveyed my sense of excitement in waht I had seen, but also the sadness that so much more needs to be done.

It was bizarre to listen in to Martyn's item before me - about traffic charging! We're a million miles away.

Mike

EXTRA BLOG

One of my local papers asked for a short blog from me. I sent this yesterday but thought I should add it into this main blog page as well.

CONTRASTS UK AND TIGRAY

8 a.m. in the UK: people are showering, watching TV, eating breakfast, driving to school and work and talking about Big Brother. Stand still outside and you hear a great hubbub of traffic on the road and in the air.

8 a.m. in Tigray: people are walking to collect their water, eating a small lump of bread, walking to school (if there is one near enough) and talking about how their crops are doing. Stand still outside and you hear - nothing - except chattering people and animal footsteps. The silence is deafening.

Life here is stark, but it is improving, although more can be done. I am going to learn a lot more about this whilst here. And yet you see a lot of smiling faces - on poor but very attractive people. Who's to say that we are actually better of in the UK.

TIGRAY DAY 4

After about 4 miles of walking over rough ground on two more watersheds I continue to be enthralled by everything that I am seeing. Again there's far too much to say in a blog but my key memories are:

Some farmers who had received metalwork training to help with general machine maintenance but decided to use the skill to build a bread baking oven. They produce 1700 rolls over night which they sell locally for about 2p. It was some of the nicest bread I have ever tasted. They have scope to expand and are looking at ways of selling their bread further afield. So there are budding entrepreneurs here!

High quality dairy cows have been introduced to some households by the project. They produce excellent milk which they turn into butter manually and sell in the local town. They also sell a milk drink to local people. This is hot and a little spicy so I (nervously) tried some. It was fantastic. I'm sure they could patent the recipe! I drank a whole cup!

This plus - an outstanding farm with every conceivable diversification, used as an exemplar for others - a community veterinary service - a female household farm - pit latrines and more irrigation systems. I should be exhausted!

Tomorrow lunchtime I am going from here to Adigrat with the local CAFOD/Trocaire rep - and then on Thursday to Aliente to collect Catherine- then on Friday to Mekele the capital of Tigray from where we fly back to Addis Ababa.

So the timing of my next blog is a little uncertain.

Mike

TIGRAY DAY 3

I spent most of today with Mered at the St Michael watershed projects. I learnt and saw far too much for a blog to do justice to.
In a nutshell the project is about motivating the 1750 people in the area to change they way they live in order to improve their environment, income and living conditions. This is being done by helping them with expertise, training and investment.
So before their only access to water was an unreliable open stream (that vanished in times of drought). Now they have built a system of channels and dams that enable more water to be captured, with a separate distribution system for drinking water through pipes leading to taps which are no more than 30 minutes walk from each home.
They now have an irrigation system allowing for crop diversification, giving wider income opportunities. Tomatoes, peppers, chillies, onions and sesame oil are just some of the new output.
There is now a local school for 7 to 9 year olds, built by the community, funded by the Government (but with REST providing rainwater harvesting capability - South East England take note!)
There is much, much more - and I am seeing 2 more watersheds tomorrow. Only 8% of the Wereda region in Tigray are currently benefiting from this approach, so although some areas do not have the topography for similar projects there is still a lot more to be done. The community has responded tremendously to the change - so much so that they are the envy of their neighbours.
My other thought to day is that most Tigrains have no concept of our lives. Even Mered has never left Ethiopia. Most will see little or no TV. However for some reason I've yet to discover they are mad about Arsenal! If a game is on a TV somewhere there is a mad rush to get a view! So if anyone has any connection with Arsenal please let them know that they have a wonderful opportunity to nurture many thousands of fans!!

Mike

TIGRAY DAY 2

Today I spent the morning with my host here Mered from REST-he told me about the 'Watershed' projects that are funded jointly by CAFOD, TROCAIRE (Irish equivalent of CAFOD), Christian Aid and the EU. They seem to hit the nail on the head. Thay are about building sustainable environments and livelihoods by both practical help and training. A quick back of the envelope calculation told me that the project cost one pound per beneficiary per month for the the 3 year duration. I'm seeing the projects for myself tomorrow - but assuming my sums are right (and I will check!) then its an incredible return on investment - it will have transformed (and probably also saved) many lives.

More to come on this.

I was then a guest at the weddding of one of Mered's work colleagues. This was indeed a great privilege and a unique experience - I've much too much to say about it for a blog! I was the only farenji (white) guest.

Suffice to say when the 'elders' realised who I was I was given special treatment (guests in Tigray are to be treated like Angels). This included a bottle of Fanta - I had no intention of drinking the brown fluid put in front of me - but I did pretend - honest! Also when, to avoid eating too much of one iffy dish, I said I found it too hot (not true for those who know me - I like things hot!) I was presented with an even more unpalatable dish of grissle which wasn't spicy. Another elder saw my predicament and gave the food to the kids (who were not being fed) to finish off. The strange thought I had was that I am probably older than many of the 'elders'.

Talking of kids - they couldn't take their eyes off me. They are wide eyed with disarming smiles (they know this and use it when begging!). They just loved it when I turned the miniscreen on my CamCorder around so they could see themselves.

The drive back from the wedding in Axum to Adua was at dusk and just made the scenary even more stunning. It's great to have internet here at the Don Bosco House - more about that another time.

Mike

Mike

TIGRAY

I arrived yesterday after an eventful flight which I won't bore you with now. Nothing had prepared me for the reality of my first few hours here - no television footage, photos or talks from people who had been before adequately describe the reality.

Unmade up main roads, swarming people, camels, goats and cattle seemingly oblivious to our minibus. The most stunning scenaery I have ever seen.

What was most striking was not the poverty, begging or dust - I expected all of these - but the relative silence. Stand still and all you hear are people talking, kids playing and animals - for miles around. The complete lack of background hubbub (apart from the odd truck or minbus) was quite overwhelming.

Thay had very good rains this year and the harvest is looking OK - heaven help them when the rains fail as they did in 1985 and several times since.

But that's what I'm here to see - how weall are helping build sustainable livlihoods that are not totally at the whim of the climate.

I can't wait to see more of this beautiful place.

Mike