Owen abroad

Archive for May, 2008

I’m in Tanzania accompanying my partner to the gathering of all the Marie Stopes Country Directors and honchos from headquarters.

These people are seriously impressive. People like me write policy papers, attend conferences, and have opinions about how things work, or should work. These people, by contrast, set up and run clinics – navigating their way through the challenges of logistics, bureaucracy, people management and marketing. They have all lived in some of the most challenging places on the planet, and all set about their work with an enthusiasm and optimism which is as infectious as it is inspiring. Real heroes.

Flying in to Addis on Monday morning we flew over Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile and readily identifiable by its distinctive shape.  It was a nice reminder to me of the wealth of natural resources that this beautiful country has to offer.

Addis is a huge building site.  From the air you can see the impressive scale of the new buildings and roads that are springing up over this growing city (5 million people and growing).   I’ve been told be an infrastructure expert that the Ethiopians are managing this construction well, which is consistent with my impression of the government as well-organized, if a bit over-controlling.

Less reassuring is the thick layer smog (or is it just the dust of construction?) all over the lower parts of the city.  The air looks clearer in the surrounding hills.

And Addis is bustling. We ate last night in a restaurant filled with affluent Ethiopians. The man at the next table was using is Apple iPhone.  But the urban poor are being hard hit by the sharp rise in food prices, including Teff (the grain which is Ethiopia’s staple) – one friend noticed that the little group of people who meet on the street near our hotel to share a meagre breakfast has risen from about 5 people to about 15 in the last few weeks.

I am sitting at Heathrow airport, on my way to Ethiopia.

It is a big change to move away from home for 3 years.  I am excited, as I love Ethiopia; but I am also a bit apprehensive about how much our lives will change.