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