Ethiopia Christmas carols

Ethiopia Christmas carols composed by me and visiting guests Anna Ward Martin and Eliza:

1. I'm dreaming of an Ethiopian Christmas just like the ones I never knew.
Where the kids are staring and I'm not caring if it's been a week since a shampoo.
I'm dreaming of an Ethiopian Christmas with every journal entry I write.
May your poops be solid and tight and don't forget to use a wet wipe.

2. Joy to the world: the gate is locked.
Forenjis are hiding.
Let every pair of eyes find some other surprise
and then my heart will sing...

3. Silent night. If only I might
sleep without TV noise on the right.
Round yon mousies scritch scratching so wild.
Dented double bed smoosh mommy and child.
Maybe a few seconds of peace.
Please, a few seconds of peace.

4. You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout. I'm telling you why: Erica's our Ethiopia guide.
She sees you when you're sleeping, she knows when you're awake, she knows if you've been culturally appropriate so be good for goodness sake.
You better not eat your food with left hands.
You better follow these cultural demands.
Don't sniff, don't lick, don't use a fork.
In Addis or Hawassa, Amharic try to make.
But elsewhere in Sidama Zone speak Sidamic for goodness sake.

5. Anna the red nosed tourist had a very shiny nose
and if you ever saw it you would say she needs aloe.
All of the Ethiopians used to laugh and call her names:
"China!" "Firenj!" and "Chikwa!". Anna was a fun fun game.
Then one sunny Christmas Eve, Anna came to say:
"Eliza, put some sunscreen on so you don't look like your mom."
When we linked up with WiFi, and we Skyped with family,
they were too polite to say, "Anna - your nose - wowie!"

6. Oh come ye to Haile - joyful and triumphant!
Oh come ye oh come for amenities.
Staff are so helpful and they aim to please.
I love sitting in steam rooms!
I love sitting by poolsides!
I love sitting on balconies and drinking wine!

7. Lumpy fluff, lumpy fluff, good for resting heads.
Airports, planes, and hotel rooms, and squashed in Erica's bed, Oh!
Lumpy fluff, lumpy fluff, good for resting heads.
Huts and Cozy Martin's Place and squashed in Erica's bed.
Dashing to the plane, for a 17 hour ride,
Fluff goes through x-ray, sees through his insides (mwa-ha-ha)
Horns on taxis ring, making fluff go wild.
When ZaZa cries while going home fluff snuggles close the child.

Guest post from sister Anna

I'm dreaming of an Ethiopian Christmas. My daughter Eliza and I visited Erica for about 2 weeks, traveling from Addis Ababa to Hawassa, then to Erica's site and back again. What an adventure!

Lunch in Hawassa!

trash burning

A Health Extension Worker and I helped a family burn their trash (options are: burn, bury, reuse). They will use the ash to put in their latrine hole to reduce the bad smell and presence of flies. We also used trash to create a cover for the latrine hole.

hand-washing station

Today we built a hand-washing station near a family's latrine.

This is the mother and father in a family I work with. Their names are Amarech (mother) and Burka (father). They're really friendly.

enriched porridge

A Health Extension Worker and I worked with a family to demonstrate how to make enriched porridge today.

hygiene

Here's an interesting cultural difference when it comes to health education. This comes from an Ethiopian booklet on hygiene.

tomorrow's schedule

Disposal of child feces = for children too young to use a latrine (under 2).

Happy World Toilet Day!

Happy World Toilet Day! (November 19th) Here's a picture of my toilet. Several of the families I work with do not have any walls or ceiling around their latrines - just the hole. The Health Extension Workers and I are working with families to improve their latrines.

World Toilet Day was established by United Nations Water and the World Toilet Organization. Their slogan in 2012 was: "I give a shit, do you?"

veggies

This family's vegetable garden is growing really well! Healthy carrots, onions, tomatoes, cabbage, and even broccoli!

enset

This is one of the first steps in making food from enset, the false banana plant. Food made from enset is a staple in southern Ethiopia.

swiss chard

One of the families I work with didn't know how to cook swiss chard - one of the veggies they grew in their vegetable garden. So today we cooked it, as well as shiro (a chickpea flour dish) and ate it with injira (a sour flat pancake and Ethiopian staple food).

another garden

We planted another household vegetable garden: tomatoes, carrots, cabbage!

first WASH club

We had our first WASH (water, sanitation, hygiene) club today and after played football!

first Girls Club / Gender Club meeting

We just had our first Girls Club / Gender Club meeting at one of the primary schools. We asked the girls what they wanted to learn about/talk about and they said:
1. Staying in school
2. How to be a successful student
3. To control genital mutilation
4. To reduce child marriage

I was surprised that they mentioned the last two, especially since they are only in primary school (9-14 years old) and this was our first meeting. I'm guessing that there are some public health campaigns through the schools about child marriage and FGM and this made them think of those topics. I will start the club out with practicing life skills like communication, decision making and self esteem and we'll move onto these heavier topics later. Leading a discussion on FGM as a foreigner will be tricky, so I will let a female teacher take the lead on that one. I will give them the facts and leave the morality of the issues to my co-teacher and the students.

Lily

Enjoyed visiting fellow PCV Lily at her site in the Hadiya Zone this weekend!

wish list

Wish List:
- notecards
- fly strips
- highlighters
- nonperishable (and lightweight) food from Trader Joe's
- letters

Send to:
Erica Ward, PCV
c/o Peace Corps Ethiopia
P.O. Box 1767
Hawassa
ETHIOPIA

Thank you!

"Behavior Change through Effective Communication" training

I'm so happy today. We led a fantastic training with 3 Health Extension Workers and their supervisor on "Behavior Change through Effective Communication." The HEWs were very engaged and enthusiastic.

Then I found out that a counterpart and I have been selected to attend a "Grassroots Soccer" training on Life Skills and HIV/AIDS in Addis Ababa in late November. Grassroots Soccer is a program that uses soccer to teach different topics. I'm looking forward to learning more about it!

Life is good.

A few photos of my living space.

So grateful for these super comfortable couches!

I love this beautiful shelf and little stool where I store some food and cooking supplies and do cooking prep.

Thank goodness for my propane stove! It makes cooking so easy!

Water storage. Rain water in the big blue bucket. Rain water collection in the orange bucket, then transferred to the big blue one. I use rain water for bathing, clothes washing and dish washing. Cleaner borehole water chlorinated in the blue bucket, then filtered for drinking and cooking.

When I collect cleaner borehole water, I usually use those two small 5 liter and 3 liter jerry cans, rather than the big 20 liter one, which is very challenging to carry up a big hill and then a walk to home.

Those water bottles are filled with trash (mostly). There are many more filled ones under the desk from the previous volunteer at my site. Eventually I'm going to use them to make an "Earth Bench" - a bench made with them, sand and concrete - at one of the schools or health posts.

Thank goodness for my mosquito net! It keeps me safe from the mice and insects.