Downtown Nairobi

Matatus:  Nairobi’s minibuses for local transport.  Many are painted with spiritual slogans, soccer players, but most with rappers.  I’m not sure who this rapper is, but I can make out some dollar dollar bills…

Mwanza, Tanzania

Fun with giraffes, part 1

Fun with giraffes, part 2

Flamingos at Lake Nakuru National Park

A hyena chilling out

A nice family of rhinos

And one mean rhino that didn’t take to kindly to us interrupting his nap.  In fact, he tried to spear our RAV 4.  

Pelicans, Lake Nakuru National Park

Zebra hazard on the Lake Nakuru airstrip

Safaricom sponsored road-side establishment.  Safaricom, the dominant mobile provider in Kenya and the company that introduced the country to banking on your cell phone.  Now you can pay your bills, transfer cash, and withdraw from agents around the country simply using your mobile.

Mt. Longonot, with its crater on top, as viewed from the escarpment above the Rift Valley

Lake Naivasha at dawn

Lake Naivasha, II

Yours truly, Hell’s Gate National Park

Zebra at the canyon wall, Hell’s Gate

Hell’s Gate again

Hell’s Gate

On the way to Naivasha town, with Mt. Longonot in the distance

Camps of internally-displaced people on the road side

Jamii Bora housing development at Kaputei

The edge of Kibera, Kenya’s largest slum

The newly rebuilt market near Kibera

Clothing stalls at the market

Vendor, child and Obama sticker

Elephant dust bath at Manyara National Park

Giraffes and flamingos on the shore of Lake Manyara

Family fun, baboon style

Herds of wildebeests, seen from the descent into the Ngorongoro Crater

Zebra in Ngorongoro National Park

Water buffalo

Rhino!!

Let it be known. Ostrich have huge dino-legs.

Amazing…

Again

The view from the bottom of the Crater

Cheetah, one of my top three favorite animals as a child (Cheetah because of speed, Blue Whale because of size, and Mountain Goat because of awesome head-butting on PBS)

Warthogs–sweet mullet

Goodbye, Ngorongoro Crater

Goodbye, Lake Manyara

Stonetown, Zanzibar

Dhow (traditional Zanzibari boat) and Stonetown sunset

White beaches and coral rocks at Jambiani, Zanzibar

Captain Chicken leading us over crystal waters to coral reefs

Seaweed farming on tidal flats

And finally, goodbye Jambiani

Entering in to the first of the churches

Ethiopian Orthodox priest posing with ancient cross of Lalibela

Interior of church

Relief carving inside of a church

Bet Giorgis church from above

Bet Giorgis, again

Bet Giorgis from below

Scene from the village of Lalibela

Looking down on the village from the mountain above

Intrepid traveler and new friends on top of the mountain above Lalibela

A rock-hewn church carved deep into the stone

A priest standing outside stone church in Lalibela

Getting around in Addis isn’t always easy.  There are several wheeled options:  private car, contract taxi, public taxi, and public bus.  Few of the roads have any lines, and those that do, are ignored.  So the most important rule is:  if I get there first, I have the right away.  So it’s a car culture of nudgers.  Everyone is nosing their cars into traffic, fighting for that leverage so they can merge, or turn, or just stop for no apparent reason (yeah, it happens sometimes).  People say its not as hard as it looks, but that doesn’t really help, because it looks damn hard.

My preferred method of travel is the minibus, a.k.a. public taxi.  I don’t have a car, not enough money for contract taxis, and I don’t have any particular interest in riding in something called the “TB bus.”  These minibuses have seats for 13 but occasionally carry as many as 25.  Most have roof racks, so the old man buying a sheep for a neighborhood celebration can have someplace to toss his very-much-alive soon-to-be-meal during the trip.  Most Ethiopians hate to ride with the windows open—there is a severe cultural fear of draft.  Some are just barely hanging together by threads, and others are brand new and some even have a little digital media screen so the passengers can enjoy watching the “welcome” screen. 

The minibuses connect this web of a city and travel along fixed routes, stopping along the way.  A fare can cost anywhere between 7 cents (US) to 25 cents (US).  Riding isn’t always comfortable, but that’s not the hardest part.  During rush hour, the city is faced with a serious shortage of transport, so a bunch of Ethiopians and one foreigner (me), jog along side the bus while it pulls up to the curb.  Then it begins.  Men and women, old and young use pushing, shoving, elbows, and digging to fight their way in.  The elderly use their canes as crowbars, the young dig through the legs of the old, and the rest of us do whatever we can to get in.  It’s a blood sport, but the Ethiopians seem to almost enjoy it.  And if a foreigner can fight his/her way in, victory will be congratulated with pats on the backs, impressed looks, and “gobez” (Amharic for “good job” or “clever”).  And what’s the reward?  A hot, cramped, bumpy ride down the road.

Student taking an exam in Awassa  

Manufacturing facility for appropriate agricultural technology, Awassa

Well-drilling near Lake Langano

Kids near Lake Langano

Bricks made with water newly installed pump.  These bricks are being used to build a new house and replace the old ones in the background.

Kids from a village near Lake Langano using their new water pump

Addis Ababa skyline 1

Addis Ababa skyline 2 

I’ve got a long way to go in learning Amharic, but I’m getting pretty dang good at one of the most important components—the greeting.  Its not like English or Spanish (the only two samples I personally have to choose from), where there’s just a variety of hellos and goodbyes and how are you’s for each time of the day.  No, no, no.  The Amharic greeting

can go on for 5 minutes.  Then stop for a minute.  And then come back for another few minutes of round two. 

It can go like this:

X:  Hello

Y:  Hello

X:  How are you?

Y:  Hello

X:  Are you fine?

Y:  How is everything?

X:  I am fine, thanks be to God

Y:  Thanks be to God

X:  How are you?

Y:  Very fine, thanks be to God

Y:  How is your family?

X:  Everything is fine

X:  Hello

Y:  Hello

X:  How are you?

Y:  How are you?

X:  I am fine, thanks be to God

Y:  What new do you speak?

X:  I speak nothing new

Y:  Hello

X:  Hello

And so on.  You get the point.  Once this process is mastered, or at least learned, then you can start to sound like you actually know what’s going on.  The problem is, the person you’re talking to thinks you know what’s going on.  And they keep talking and you (actually, I) get confused. 

As the Ethiopian saying goes:  “slowly but surely, an egg, with legs, will walk.”  Chew on that.

 This is a pivotal question here in Ethiopia.  European soccer is enormously popular here, and the Premiership League is of particular interest.  You’ll see an occasional Liverpool, Chelsea or even Bolton fan, but the other 90% of fans support either Arsenal or Man U.  The windows of minibuses are plastered in headshots of favorite players.  The faces of Fabregas, Rooney and Ronaldo are all over town.  The team names are airbrushed on the sides of buses and the radio waves are filled with updates.  One of the schools where our volunteers work even uses donated, knock-off “Alsonel” jerseys as uniforms. 

It doesn’t take long before you’re forced to take a side.  I’ve gone all over the place, first I was Chelsea (just to be different), then Arsenal (because I think Ronaldo is a cry baby), and then to Manchester (…I don’t really know why).  I’m still ignorant when talking soccer around my Ethiopian friends, but I’ve learned more about European soccer in 7 months in Ethiopia than 24 years in the United States.  Go figure.

Well, once again, its been a while.  Maybe I set some unreasonable expectations in posting.  But at any rate, I’m back.  I’m about halfway through my term with Cherokee Gives Back here in Ethiopia, so here’s an update of what we’re up to.

Work has been busy over the last few weeks.  In January, Cherokee Gives Back co-sponsored a leadership seminar with the Center for Creative Leadership out of Greensboro, NC.  We had over 60 participants from small local social projects to large international NGO’s.  We are hoping to help develop a new model for leadership development in Ethiopia and have found that there is a real market for this sort of training.  The street corners of Addis are filled with copies of “The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People,” “The Purpose Driven Life,” and other self-help books.  But more than that, there are so many NGO’s and other organizations providing training and capacity building, and any such program can be enhanced through incorporating leadership development.  I still don’t know how best such a venture could contribute to leadership development in Ethiopia and East Africa, but I do sense that there’s a void to be filled.

The Cherokee Education Exchange Program is seeking to place around 20 Ethiopian high school students in the US this year.  We’ve been traveling the country to recruit the best students from targeted government schools.  The students studying in the States this year have been doing extremely well.  All are excelling in different areas, and some are all-around all stars.  One student in particular is near the top of his class in a schedule full of AP courses and leading the pack on cross-country team.  The candidates for next year seem just as strong and incredibly enthusiastic. 

 A scene from my neighborhood

I’m still learning about microfinance in Ethiopia.  The industry is heavily regulated, but growing every year.  Just around the corner from my house there is one MFI that I visited recently.  I went with my friend Mersha, who is being treated for Hepatitis and is looking for a job.  They offer two applicable loans, a group loan and an individual loan.  With the group loan, you are required to apply as a team of at least three people, and the team is eligible for a first loan of up to 1,500 Ethiopian Birr (around 150 USD) with around 20% charged in interest and fees.  Once this loan is repaid, the group may apply for a new, larger loan.  No collateral is required for this group loan.  Individuals may apply for larger loans, but they are required to own property or be guaranteed by an employer.  This is just one of the firms that happens to be right around the corner, but I was impressed with the accessibility of their products.  Their business development officer met with us, explained their products, and was very helpful.  Nonetheless, many in poverty are slow to see the world in terms of opportunity rather than risk.  A scarce and unstable environment encourages people to live in the here and now, seize what’s available because there’s no guarantee what tomorrow may hold.  With greater openness in the MFI industry, I think the promotion of microfinance products and services would be more pervasive, and more prospective entrepreneurs would take advantage of the opportunity.  Currently, Ethiopia’s total microfinance coverage is similar to that of Azerbaijan, a country with only 1/10^th of Ethiopia’s population.

Moving on… Over the last few weeks, Cherokee Gives Back has had the opportunity to meet and share with several other foundations with staff on the ground in Addis Ababa.  I’ve become more and more convinced that CGB’s vision in Ethiopia holds incredible promise.  While other foundations consider metrics such as total amount spent to evaluate success, CGB envisions a future focused on results, not cash spent.  But more so, I think the method of investing in select business ventures as a way to achieve social goals has serious merit.  Social businesses have a responsibility to the community, but also create a financially sustainable institution that can not only exist beyond any funding cycle, but also can be scaled and replicated.  Our vision is to identify the best of these ventures, invest in them, and utilize any equity or loan repayment to expand our investment in similar ventures.  Right now, one of our biggest challenges is sourcing these entrepreneurs.  I’m hopeful that these new relationships with other foundations in the country will bear fruit in this regard.  Together we can work complementarily, with other foundations assuming a traditional granting role, while referring non-traditional businesses to Cherokee Gives Back.  The envisioned future is a ways away, but I think there’s an enormous strategic opportunity here.

 Celebrating the Epiphany in Addis

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been working with a new initiative, the Global Orphan Care Foundation, to introduce them to network of orphan and vulnerable children (OVC) care providers in the country.  Ethiopia is one of the first countries where they will begin their work, and over the past two weeks, we visited some amazing institutions.  One of which was Selam’s Children Village.  Founded over 20 years ago as an orphanage, the institution is now a home to over 450 orphans, provides a school to over 3,000 local poor students, and offsets up to 40% of its total costs through earned-income ventures.  They have two restaurants that serve as training facilities for their students, a vocational training center that sells the items produced in the mechanical workshops, and a large farm complete with flowers, vegetables and livestock.  We also visited smaller care providers that structured their organizations around a home environment.  Two small homes, one for boys and one for girls, are run by an incredible social entrepreneur named Yonatin.  Though there are no revenue streams, the love in those homes is evident from the first step through the door.  The high ratio of caregivers to OVC’s, and the remarkable training and commitment of these caregivers, is absolutely crucial to their success.  As I’ve said before, the poverty of this country has been the source of many problems, but its hard not to feel hopeful when meeting change-makers and seeing the results of their work.

So its been a long time. I know.  But now I’m back in Addis, after two wonderful but short weeks in the US, and back at it again.

I did get to use my Amharic a bit when back in the States.  In fact, I was using it within 15 minutes of my arrival—at the Starbucks in Dulles, on the strange 4-wheeled transport vehicles and walking down the terminal.  I’d never really appreciated it before, but on this visit to DC, I heard Amharic spoken everyday and could recognize Ethiopians all over the city.  Many friends in Addis have family in DC and many more want to be there themselves.  They say it’s the second biggest Ethiopian city in the world.  Every Ethiopian I talked to was excited to chat about the country and my time there, everyone except one waitress at an Ethiopian restaurant, she ignored me all together, but still one rebuff isn’t too bad.

Addis is about the same as I left it.  The mangy dog that lives at my house is mangier than I remember him and the weather seems even better than before, but I think I was just deceived on both counts.  The wind has picked up and there’s more moisture in the air.  Walking around the city this morning, the wind had blown away the smog and the mountains surrounding the city were crystal clear. 

The day after I returned, Ethiopia celebrated Ge’na, or Ethiopian Christmas.  This helped to ensure that if I didn’t get enough cheesy Christmas music while back home, in the end I received more than my fair share.  Most Ethiopians spend Ge’na with their family, and I was lucky enough to spend it with my good friend Biniyam and his family.  Today, just a couple weeks later, is Timket, when the Ethiopian Orthodox Church celebrates Epiphany.  The representation of the Arc of the Covenant from each Orthodox church is escorted to a central location, and then back to the church the next day.  The procession is full of music, colors, and crowd control.  So, in review, its been an extra long holiday season.

Work has been busy since I’ve returned.  We hosted a leadership program, facilitated by the Center for Creative Leadership, for over 60 local leaders and we’ve been working hard to identify a social investment opportunity.  We’re forging new ground for the organization on this front, but I really do believe in this type of development.  Identify your targeted outputs, find the people making change in those arenas, and empower them to do more.  It sounds simple, but nothing ever is.  Nonetheless, I recognize that I have little expertise.  The best thing I can do is try to find the smartest people with the best ideas and the most realistic plans for success, and to invest in them and their organizations by marshalling resources from the US.  I may not have the expertise, but I do have the ability to help Ethiopian entrepreneurs do more, and to me, that may be the best way I can help.

One thing I have learned is that giving is not easy.  Ethiopia has been one of the largest recipients of Western aid money over the years, and I have encountered some serious dependency issues during my time here.  The famines in Ethiopia attracted international concern, and marked one of the first instances in which pop culture (actors, musicians, etc.) turned its attention to Africa.  Even on the micro level, I’ve met people who feel that they live only by the grace of other’s generosity and handouts, even when I’m humbled by their hard work and creativity.  With so much scarcity for so long, its understandable why some will take what they can get, when they can get it.  And with uncertain economic, social and political conditions, its also understandable why some might be less inclined to invest toward the future.  Still, to the greatest degree possible, I think it is critical to invest beneficiaries in the work being done, to demand accountability, and to encourage seizing opportunity and preparing for a better future.  But there are so many sad stories, and its hard to think about accountability when a mother in tattered clothes dangles her malnourished child in your car window.  I guess you just do the best you can.

Lake Langano from a cliff

Lake Langano from the shore

Students from Kechene

Ethiopia Orthodox Church in Lideta

Soccer at Meskel Square

Cliffs at Durba

Valley below

Baboon!