First Two Days in Gondar

I must admit, it’s very nice to be in Gondar. Though the early a.m. photo above is quite misleading in its apparent serenity, compared to the chaos of Addis, Gondar feels relatively peaceful.

After our arrival early a.m. on Sunday, we spent half the day strategizing with Dr. Getahun (SCOPE’s main man in Gondar) about scheduling the many meetings we need to cram into the next 4 days. We laid out quite a tight schedule involving meetings and presentations at the University, with the Dean of the medical school, and the archbishop and others at the North Gondar Diocese. 

The good news is that on Monday we accomplished almost everything we had planned/hoped for that day. Nothing ever seems to go smoothly so the fact that we achieved our objectives is, basically, a miracle. Nancy, Getahun and I first met with Professor Afework, the Dean of Research and Community Service to update him on SCOPE and to discuss the details of making the University of Gondar SCOPE’s fiscal sponsor in Ethiopia. Professor Afework is very committed to the SCOPE partnership and was very happy to hear about the success of our priest/women ANC/PMTCT project at Woleka Health Center and equally happy to hear that Getahun and SCOPE fellow Kefyalew have successfully replicated the SCOPE partnership project—this time with U of G funding—in a remote rural health center at Dabat.

The big news of the day is that Nancy, Getahun, Professor Afework and I were able to meet with the President of the University of Gondar, Professor Mengesha Admassu. After giving him an overview of SCOPE, the president ceremoniously signed (finally!) the Memorandum of Understanding between SCOPE and the U of G.

The afternoon was spent figuring out how the heck Nancy and I were going to get down to Bahir Dar the next day (Tuesday) to meet with Dr. Shegau, the director of HIV/AIDS at the regional office of the Ministry of Health. Comical does not quite describe the gyrations we went through involving buying the last 2 tickets on the bus to Bahir Dar, followed by discovering the return bus was fully booked, followed by negotiating a driver to bring us back from Bahir Dar, followed by deciding it was cheaper to pay the driver to transport us both ways, followed by the discovery there is no such thing in Ethiopia as being refunded and having a receipt 'voided'—the bus tickets were ours whether we used them or not. 

Enter our hero: Getahun. I’m pretty sure Getch went into the bus office and told the ticket agent he was being tortured by two old white ferenji’s and if they didn’t refund our money he was going to start foaming at the mouth and lose his mind, right there, on the spot.

So, we’re on for Bahir Dar. A guy named Mike (pronounced Mickey) will meet us with his pickup truck at 6:30 tomorrow morning and drive us the 185 km to Bahir Dar and back. Turns out we know Mike, as he drove us around Gondar a few times when we were here last January. Either it’s a small world, or there’s only one driver in Gondar willing to take us on.

Just had to add this one last photo of the day as an addition to my collection of East Africa bathroom signs.

Cheers!

PHOTOS: Gondar piazza; Gondar woman going to church; with President Mengesha at U of G; mule transport; Fasilidas' Castle; Gondar street; bathroom door.