Sylvia's Journal

At the same time that the large blue neon sign was turned off our electricity came on yesterday morning. A little too late since the day had begun and I did not need it anymore. The shower was of course cold because the water heater had been off for 24 hours. I tried to remember that many people around the world, if they have showers at all, have never known the luxury of a hot shower. I held my breath as I washed my hair. Without a shower curtain the small bathroom was wet in no time; cold and wet I dressed and had breakfast downstairs where the lights had been on all night. It’s easy to feel sorry for oneself under such circumstances. Sometimes being in Africa sounds more exotic than it actually is.

For three dollars and sixty cents I had a large glass of fresh mango juice, several enormous slices of toast, a chili omelet and a macchiato, not as good as the macchiato at the Yoli hotel but better than Nescafe.
I knew things were taking a turn for the better when I was, against all expectations, able to post on my blog site, just in between two early morning power outages and before our work started. It made my day after the inauspicious beginning yesterday and I felt outright lucky. Thank God for small victories.

Of the 35 people we had invited for the senior alignment meeting about 22 showed up, including, in the end, the big boss which was the signal that we could start. Having had similar events in other countries with only a small fraction of the number invited I was quite pleased, especially since we had several people from the office of finance and economic development. Such cross-sectoral involvement is rare in health programs even though money is a significant driver of their success. The problem here is not a lack of money but too much of it that is not being spent in time.

We discovered that the Ethiopians are still in the month of June, something I should have known but had forgotten. It is the end of their fiscal year and they are trying to spend all the leftover monies before the kitty locks up. This explains why the Oromia program launch was postponed. We thought it was already July – it is for us but not for them. Today is June 29 on the Ethiopian calendar that counts 12 months of 30 days and one of 5 or six days.

Pierre-Marie is moving to another hotel. He has had it with the lousy service of the hotel that claims to be a four star establishment. We had our MSH operations manager talk with the hotel manager about client satisfaction and dissatisfaction. I am hopeful that this will trigger some changes in staff responsiveness to our needs and will give the hotel another chance. Pierre-Marie will not. He found another hotel at the edge of the lake with guaranteed water and electricity.

I learned from our colleagues who stayed in the hotel next door, where our meetings take place, that they did have water and electricity but that the rooms were so dirty they slept on their towels on the bed. Weighing dirt against the absence of power and water I opted for clean and power/waterless. I can compensate for the absence of utilities with candles and bottled water in case the manager’s promises fall short. I can’t think about anything I can do about dirt.

We ended the day a little early and had time for a quick debrief. Everyone agreed that it had been a good day. What I had taken for less than active participation was considered very active by our Ethiopian colleagues. Apparently the Amhara people are reserved and not very expressive. Since the entire day was done in Amharic I could only judge what I saw, not what was said. And so Pierre-Marie and I were re-assured that the participation had been excellent and of good quality and had created a hunger for more learning about leadership and management.

This (Tuesday) morning we are once again without electricity – for the next 24hours. Posting this took a trip to the other side of town and long waits. The internet café next to my hotel stays closed until the electricity comes on again. There is also no milk, no juice and no syrup for the French toast that has little to do with the original product I ordered. How a town can exist like this is a mystery. No one but me and a handful of foreigners are perturbed by this state of affairs. For everyone else this is normal and deserves no more than a shrug of the shoulders. Patience, I counsel myself.