Big Boss, little kids, dusty roads, people living with Hiv and Aids and much else. Finally the real Africa.
We (UN/AIDS staff and Mark Stirling, the Director of Eastern and Southern Africa) went on Sunday for a field visit to a big Ethiopian city placed North West from Addis Ababa, Bahir dar.
7 hours by car with amazing landscapes: green fields, mountains, children barefoot running from their village to another one that might have been 10 km far, donkeys and cows, goats and sheeps. We first stopped in Debre Markos, another big town on the way to Bahir Dar, always in the Amhara region. We visited different place that had as a trait d'union the people living with Hiv. They are organized in associations, and they have their own business (bakeries, granding mills, etc..) in order to stop the discrimination towards them. Brave, corageus people, especially in a country like Ethiopia, were habits and traditions are very strong, as well as misconceptions and stigma.
We met many children, smiling children that used to say: "YOU... (pointing us with the finger)... WHAT IS YOUR NAME?" and we had to reply the same.. My name is Andrea, I'm from Italy.. what is your name?? And they were proud o their english, and for having spoken to a FARANGE (foreign person). We spent the night in Debre, and the following morning we travelled all the way to Bahir, following the Blue Nile river. We finally came, and we had a few meetings at the regional HAPCO (HIV and AIDS Prevention & control office) and to the local hospital we patients are treated with ART (anti retrovial treatment). If italian hospitals are not well considered, and if you are afriad of them, then don't come here. Walls that almost falls to the ground, flies everywhere, a never ending line of patients, and a few doctors. Heat. So much heat, that even breathing is hard. After that, a relaxing trip to TANA lake, the third biggest lake in Africa, in particular to some islands in the middle where old monastries survive since 1300. Some monks received us, explaining all the history and showing us ancient Amharic books with more than 700 hundred years of history. Impressive. Ah, i was forgetting: ladies (as you can see in the pictures) were not allowed cuz they represent a temptaion for the moks. He said, to a specific question: "ladies are like the grass for the fire, goats for the lions and cows for the tigers......". So, how can you reply to that??? So no women for their whole life, they just don't need them... wow, that's really strong!
Yesterday (tuesday) we had to come back to Addis, but we found time to visit the Blue Nile falls, the most important turistic attraction in Ethiopia. Unfortunately this is the dry season, so the falls were not to impressive, but still it has been great. Nothing compared to Iguazu, but in any case a nice experience.
Fields trips are the best for you to understand how people are really living, to escape from the bllody meetings and to see what does really mean living with this killing virus. I wish I could go more often, to see all the kids staring at you like if you were (a white) God, there to help and to feed them. Unfortunately i'm neither God nor a meal, so you cannot help them but still many things can be done. All this makes you think a lot, about everything. This is Africa. The real Africa. Everyone should come here and see. Not to forget anymore....
We (UN/AIDS staff and Mark Stirling, the Director of Eastern and Southern Africa) went on Sunday for a field visit to a big Ethiopian city placed North West from Addis Ababa, Bahir dar.
7 hours by car with amazing landscapes: green fields, mountains, children barefoot running from their village to another one that might have been 10 km far, donkeys and cows, goats and sheeps. We first stopped in Debre Markos, another big town on the way to Bahir Dar, always in the Amhara region. We visited different place that had as a trait d'union the people living with Hiv. They are organized in associations, and they have their own business (bakeries, granding mills, etc..) in order to stop the discrimination towards them. Brave, corageus people, especially in a country like Ethiopia, were habits and traditions are very strong, as well as misconceptions and stigma.
We met many children, smiling children that used to say: "YOU... (pointing us with the finger)... WHAT IS YOUR NAME?" and we had to reply the same.. My name is Andrea, I'm from Italy.. what is your name?? And they were proud o their english, and for having spoken to a FARANGE (foreign person). We spent the night in Debre, and the following morning we travelled all the way to Bahir, following the Blue Nile river. We finally came, and we had a few meetings at the regional HAPCO (HIV and AIDS Prevention & control office) and to the local hospital we patients are treated with ART (anti retrovial treatment). If italian hospitals are not well considered, and if you are afriad of them, then don't come here. Walls that almost falls to the ground, flies everywhere, a never ending line of patients, and a few doctors. Heat. So much heat, that even breathing is hard. After that, a relaxing trip to TANA lake, the third biggest lake in Africa, in particular to some islands in the middle where old monastries survive since 1300. Some monks received us, explaining all the history and showing us ancient Amharic books with more than 700 hundred years of history. Impressive. Ah, i was forgetting: ladies (as you can see in the pictures) were not allowed cuz they represent a temptaion for the moks. He said, to a specific question: "ladies are like the grass for the fire, goats for the lions and cows for the tigers......". So, how can you reply to that??? So no women for their whole life, they just don't need them... wow, that's really strong!
Yesterday (tuesday) we had to come back to Addis, but we found time to visit the Blue Nile falls, the most important turistic attraction in Ethiopia. Unfortunately this is the dry season, so the falls were not to impressive, but still it has been great. Nothing compared to Iguazu, but in any case a nice experience.
Fields trips are the best for you to understand how people are really living, to escape from the bllody meetings and to see what does really mean living with this killing virus. I wish I could go more often, to see all the kids staring at you like if you were (a white) God, there to help and to feed them. Unfortunately i'm neither God nor a meal, so you cannot help them but still many things can be done. All this makes you think a lot, about everything. This is Africa. The real Africa. Everyone should come here and see. Not to forget anymore....
