I was really impressed with the high level of the presentations and the panel discussion during the dialogue on Ethiopian Agricultural development, held on the 12th November at the ECA, Addis Ababa.

ILRI participants

Dr. Gebisa Ejeta

A few bullet points from the presentation of Dr. Gebisa Ejeta (World Food Laureate 2009) that impressed me

There are some game changers, some difference makers, the BMGF. Are they new players with a new game, a new medicine or just an old medicine in a new bottle?

To progress and develop, there is a need for direct technical assistance, keeping:
o Integration.
o Coordination.
o Establishment of linkages.

Conditions for the green revolution to happen in Africa:
o Good plant cultivars, good management practices, support for the education.
o Generate adoption and impact, product gains, market profits, produce not only grains but also value added products.
o An enabling policy environment.

We need powerful, new and transformative solutions.
We need to empower local people and institutions/governments.
We need a culture of change.
We need to strengthening the input delivery systems.

Key essential prescriptions:
1) Technology needs to act as driver of change (new, different, dramatic). We need to feed people but also to be profitable.
2) Commitment to build local capacity. Improve the education, mentoring. A “can do attitude” (encourage not deflate). Locals need to change, to make and learn from mistakes.
3) Engage policy makers to make technology induced changes sustainable. Need to lead instead of follow. Executive leadership is key.

A few facts from the country

49M cattle + 47M goats and sheep + 42M poultry + 2M camels = The country with more livestock in Africa, the tenth in the World ranking.

12 large rivers + 10 large lakes + 1200-2000mm of rain = potential to irrigate all the land in Ethiopia.

74M population; 95% of GDP is from farmers; 5% from the private sector.
Agriculture contributes 85% of the export products but only benefits from 3% of the imports.

A few interesting thoughts

An agricultural researcher has an average of 40 chances to make a difference!
Agricultural researchers have two bosses, the farmers and the government.
Research advocacy needs to be maintained.
Research accountability needs to improve – How to measure our progress?

What is needed? What can/should we do? (bullet points from the panel discussion)

Shifting paradigms of donor programs; Projects have been often donor driven!

Change from knowledge recipients to knowledge seekers.

Invest in capacity building; Have competent and confident graduates with entrepreneur skills.

Establish a triangular linkage between education-research-extension.

Increase external assistance, locally led, with adequate African leadership and policy makers.

Believe in hope, local technology approaches, affordable and sustainable.

Have a culture of change with a more efficient mechanism of delivery.

Think outside the box.

Convert abundance to food security and prosperity for all.

Increase productivity; increase competitiveness (more medium and large scale farms); create jobs + prosperous opportunities away from the farms.

Nurture the private sector.

Stop thinking agriculture = farmers. Start investing in agriculture.

The challenge is adaptation, doing what we do but at a much faster pace. Diversity is an asset in Ethiopia. Knowledge management and sharing.

I am just back from a dinner at the national palace, hosted by the president of the country. A dinner with more than 300 guests. A real surprise that I did not know about until this afternoon… The event was in honor of the 2009 World Food Prize laureate, Dr. Gebisa  Ejeta a distinguished Ethiopian scientist that developed sorghum varieties resistant to drought and to Striga weeds, that greatly contributed to improve yields and food production in Africa. We received the dinner invitations during the “Dialogue on Ethiopian Agricultural Development” that took place this afternoon at the ECA conference center.

Being invited for an event at ECA was quite an exciting occasion, as this was my first time in such exclusive meeting place of the United Nations. The conference center facilities are impressive, with all the rows of tables, chairs and simultaneous translations in place (although they were not used, as the meeting was in English). The 5 hours of speeches were of great interest, with various and diverse views (sometimes provocative) of the status, problems and perspectives of agriculture in the region and Ethiopia in particular.

After such an enlightening session, being invited to a formal dinner at the palace was like an unexpected desert on top of a sumptuous banquet! I enjoyed every bit of it. We were actually politely told that we had to leave the table, as we were the last ones to leave the banquet lounge…

The entrance of the palace is impressive, with two huge statues by each side of the door. The security is strict, opening every single item in our handbags and asking us to leave the mobiles in the bus. Luckily I had decided to removed the boiled egg I had planned to bring in my purse (one of the two ingredients of my last 11-day diet that I was suppose to eat for dinner, that I thought it was not going to be in the dinner-menu of the event – see previous blog entry for more details). I remember the only time I have been previously at the palace (to visit just the gardens) they were checking every single item in my bag, including opening a few small chocolates I had.  
The rooms are huge and very tall, like any real palace. The walls are covered with engraved wood and old tapestries and paintings. There are several wooden old cupboards displaying gifts from various countries, but mostly beautiful pieces of ivory, silver and ceramics. There were several silver samovars and carved ivory tusks around the rooms. Several old sofas covered with tapestry were scattered along the walls. Huge velvet curtains gracefully covered the very tall windows.

The entrance hall was packed with people, most of them new to the palace like most of us. I tried to ask a few Ethiopians how old was the palace, but none could give me a correct answer. Later on I was told that it was built in the sixties and used by the emperor Haile Selassie. I have always been very curious about the Palace, and had asked some friends that had the privilege to visit it previously, how it was like it.

The entrance hall was separated from the buffet room by lovely biombos with Chinese paintings. There were 3 huge buffet square tables with 2 plates of each dish each. It was mainly Ethiopian food nicely displayed. I was particularly impressed by a huge real elephant foot with a glass cover and shiny huge nails, that was a box for spirit bottles!

The dining hall was also impressing.  Again the tall ceilings, the 6 or more rows of tables (each seating 50 people) nicely laid out for us (with silver candle holders, roses and cutlery with the royal stamp engraved), the embalsamated lions at least in two extremes of the room and the predominant royal throne at the end of the room (where the emperor use to seat and receive his people).

The president and the Throne

The ceiling lamps are exquisite in both the entrance room and the dining room. Sort of modern style but keeping the greatness of a chandelier. The old wooden floor is covered by huge Persian carpets placed next to each other (about 5×10m each). Some with lion designs, the national symbol of Ethiopia.

I never did or think about doing a diet before. But time comes when life slowly changes and our bodies do not respond the same way anymore. Especially after a long period without doing any exercise. I am not overweighed, but my body is accumulating some fat and volume in the wrong places. I used to have always the same weight, regardless of the food I eaten. However, I have noticed lately that some trousers have become very tight and the buttons are difficult to close. I also look a bit awkward in some tight dresses and blouses. Checking on the scale (something I did rarely as it was usually the same) I have increased a few kilos in the last months. But what really made me decide I had to do something about it was when a friend congratulated me thinking that I was expecting a baby… I did not like it at all. This is a 11 day diet, high in proteins, avoiding mixing many ingredients, with fixed intervals between the 4 meals. The second day was extremely difficult, eating only fruits the whole day. I was starving. Another difficult day was the vegetables day, even at breakfast! I am almost at the end, counting the days left to finish. But very happy to have lost a few kg and several cm on my belly!

I have also decided to start exercising, it just coincided more a less at the same time. Not a good idea to start aerobics while doing a diet, but apart from the fatigue at the end of the day, everything is going ok. The most difficult day was the one of the Chesire walk, an event that happens once a year (and I did not want to miss!) and coincided during this diet period. I am now very proud to have walked the 21km again, for the 6th time (almost every year since we arrived in Ethiopia), despite the limited food ingested. I am also very happy that for the first time my toe nails are fine, thanks to the hiking boots I got and tried for the first time. Usually after the 21km they hurt and turn black and take almost 9 months to grow nice again!

Amazing how the food you eat (or the lack of it!) affects your mind and your mood. I became very grumpy in the days that I did not like the food I had to eat (fish and milk! Or vegetables and milk!). I understand now much better the people that are fasting and have to avoid certain types of food. It requires a lot of determination to look and smell delicious items and resisting trying them. This was after all, also a good exercise of the power of the mind and my will!

It also helped to have two friends doing it at the same time, sharing daily frustrations and special meals arranged for social dinners…

… a few days passed, and I am now worried not to gaining back everything I have happily lost…!

Something curious, the first reaction of the first meal after the diet, I realized I had to think again and decide what food to eat… The diet had all meals with set ingrediants, no need to think!

Today a friend of mine asked me how did I have time to write in my blog? The answer is simple, I often use my free time to either read or write. That is why 20 days after I came back from my first great experience with the AWARD, I only have time to write today…

I finally finished reading a series of 4 exciting books about vampires (written by Stephenie Meyer). This is the twilight saga that my 12 years old daughter (that did not like reading that much…) convinced me to read after her. The last book was particularly difficult to stop reading with so many adventures, unpredicted chapters and episodes with suspense.  

I was one of the 60 lucky winners of a pool of almost 500 candidates!… AWARD is a Gender and Diversity prize given annually to promising and outstanding African women scientists, sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to improve skills and broaden opportunities.

The first orientation workshop of the AWARD in Mombasa was a great experience. The facilitators were top class, highly competent, entertaining and educational. I learned a lot about myself, some of my strengths, weaknesses and some ideas for improvement. I also did a lot of thinking about my goals and objectives in life. I also learned about cultural, gender and personal behavior. Most of the thinking was indoors, but a bit was also by the beach side, walking on the white sand between the white foam of the waves breaking on the shore and the hundreds of fast little crabs. We looked at different perspectives and new ideas. We learned to dream!

Three key messages that I keep remembering:

How many times did I lack courage to do something and then the opportunity was lost? I can think of many, one of them just a few weeks ago… How many times did I have unique chances that I managed to grab and made a real impact in my life? I can think of a few. We learned that is ok to feel the fear but we should be able to do it anyway.

I was also touched by the importance of networking. Again here, making the best use of many unique opportunities is crucial. How many times did you make relevant and fruitful contacts by chance? A passenger in an airplane, contacts at the school of your children, someone at a supermarket or at a bar or during a coffee break?

The last one is about the impact you can have on people. People do not remember what you said or what you did but they will remember how you made them feel…

This was just the beginning of the endless opportunities in various professional fields that we will have during the next two years. It was great to meet all the other fellows from so many countries, all sharing the same enthusiasm and momentum for learning, change and improvement!

South Korea

Here I am, comfortable installed in a simpatico French café at the Incheon airport, listening to smooth and charming Brazilian music… seated in a leather sofa walled with large cushions.
This is the end of the almost two weeks of a business trip to Asia. A great trip with a lot of great experiences and many contrasts.

A trip with minimal sleep trying to do the present work (related to the meetings) during the day and the distant work (related to the office) at night.

A trip where I played opposite roles, the student in India and the teacher in Korea. Interesting, one would logically expect the contrary (teaching in a less developed country and learning in the most developed one). Circumstances made the difference: a statistical course given by an International Research Institute in India while in Korea was teaching and organizing a few lectures at a first international course provided by the National Research and Development to a range of young scientists from Southeast Asia.

As a student I felt quite comfortable as I had lot to learn. I was amongst the senior students but I felt in tune with the group and we had a great time, both in classes and outside the classes. The experience as a teacher was a new experience to me, amongst so many experienced scientists and feeling somehow closer to the age group of the students… Not even the white hairs I am starting to have helped that much… Being the only women in most of the formal dinners and meetings did not help either. As my boss got sick at the last minute I had to replace him unexpectedly and felt a bit lost. However, the experienced colleagues (a few I knew from before) with a lot more experience, filled the few gaps and gave me a lot of support. I feel much more confident now and happy that I did my job with success. It was not so difficult after all!

Actually, one of the difficult parts was to remember the names for each face. The Korean names are unfamiliar to me and many share similar first or last names. I exchanged business cards with more than two dozens scientists and only know exactly who is who is in not more than half of them. A shame!… It did not help that most of them had similar business cards as they worked in the same institute, what made it even more difficult to associate the cards with the faces. Only two of them had a picture (which is a great idea!) At some point I started to make little notes in the cards related to the place we met or the issues discussed. At the end, I could not find the card of the one of the scientists that was extremely friendly and helpful and had taken us for dinner and lunch almost every single day. I browsed through all the cards I had and did not know who they were and found the courage to politely ask him which one was his card. Luckily, it was not any of them (so I was sort of excused for this gag…) and he gave us his card.   

It is the second time I come to Korea and still the same impression as the first time. So civilized, so clean, so tidy. People are very well educated and seem to have a high standard of living. Beautiful new cars everywhere, processes highly computerized and digitalized. A few difficulties thought, English is barely spoken and with an accent difficult to understand. Most names of places, roads and products are written in Korean… This can create a few misunderstandings: ending up in the parking floor of the department store instead of clothes department; having a camera battery taken to be charged when asking to buy a similar battery; unable to get hot water to add to the strong tea. Washing hands in a restaurant toilet with gargle liquid instead of liquid soap.   
Having the internet and the windows menus in Korean, it is very difficult to find the right menus and understand any error messages.

However, this time I had the opportunity to notice that the Korean society is extremely stratified, remains of Confucianism, that still influences a lot the Asian society, especially Korea. Everyone has his place in society and it is difficult to change. Students stay in the dormitories, teachers in hotels. Students eat in the cafeteria, teachers in restaurants. The coffee breaks had a minimum duration, 5-10 minutes and not really done for networking. There were few opportunities to interact with students, something we are used to do (and an important part of training network for future collaboration) in the International institutes as well as in African countries.

In contrast, I noticed that people can interact quite freely during the famous karaoke sessions, abundant in town. Here people can sing and dance, regardless of social positions. It was nice to be able to be (a small!) part of it.

Food was another challenge: many small dishes made a huge meal. In average we had at least 30 different dishes per meal we were invited for, and when we thought it was finished, here comes the main dish, rice! A wide range of delicious flavors (but a few not so good) from a special very soft octopus that leaves in the mud, to jelly fish, row fish, sea weed, snails and poisonous fish (where the poisonous bits were remove). I was afraid when I was offered a sort of meat and was told it was ‘dok’. I though it was dog, but after some questioning I understood that it was in fact duck (very nice by the way)! I learned then that there are special and very few places where dog is served. It is very expensive and served as delicacy but also for medical purposes, as it helps the healing of people after surgical operations. Seating on the floor on a few traditional restaurants was also a bit of a challenge, as after some time the legs become num and it is difficult to find a comfortable position…

From the technical side, I was very impressed with the modern and beautiful genebank they have. The extremely neat rooms and work; the amount and quality of specialized people and work; the degree of organization (everyone and everything in his place); and the available modern techniques put into use, like the automatic robot system to place boxes of seeds in and out of the long term storage (a -18oC cold room). 

India

This was also the second time I went to India, although I had never been in Hyderabad. I was pleasantly surprised with the airport. It is a brand new and modern airport, a vivid contrast with my memories from the airport in Mumbai (an ugly, old, messy and dirty building)! The city is very developed with many modern buildings, but still retains the image we often see in movies: wide roads full of all sorts of cars and motorcycles driving almost touching each others on a messy multicolored wave. Particularly impressive (and scary too!) are the fragile two or three wheels motorcycles driving in fast zigzags, carrying families of 3, 4, 5 or even more… After a few hours downtown, one easily realizes what noise pollution feels like…
And after being downtown, we enjoyed and appreciated even more the isolation, beauty and peacefulness of the ICRISAT campus we were staying (modern and comfortable facilities surrounded by kilometers of green grass and neat cereals and legume fields with a few peaceful lakes in between; not forgetting the castle and chapels too; all of this within an unbelievable area of about 1400 ha!).

From the technical side, impressive to see the amazing expansion of the molecular biology facilities and related services they have. The great amount and detailed work they have also done on diversity studies of their germplasm collections that truly enrich their potential usefulness for many users. 

Other highlights were:

- The nice food provided by the cafeteria, with a range of delicious Indian spices and rotis.

- The friendly people in campus that made us feel at home.

- The great welcome party in the middle of a storm that even included some dancing.

- The shopping trip on the last day with a diverse group looking for quite different sorts of items; some very brief sightseeing in between to have a feeling of the old monuments in town. The challenge to stop and shop for each one, trying to keep the time and not to loose anyone… A few arguments in between but everybody managed to buy something nice in the end… The nicely organized picnic box we had during the shopping trip (avoiding eating out to keep everybody safe, just in case).

It was the rainy season, the famous monsoons that were in fact a bit late. We had rain almost every day, although the weather was warm so it made easy to dry wet clothes or shoes. We were cough by the rain a few times, despite the innumerous umbrellas that were provided in the various buildings of the campus. The rain and the Muslim fasting season gave us some stress on the way back to the airport. The taxi driver came late as the time coincided with breaking the fast at the end of the day. It was also raining quite heavily and the road to the airport is quite new and still under construction in a few parts. So new that the taxi drivers do not know yet where to exit or turn; so new that it is in the middle of nowhere; there are no houses or people along the road, something very rare in a country so populated as India. I am curious to see it in a few years time…

Life is getting difficult in Addis.

The constant power cuts, every second day from 6am to 10pm. The irregular internet connection even at work. It is annoying for us, so I can’t even imagine how the less fortunate people are managing. So many small businesses are closing down. They cannot cope being only able to work half of the time (if they are lucky and get electricity at least half of the time). From the little coffee shops, barbers, internet cafes to the informal welding businesses and so many factories, they are all struggling.

We tried to stop for a coffee the other day outside town, they were open with the waiters wondering about, but not selling anything. They will not have power that day until late at night, but just hang in there.

When ordering something (eye glasses, leather products or just photocopying services) it can take up to 3 weeks instead of the usual 3 days.

Expensive hotels and well established businesses have generators but are still subjected to sudden power cuts that can even be dangerous. One example is the tread mill machines at the gym that can hurt who is running at high speed when stopped suddenly.

We also find charismatic situations in these conditions. A mid size supermarket adapted to the crisis using a tiny generator for the cash register machine and having the employees helping the customers choosing their food items in the shelves with torches. This is ok for canned food but I prefer buying the meat, fish and milk products from the few supermarkets that can afford to have a bigger generator most of the time so that the freezers can benefit too. Medical services are naturally also affected.

Last week we went to a private dentist and gave up and runaway from a tooth extraction that was going to take place using a torch, as there was no lights! I think (I hope!) the major hospitals have generators for emergencies, but who knows…

I am glad I am leaving soon for a few weeks into a more ‘normal’ country. It is raining several times a day; it is cold and wet most of the time. This is the season when Addis is really quiet. More than half of the people we know go on holidays with the children.

The school is just finishing. The stress of checking and chasing the kids to do the daily homework is finally finished for several weeks. It is time to go on leave, this time to Lisbon, where we have not been as a family for quite sometime. Most of our family and many of our good friends leave there.

It is dark again in the house, due to the regular power cuts we are having every two days. I had prepared part of the suitcases the day before (anticipating the power cut already), but the last items had to be found and sorted out with the help of a candle or a camping lantern. It is not easy to choose clothes with these sorts of light sources… One of us went out for dinner at night once with one shoe of each…
The suitcases were sorted out but the underwear of one of the girls was forgotten behind. Nothing that could not be quickly bought again…

I would resume the holidays into 3 main parts: medical appointments, shopping for a huge list of items (despite the nearly 150 kg of luggage brought a few items were still forgotten or not found on time) and finally being with family and friends plus keeping updated with work emails at the end of the day, necessary at this last few months of my work project.

The medical appointments ranged from vaccine preventive measures to regular check ups and dental repairing. For half of the appointments, it took much longer than expected. The day we had to handed in the samples from three consecutive days to be tested, we could not be attended due to a failure in the computer system in the whole hospital. We still waited for a while but it was off for the whole day. We wondered around the city avoiding opening the bag were the smelly samples were… Luckily the computer system was working later in the morning of the following day.
The day we managed to sort out our registration to be vaccinated, after being questioned why I had delayed the vaccinations of my kids for so long, we were told they could not give us the tetanus injections, they were out of stock… We tried several places but they were either finished in most places, pharmacies and hospitals or just reserved for people leaving there. I guess the global economic crisis is affecting many sectors (I had to go to several pharmacies to get 2-3 pieces of the same item that were often out of stocks)…Finally, a few days before departure we managed to have them done. It was quite a relief, as vaccinations are difficult (and I am not sure how they are shipped and stored here) to get in Ethiopia.  

The shopping included various items from the usual clothes and shoes to special food items, car parts, violin cords, and off course books and toys. Medicines were also an important part of the items. The eternal dilemma of anyone leaving abroad for long periods of time: which spare parts to buy for my car (which and how many filters will be needed to change in the next year or two? Which parts are likely to break soon?), which medicines we will need for the next year or two? Which books would we like to read in the next several months? Despite globalization, there are still many items we can only find in a few countries.

It was really nice to see so many friends, young, old and not so old members of the family (ranging from 1 to 90 years old!). We spent very good moments with my little sisters, my father, and many close cousins and unties. Kids grow so quickly and it is great to see them (not as often as we would wish) whenever possible and learn about their new interests in life and achievements. The girls were amazed to be seating several times at very long tables and learn that absolutely everyone at the table belonged to their families. They are not used to that. We have often long dinner or lunch tables in Addis, but most of the times full with friends. Pity we could not see and being with still so many other family and friends due to the short time and so many urgent commitments (mostly the medical ones that kept us busy most of the days). Hopefully next time we will have more free time!

One of the highlights was the visit to the Zoo, that greatly improved in the last few years, becoming closer to high standards seen in other international Zoos. The dolphin and sea lion show is a must and as good as the ones we have seen in Florida last year.

We greatly enjoyed the yacht tour on a sunny Sunday along the cost to Cascais and even the freezing cold swim at the sea as well as the great picnic lunch at the boat. We got a bit nervous when two young Cape Verdian guys swam from the shore to our boat (anchored about 200-300m from the beach) and started climbing in without being invited. But luckily a cool reaction and calm conversation avoided major problems.

We were also happily impressed with the great surprise of gathering old friends while over-night in Holland on the way back to Addis.

It has been great to be with so many old friends we did not see for a while and feel like we have seen each others yesterday. These friendships are very precious.

Like everything that is good it feels very short… We are now back at home, with even worse power cut schedules: every other day no electricity from 6am to 10pm and the days in between no electricity either the whole morning or the whole afternoon… Our noisy little generator is just enough for a few items, often just swiched on when is really dark to plug the computers batteries and a few lamps (the inspiration for the title of this blog is still absolutely updated…). I just hope that the electricity constrains will reduce with the starting of the rainy season last week. It is often said that the short electricity supplies we are suffering are due to the low water levels in the water powered stations at the end of the dry season.

A post that was forgotten to upload due to the holidays rush…

… My legs are hurting and I am exhausted from yesterday. This is the result of the garage sale I went as a vendor. This usually happens once a year at the end of the school year for people to sell items they do not need anymore and others to buy useful items they need. There are usually lots of used clothes, toys and books at very cheap prices. Many times there are very good deals with items almost new (especially toys and books). I have been going through the cupboards of clothes for the last few weekends separating everything (or at least a lot of it) we did not want or did not fit anymore. I separated good items that were still good to sell and others too old (only to give away). We had about 6 suitcases full of varied items. I had planned to sell items at very cheap prices (between 1 and 5 usd each) and give away to charity anything not sold thereafter. I had agreed with the girls they would help to sell the items that had belonged mostly to them, we would split the profit equally and they could use their money to buy new toys or clothes. This was also an incentive to really go through some of our cupboards (that were quite full) and make a good choice of items we did not really needed or use anymore (sometimes choices somehow difficult to make). We were all very excited to get rid of a pile of old/unused stuff and may be still making a reasonable profit!

We packed the car early in the morning and prepared a picnic basket as the sale was from mid morning to mid afternoon. We arrived there, with half of the other sellers already in place. We quickly laid out our items on the table we had booked, organizing piles of identical prices to facilitate the sale. I realized soon I had too many items to display in just one table. But the problem to have two tables was the need to have more people to control them. So I put the pile of clothes on top of the table and the toys, books and shoes on the floor and on top of chairs in front of our table.

The first two hours were quite busy but still under control. We sold books almost new, games and stuffed teddy bears. There were also new shoes nobody had used. The first priority was given to the school staff, students and families. Many of the security guards and students, parents and teachers made very good deals with our items. There was a lot of bargain and things were selling fast, especially shoes.

The rest of the crowd was queuing at the gate waiting for the time to get in. A few minutes before the scheduled time, the organizers come to tell us they were going to open the gates to the general public and we should be careful as they were many. The additional crowd came and our table was even more surrounded by people picking clothes, choosing colors and sizes and bargaining even more. At some point we lost control of the items. People where stealing and the pile were reducing fast in a big mess. The security guards that were around realized we had difficulties and came to help us. Suddenly we realized we were almost squashed against the wall behind us. The crowd had slowly pushed our table and we had no more space to move behind the table. We grabbed the pile of cloths and stop selling until we managed to re-organize the mess. My friend selling on the table next to mine offered me some help, but the best help I needed was to take the kids home as they were a bit distress with such a mess. We regain control and sold most of the few items remaining. At that point as there were only a few things left, people tried to buy anything else on sight, the plastic stools I was sitting on, the boxes I had brought with my snacks, the empty suitcases we used to bring the items…

Before I come to Ethiopia someone told me we could sell anything here. Thinking about this, it is true that there are not so many thinks available, but on the other end there are lots of shops with cloths and shoes (although usually only one item of each, and very difficult to find a range of sizes of the same item or color). Things have been improving through the years we have been here. I think the main difference is on the prices (but also on the unique items they find – like many of the toys no one would find here). New items are usually expensive. Foreign people usually tend to sell second hand items at very reasonable prices and people really go there to get good items for almost nothing.    

We regularly have many items we do not need. Although we give away many of them to the maids and orphanages, there are times we have too much to give away and particularly sometimes items too good or too valuable to just give them away. In many other countries many of these items have no value at all. So this was a good opportunity to get back some of the money spent. We made the equivalent to 500 usd on the sale last Sunday. In fact, this roughly means that those items must have cost us at least 5000 usd to acquire or even more… This made me realize how much money we often spend and many times is wasted. Many of the clothes were only used a couple of times. This also makes me feel less eager to buy new clothes…

This usually happens once a year. So I am preparing more bags for next time. There are always things that are left and forgotten behind. I will try to be better prepared. It was quite a big mess but I think it was also fun and a great experience. I have done this before several times, but many times the amount we make is diluted as we end up spending buying items from the neighboring tables. This time there was no time to look at the other tables, so no time to spend! This was the first time I had such a large amount of (especially children’s) clothes and shoes. I think that is why was so particularly messy!

I am happy we got rid of most of the suitcases of unused stuff. We went back home with only one half full suitcase. We made some money that we can try to spend wisely and still have a few items left to give away. It was a good experience in many ways. I also know we were definitely partially robbed; I keep remembering items I had there, do not remember to sell them but they were gone at the end of the day. I wish I could have given them to poor people, but after all, I think the ones that took them must have been somehow also needed people. I just wish I could have given then to better people…

 Just coming back from Mombasa, from a working meeting in a lovely and very comfortable hotel. Like one of the participants described, perhaps too nice for a meeting since there was so much to miss being in a air-conditioning room the whole day just feeling the sea breeze between coffee breaks!

Sad to see so many hotels and tourist places empty. It is low season (rainy season), and the global economic crisis (as well as the last year problems in the country) does not help.

From the work point of view , great to meet so many colleagues and get so much done in such a short time. It does help to meet people face to face and clarify pendent issues that otherwise can take weeks to be answered or resolved…Hope the momentum will last to get some more necessary feedback soon.

From the personal point of view, great to meet two old friends while waiting for the flight connections at the Nairobi airport and update the gossip…

From the tourist point of view there was just enough time to do short a sea safari over the coral reefs and a brief overview of old Mombasa and Fort Jesus (build by the Portuguese in the 16th century) before going to the airport.

The sea safari was amazing with what they called another type of sea cucumbers (one I have never seen before, that releases dark purple ink when is disturbed) but a quit Google search indicated more to be a sea hare (http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=seahatac). The anemone with small and very cute back and white fish protected within its ‘arms’. The colorful starfishes and brittle stars and the crabs with fur. The apparently poisonous sea urchins with small rounded small bodies and quite long and sharp dark spines. The most difficult part was to walk with our naked feet within the dark and dense seaweeds without seeing where we were stepping our feet in and having the guides removing some of these poisonous specimens a few cm from our route (and telling us how painful was the prickle from one of those needles and how expensive was the medical treatment to alleviate it)…I had a feeling that perhaps they were exaggerating a bit so that we would feel like paying them a good tip at the end for their safe ‘guidance ’, but who knows…

Fort Jesus was impressive (www.museums.or.ke), build over meters of solid hard coral reefs and nicely facing one of the sea sides of Mombasa Island. The small museum inside the Fort has beautiful Chinese porcelain pieces collected from the bottom of the shore from old shipwrecks from those times. Old cycads and baobab trees with more than 700 years old that were amazingly preserved  since those old times until now (some people luckily already worried about preserving plant genetic resources that long ago).

Interesting to see the new recent trends with the airport road of Mombasa being renamed Barack Obama Rd, the Obama strawberry flavored bubble gum promotional campaign in town and the Obama Kikoy (traditional piece of cloth usually used by women wrapped around the waist with the Obama face printed with the map of Africa) walking around the busy streets…

This is one of my favorite places, one of the best beaches I know. Just a few hundred km from where I used to leave, but yet so magical and difficult to reach. It can take sometimes several hours to reach, through white loosed sand dunes or muddy ponds that cover the dusty road from one side to another, that can make you 4×4 look like an amphibian and leaving it as dirty and proud as any Paris-Dakar vehicle…

14 years ago

The last time I was there was long, long ago, before any of my daughters were born, just after the peace agreements were signed (that ended more than one decade of civil war in Mozambique) and we could again travel safely by road. I remember like if it was today, that first time we went back to Ponta do Ouro after the war. The empty road and the expectative of an incident whenever we passed any military people. The few houses that existed along the road with the walls marked with bullets holes. And finally the beautiful beach completely empty; the dunes with green vegetation, the white sand and the absolutely blue sea with the waves rolling gently in a splash of white foam wetting our feet… The picnic we had standing at the back of our Nissan 4 x 4, eating really tasting schnitzels nicely prepared by my mother in law… 

The urge to return

It just happened after a business visit to Rome, 6 months ago, when I visited some old time friends for dinner and they showed me recent pictures of Ponta do Ouro, where they are finishing a beach house. I just felt I had to re-visit that beautiful place, after so long ago. I have been dreaming about going back there and wondering how it looks and how might have changed. Many people complain that it has been invaded by our neigh boroughs from South Africa, with their boats, caravans and camping gear.

The preparations

This time I have decided I had to make an effort to go there when going back home for Christmas. I asked my mother to check for availability of rooms/houses to stay. I new the end of the year was the pick season of the year, but with a bit of luck if we would go just the week before Christmas there could be a chance for accommodation to be available. There was! Next step was to find a 4 x 4 for the trip, often one of the main obstacles. My brother had just bought one in second hand and made it available for us. So we were all set! We planned to arrive in Maputo at night and leave for the beach the next morning. My daughters complained a lot, saying they were tired from the air traveling (the flight was 2-3 hours delayed that did not help much) and did not feel like leaving again the morning after. I told them it would be worth. They were not very convinced and were a bit grumpy…We arrived near midnight and had to be ready again around 6am…

The ferry

The next morning the trip started with 1 hour queue to catch the ferry to cross the bay. There we sorted out our mobile cards for the telephones, credits to charge them, exchanging Rands into the local currency (MT), bought music CD’s to listen during the trip and started to be excited with the adventure. The (old and rusty) ferry takes a maximum of 12 cars at the time for a 15 minute trip. There were all sorts of cars: families going to the beach like us, trucks taking furniture or building materials for house owners or just cars taking fresh goods to the market for sale (and many women carrying baskets on foot to the local market across the bay). We were in our shorts and hats, ready for the bright African summer sun!

 

 

 The road

The road looked the same, red sand to start and luxurious vegetation on each side of the road. A typical tropical African scenario. There were lots of bumps and rough rides and the girls started to enjoy it. The view was so nice, so wild and jungle like, that was difficult to resist. It was the middle of the week and we crossed with very few cars and people. Very few new houses were built along these years. It looks pretty much the same. We stopped along the way to admire the birds and the wildness. We passed the elephant river, we passed the elephants reserve, we passed the white dunes of sand with the eucalyptus and we were almost there in the never ending plane scattered with wild palm trees and small bushes (that made a Portuguese friend of a friend declare many years ago that it was ideal to build apartment buildings!… we will never forget that awkward idea for such beautiful landscape in the middle of nowhere). But many years passed since our last trip there and many new alternative routes were open through the bushes (especially during the rainy season to find harder grounds), most of them leading to the same place, except a few…Like the one we took. Despite the GPS we were playing with and see what it would show in the map, we got lost… One must get used to benefit from these fancy technological gadgets… The GPS kept showing a strange pink line on the right end side. We could not understand what it was since there wasn’t any main road there. After a few minutes we understood. There were Portuguese names on the left end side and English spelling on the right end side…It was the border line between Mozambique and South Africa!… We were heading to the border instead of the beach (which is about 10km from the border…). Well, we passed in front of the border and got back in track. After a few steep rides over the very soft sand we arrived to the beach village.

 

 

The village

Here we could see that it had really grown since the last time we here there. Lots of new houses and markets on the outskirts of the village. The village itself had mostly old houses that were recovered and not so many new houses, except for the well taken care and comfortable tourist complexes run mostly by South Africans that now complement the one government Hotel that existed in the past. But actually, from the inside of the village one could pretend to be in any of the similar beach villages of the South (like Bilene or Xai- Xai), the same sandy roads of red sand, the same style of colonial houses and building styles, the same type of relaxed and friendly people and children playing, the same mango and cashew nut trees … 

 

The beach

It was just the time to drop our luggage in the rented rooms from a family guest house and fit into our swimsuits and beach towels and off we went to the beach… What a spectacular view. Still the same blue water, white sand and dunes and green natural vegetation! We just switched between the cooling water and laying down under the warm sun until almost dark, day after day in those precious and special 3 days. Collecting sea shells with holes to make necklaces in future nostalgic days far away from the sea. Taking pictures to remember and show the friends. And dreaming about the day we could perhaps be able to buy a house there…