Swearing In

After three months in country filled with intense technical, cultural, and language training, 59 trainees swore in at the U.S. Embassy.  On May 2nd, 2014, we all officially became volunteers.  Despite all of our ups and downs, highs and lows, the past three months have gone by incredibly fast.  I have gotten to know many of the 59 people in my group, and I have had the pleasure of getting to know so many amazing people.

Many have left for their sites already, with a handful of us heading to site sometime this week.  I will miss my group very much.  Luckily we will all see each other in three months for our In Service Training.  I am so excited to hear the experiences we will all have in the next few months and to see all the amazing things each person is able to do at their site.

Over the next two years, I will publish posts and keep you all updated on my experiences (and hopefully be able to share some of what my fellow volunteers are doing).

*If you would like to see pictures from the swear in ceremony, you can find them on Facebook.

Murals

This past Friday and Saturday before Easter Sunday, all of the trainees split into ten groups to paint murals.  There were four murals dedicated to malaria.  Other murals included agriculture, girl power, and HIV/AIDS.  The mural that my group worked on was dedicated to HIV/AIDS awareness in addition to bringing awareness to those who have disabilities.  Our mural turned out extremely well and I am really proud of the work my group did.  I must admit though that I am a bit biased and that all of the murals I saw were amazing.

I had never painted a mural prior to this one, and I have come to realize that murals can be fantastic projects to bring awareness to a certain topic.  It is a great way to address an issue creatively.  If possible, I will try to do at least a mural or two in the next two years of service as secondary projects.  If I am able to do this, I will share my project ideas and would love to get some ideas form all of you to paint a creative mural!

Stomping Out Malaria in Africa

April is Malaria month and I wanted to write a post in the hopes of spreading even a little bit of awareness.  Malaria is a major health problem in Sub-Saharan Africa.  In individual areas, malaria may not be one of the major health issues, but as a whole area, malaria is at the top of the list.  Specifically in Ethiopia, there is a population of about 93.8 million people and 67% of the population is at risk of malaria.  Also, malaria is responsible for 88 per 1,000 deaths in children under five.

There are many regions in Ethiopia that have a low risk of malaria, but cumulatively the risk of the country as a whole is extremely high.  It is amazing to me that the rate is so high considering the easy ways to prevent malaria.  Bet nets are available as well as bug spray.  There is malarial medication that every Peace Corps volunteer is required to take (although it may not be available for nationals).  Each family in Ethiopia is given a bed net for free.  Many use the bed nets for other things due to either lack of knowledge or the belief that malaria does not affect them.

I love that there is a month each year that is dedicated to the awareness of malaria.  As a volunteer in Sub-Saharan Africa, it is so important for me to do what I can in working towards wiping out malaria.  Even for those volunteers who live in areas of low rates of malaria, I believe that we can all do something to stomp out malaria in Africa.

Permanent Mailing Address

Here is the address you can mail letters and packages to over the next two years:

Caitlin Elizabeth Rahn

P.O. Box 304

Woliso, Oromiya Region

Ethiopia

You can also continue to send things to the other Addis Ababa address I have listed in in an earlier post if you prefer.  I will have to go to Addis Ababa for it though (so please let me know if you send something to Addis).

Also, if you would like to have the phone number of my cell phone here in Ethiopia, feel free to ask!

Getting to Know Ethiopia

Here are a few of the pictures I have taken since arriving in Ethiopia.  I have a lot more pictures but do to the internet network, it takes a really long time to upload them.  I will post more when I am able to.

Just a few of the many awesome people I have met!

Soccer!!

In the Addis Ababa Airport on our first night in country.

Airport

The Gorge in Butajira

The Gorge

With a few friends at the Gorge

Here is an animal I saw while visiting my site.  If anyone knows what it is, please let me know.

Monkey!

Site Visit

I have been back in Butajira for a few days now after spending a week at my site.  It was such great learning experience!  My site is a town called Woliso.  It is about 112 kilometers southwest of Addis Ababa (usually about a 2-3 hour bus ride).  Woliso is located in the Oromia region and the regional language is Oromifa.  I am currently learning Amharic.  Luckily, Woliso is a big enough town that many people speak both languages.  It will be beneficial for me to learn at least some basic Oromifa.  The town has a population of a bit over 50,000 people and the major religions of the town are Orthodox, Protestant, and Islam.  There are also some cool looking animals include monkeys (aka totos in Amharic).

During this time of the year, Woliso gets a bit hot during the day and cools down during the night.  It can get pretty windy as well.  The rainy season begins in May (around the time I swear in as a volunteer) and lasts through July or August.  I have not experienced the rainy season yet, so am excited to see what it will be like.  Since Woliso is such a big town, there are many resources available for me to use and there are a handful of health offices, clinics, NGOs, and schools that I can connect with when starting up a project.

I feel like I have been extremely lucky with where my site is.  Not only is it extremely close to Addis Ababa, I have a site mate who will be living in the same compound as me and there are at least three other volunteers who live within 45 minutes of me.  It is nice to have other people close to me that are going through a very similar experience.  In some ways it will be hard when I transition from training in Butajira to living in Woliso because I have gotten to know and become friends with many people in my group.  It will be hard in some ways to be so far away from many of them.  I am so grateful for the technology that we have because we will all be able to continue to communicate on a regular basis.

We have about a month left of training.  It has been crazy how quickly training has gone by already.  I have learned and experienced so much already.  I have learned some of the national language and some technical skills that will be extremely useful down the road as I begin to decide how I can best serve my community.  I have also learned so much from those around me (locals as well as fellow Peace Corps trainees).   I have already visited Addis Ababa, Butajira, a little bit of the northern region (Tigre), and have visited my site (Woliso).  I have seen some amazing historical sites as well as some beautiful places of the nature that Ethiopia provides.  And of course I have watched plenty of soccer.

It is amazing how much I have already learned and how much I still have to learn.  The next two years will be filled with ups and downs, but I am so excited for what the future has in store for me.  I know that the next month will be challenging as I plow through language sessions and look forward to finally swearing in as a volunteer.  Thank you all so much again for your continuing support and encouragement.  I wouldn’t have made it this far without all of you!

Things to look forward to (and things I will eventually blog about!):

• ·      Health Sector weekend field trip to Ambo next weekend
• ·      Camp Glow second to last week of training
• ·      Swearing In Ceremony at the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa (May 2)
• ·      Move to Woliso!!

Toto

Three Weeks in Country

I have been in Ethiopia for a few weeks now and have had some free time to write my first post in country.  Funny enough, the first two weeks went by without any problems at all.  I think that these two weeks went by easily for me because the first two weeks all of the trainees were together in Addis Ababa for training.  I had no problems with feeling homesick (likely because I have experienced going on two week service trips a couple of times and have only been able to communicate with those at home via email).

As week three rolled along, we moved our training to a town called Butajira.  All 63 trainees are living with host families.  Around this time the homesickness began hitting me in waves.  I finally came to realize one of the reasons why people say that being a Peace Corps can be one of the hardest, yet best jobs you will have.  Please realize that the homesickness has nothing to do with my host family.  My host family has been wonderful.  I have a host mother, sister, and brother.  I think I began to feel the homesickness come on because I had reached the maximum amount of time I had ever been away from home (or even out of the U.S.) without actually talking to family and hearing their voices.  I was also used to constantly being with a group of Americans and moving to host families meant separating all of us a little bit.  Not having familiar (American) people around me constantly was a little bit of a stressor. 

I understand now why some choose to have an early termination and head home.  What really helped me was realizing how many people back home are supporting me, and I have to thank you all so much for that.  It is also a wonderful thing to know that there are 62 other Peace Corp trainees in Butajira who are going through the exact same thing as me (okay… maybe not exactly since all our host families are different and we are all at different stages of processing… but basically the exact same thing).  It is so great to see all of the friendships that have been forming in only three weeks.  I think the support network that has formed among us has really helped me.

Since pre-staging in Philly, our training has been very structured.  We have sessions starting at 8am and go till 5 or 6pm almost every day.  We have half days on Saturdays and have Sundays off.  It is interesting to compare to the Ethiopian culture because the kids here often have half days of school every day.  So it was not surprising to see how shocking my host mother was when finding out that not only do I have trainings all day every week day, but that I have trainings on Saturdays as well!

Even though there are days in which I wish there is more free time, I think that the packed schedule has helped me immensely.  The training itself has been extremely helpful in learning about the culture as well as language and technical skills.  Our busy schedule has also kept me occupied.  This has been such a blessing in helping me to not feel homesick constantly.  But when I am homesick, I really do think it is a good thing.  These times I feel homesick, I actually have time to think about everyone back home.  Despite how much I miss everyone, I am always reminded how much I am supported and I know that no one would want me to come home just because I miss everyone!

I hope I have not sounded too pessimistic up to this point!  Despite my moments of homesickness, I have loved being in Ethiopia so far.  I have enjoyed learning about the culture and learning the language (which is extremely difficult)!  I have enjoyed the food for the most part.  There are some foods that I don’t particularly care for, but no one can like everything! 

Over the past few weeks, one of the highlights was the weekend before I came to Butajira.  This particular weekend, everyone was split into groups of three to five people and we travelled to different sites throughout Ethiopia where current volunteers are serving.  This weekend is called our “demystification” weekend.  This is a time that is supposed to demystify what the volunteer experience is like.  My group travelled from Addis by plane up to Axum, which is in the northern region of Tigre.  It was extremely hot during the day but was pleasantly cool at night.  Axum is a really cool place.  There are many historical sites up there.  We got to see some basilicas, tombs (including what is supposedly the tomb of one of the Wise Men who visited Jesus on the night of His birth), as well as the location where the Arc of the Covenant is believed to be located.  I am so glad that I was able to go up there because I am not sure if I will have the chance to go up there in the next two years.

I have had my fair share of ups and downs during the past few weeks, but I really do think that it will be worth it in the long run.  The first five months or so are the hardest from what I hear.  I appreciate all of the support and encouragement thus far.  Please keep it coming! 

That’s all I’ve got for now!  Please let me know if you have any specific questions, and I will do my best to answer them!

Basillicas

Church

Where the Arc of the Covenant is said to be.

The tomb of the Wis Man