I’m back in Addis Ababa after a two-year hiatus – the city has changed dramatically! Back in May 2010 it seemed that every block had major buildings being constructed. Now, those buildings are done, but there are more and more going up. The place is just booming!
(who says women can't work in construction?!?)
After always having stayed at the big Hilton hotel on the other side of town, I’m staying in a hotel that didn’t exist 2 years ago – the Siyonat. It’s quite nice, small and quiet, and – best of all – it’s within a block walk of our project offices here. Traffic here is abominable. New roads are being built (with Chinese funding) but they’re certainly not finished yet (are roads ever finished anywhere? As soon as they’re done end-to-end, they need to be repaired in places where potholes open up, it seems!).
After always having stayed at the big Hilton hotel on the other side of town, I’m staying in a hotel that didn’t exist 2 years ago – the Siyonat. It’s quite nice, small and quiet, and – best of all – it’s within a block walk of our project offices here. Traffic here is abominable. New roads are being built (with Chinese funding) but they’re certainly not finished yet (are roads ever finished anywhere? As soon as they’re done end-to-end, they need to be repaired in places where potholes open up, it seems!).
It's raining season here, so I wake up to sunny mornings and then clouds roll in, rain comes, then sun, then rain, then sun. I learned on day one to bring an umbrella everywhere, because I will need it. Now I just need to remember to bring old sneakers so I'm not jumping across puddles into mud (no paving on one stretch between the office and hotel) in my new sandals!
I’m here because JSI is having a big meeting of staff from many of our maternal and child health projects. About 25 staff are here from about 14 countries and we have many of our Ethiopian colleagues joining the meeting, too, for a total of almost 50 participants.
It turns out that all our folks who work on immunization issues are also here in Addis; there is a big World Public Health Congress here next week, so lots of groups are taking advantage of the Congress to hold adjunct meetings with staff. So on Sunday before I leave I’ll also join the Immunization Team to help them look at how they document all the good work being done.
But, the most interesting part of the visit will be Friday, when we break into smaller groups and visit different project sites to see the work we’re talking about actually being implemented at clinics and health centers. I’ll be there with my digital and video cameras, capturing what’s going on and learning first-hand about the impact we’re having. That will definitely be more fun that sitting in a conference room all day – even if the content of both is equally interesting!
More to come soon....
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