Two links to check out for trip photos...
My Photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/stevencbakken
My Teammember's Photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/PeterJMeyers
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Wrapping it Up...
It’s about 6:30 in Nairobi at the airport as I write this and we’re off for home. I slept like a rock last night as the previous two nights I got a combined 8 hours of sleep (4 each night). Apparently we felt as though we had to maximize our last few days in Addis but we had fun. We fly back to Nairobi, then to Amsterdam and then home to Minneapolis. With layovers and flights it will be about 30 hours when its all said and done. It’s the last morning in Ethiopia and our trip has come to an end. While there have been a number of challenges this has been an amazing experience and one that I will keep with me for years to come. I look forward to answering questions and sharing with anyone who is interested my experience here and do hope that others can learn about it and use it to help plan their experiences in Africa. So …I wanted to share a few more take-a-ways from the final days in Addis.
Culture: Culture is so different everywhere you go. The U.S. is different from Europe than from SE Asia than from Africa. Uganda and Ethiopia are no different. Most of you reading this already know but make sure you make a point to refer to each individual country in Africa when talking about it. While you might make assumptions that Uganda and Ethiopia are so close and have many similarities and would be like Minnesota and Kansas you would be wrong. As Americans we so often refer to “Africa” Different complex and unique histories have made the countries distinctly unique and even though I have not traveled elsewhere in Africa this is going to generally be the case.
My Team: We have commented numerous times that we have the best GSE team ever. While of course every team will say this about themselves we count ourselves very fortunate to be on this team. We each bring something unique and we are all very flexible and adaptable people which has proven to be essential. After meeting with our Swedish counterparts and hearing about some of their struggles as a team we’re pretty happy we were able to go 30+ days seeing each other day in and day out and still live in peace. This trip will indeed have honed my “team dynamic” skills.
What I will bring back (among many other things) : Traveling to East Africa is not easy, the roads are bad, the airports are OK, public transport is tough, it’s hot and dirty but if you are up for the challenge it is worth it. The uniqueness in culture and the challenges these countries are facing and the opportunities that could be there are great to see. I hope to bring my exp back and help others interested in going.
The Rotary Family: I had a unique experience this week that just reinforced the “one big happy family” that Rotary is. I am at the conference here in Addis Ababa and meet a man, his wife and their friends all from Duluth, MN and now are living in Seattle. They were at the conference as they have been doing projects in Eth and Kenya. Within 5 minutes of talking with this man I had an open invite to come to Seattle with Mary, visit the city and stay in their home. This guy went entirely on the fact that was associated with Rotary and opened his home up. Pretty cool. Seems like anywhere you go around the world if you find Rotarians you find family.
Setting off for home…
Culture: Culture is so different everywhere you go. The U.S. is different from Europe than from SE Asia than from Africa. Uganda and Ethiopia are no different. Most of you reading this already know but make sure you make a point to refer to each individual country in Africa when talking about it. While you might make assumptions that Uganda and Ethiopia are so close and have many similarities and would be like Minnesota and Kansas you would be wrong. As Americans we so often refer to “Africa” Different complex and unique histories have made the countries distinctly unique and even though I have not traveled elsewhere in Africa this is going to generally be the case.
My Team: We have commented numerous times that we have the best GSE team ever. While of course every team will say this about themselves we count ourselves very fortunate to be on this team. We each bring something unique and we are all very flexible and adaptable people which has proven to be essential. After meeting with our Swedish counterparts and hearing about some of their struggles as a team we’re pretty happy we were able to go 30+ days seeing each other day in and day out and still live in peace. This trip will indeed have honed my “team dynamic” skills.
What I will bring back (among many other things) : Traveling to East Africa is not easy, the roads are bad, the airports are OK, public transport is tough, it’s hot and dirty but if you are up for the challenge it is worth it. The uniqueness in culture and the challenges these countries are facing and the opportunities that could be there are great to see. I hope to bring my exp back and help others interested in going.
The Rotary Family: I had a unique experience this week that just reinforced the “one big happy family” that Rotary is. I am at the conference here in Addis Ababa and meet a man, his wife and their friends all from Duluth, MN and now are living in Seattle. They were at the conference as they have been doing projects in Eth and Kenya. Within 5 minutes of talking with this man I had an open invite to come to Seattle with Mary, visit the city and stay in their home. This guy went entirely on the fact that was associated with Rotary and opened his home up. Pretty cool. Seems like anywhere you go around the world if you find Rotarians you find family.
Setting off for home…
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Musings...
So after arriving in Addis we have been doing mostly conference stuff so there is not large amazing realizations to write about so I’ll dig back into the trip and throw out a few things that likely didn’t get mentioned.
1.) Our team member Alex got malaria while we were here. His host in Kampala kept forgetting to get him a mosquito net for his bed and therefore he slept with the mosquitos each night. He was fine, tired for a few days but that was about it. He got tested early, got the meds and is all better now
2.) My dance skills have greatly improved over the course of this trip. I am not a dancer by any sense of the word but for some reason Africa just brings it out of you. We had the opportunity to see Ugandan and now Ethiopian dance and then jump in and participate. These dances really are fun and can get you quite a work out. So I am not trying to say I am good, just better as a result of this trip. That is what I think anyway…
3.) No one buys new cars in Uganda. Almost all vehicles are imported used from Japan and then purchased in Uganda… In Ethiopia all of the taxis are these tiny little Russian cars. This is likely from the long stint of communism and Russian influence here from mid 70’s to 1991.
4.) The Swedes. As mentioned we had the opportunity to meet up with the Swedish GSE team here in Addis. They are great and we’re having loads of fun as one large group of 11. Their trip in Tanzania sounded very different from ours in Uganda. Their stays were with many Indians, European Expatriates and some Tanzanians. They did a bunch of tourist stuff (2 safaris, visit to Zanzibar island and such) While their exp sounds amazing I must say I am very happy and appreciative of our REALLY in depth cultural exp in Uganda (although a posh safari I would have not complained about!!). There were many more headaches and frustrations but I feel like our cultural learnings were really rich, I feel like we really saw more of the “real Africa” by living in a town that used to be totally ravaged by war and taking bucket baths on a regular basis. Would I have eaten chicken liver for dinner twice and would my team member Peter have eaten a bowl of grasshoppers if we stayed with Europeans? Likely not. But it was great meeting up with the Swedes, I already have hopes to travel to and an open invite for a place to stay in Sweden in the coming years to do the Swedish Vassaloppet cross country ski race a 90K ski race in Sweden
5.) And last but not least… Ethiopians are very attractive people. Not sure if you have heard stereotypes or rumors, but they are true
1.) Our team member Alex got malaria while we were here. His host in Kampala kept forgetting to get him a mosquito net for his bed and therefore he slept with the mosquitos each night. He was fine, tired for a few days but that was about it. He got tested early, got the meds and is all better now
2.) My dance skills have greatly improved over the course of this trip. I am not a dancer by any sense of the word but for some reason Africa just brings it out of you. We had the opportunity to see Ugandan and now Ethiopian dance and then jump in and participate. These dances really are fun and can get you quite a work out. So I am not trying to say I am good, just better as a result of this trip. That is what I think anyway…
3.) No one buys new cars in Uganda. Almost all vehicles are imported used from Japan and then purchased in Uganda… In Ethiopia all of the taxis are these tiny little Russian cars. This is likely from the long stint of communism and Russian influence here from mid 70’s to 1991.
4.) The Swedes. As mentioned we had the opportunity to meet up with the Swedish GSE team here in Addis. They are great and we’re having loads of fun as one large group of 11. Their trip in Tanzania sounded very different from ours in Uganda. Their stays were with many Indians, European Expatriates and some Tanzanians. They did a bunch of tourist stuff (2 safaris, visit to Zanzibar island and such) While their exp sounds amazing I must say I am very happy and appreciative of our REALLY in depth cultural exp in Uganda (although a posh safari I would have not complained about!!). There were many more headaches and frustrations but I feel like our cultural learnings were really rich, I feel like we really saw more of the “real Africa” by living in a town that used to be totally ravaged by war and taking bucket baths on a regular basis. Would I have eaten chicken liver for dinner twice and would my team member Peter have eaten a bowl of grasshoppers if we stayed with Europeans? Likely not. But it was great meeting up with the Swedes, I already have hopes to travel to and an open invite for a place to stay in Sweden in the coming years to do the Swedish Vassaloppet cross country ski race a 90K ski race in Sweden
5.) And last but not least… Ethiopians are very attractive people. Not sure if you have heard stereotypes or rumors, but they are true
Ethiopian Night and Adopted Babies
Last night was the traditional Ethiopian night at the conference. We had the chance to eat the best Ethiopian food we ever had and also had great music and dancing the whole night. The food is based around a bread called Injera. This is a soft pancake like bread that is made from Tef an Ethiopian grain. The bread is then used to scoop up all of the delicious meat, bean and lentil dishes. Lots of spices and tastiness. The traditional Ethiopian dance has a lot of shoulder movement and quick sharp head twitching that looks really cool. The place was packed and we all got up on stage to join the dancers at the end of the night. Another observation is the number of people we have seen here that we are assuming are adoptive parents. The guest house we are staying at has a lot of Spaniards here with Ethiopian babies. We have also seen many around the hotels and such. We were told that families have to stay in country for 10 days while adopting so a guest house likely works best for them. Interesting to see this given my own families adoption history as well as my boss going through it currently as well (hope Korea went well if you are reading Sheryl).
Friday, April 30, 2010
New Flower
Arrived here in Addis Ababba on Tuesday evening. Addis Ababba means "new flower". This city is much more modernized than Kampala however internet is government owned so much less access than Kampala. The time here has been taken up much by the Rotary Conference however we have gotten to a few museums and some Rotary Projects. We're staying in a guest house here (a fancy hostel) and we are also staying with the GSE team from Sweden that spent their first 3 weeks in Tanzania. They are great fun and its fun for me to have Swedes around after my 5 months there in college. The city is great and I really wish we had more time to learn and travel Ethiopia. The history of being one of the only countries not colonized is pretty fascinating as well as all of the civilization history. Also the roads are almost all paved which is a huge improvement over Kampala and there are less goats, cattle and trash fires on the streets. This is making for much cleaner clothing. Overall this exp will be great but much different from the first three weeks. I really feel fortunate that we got to see some of the "real Africa" from our time in Uganda. While it came with some struggles and dangers (glass in my food!) it was truly a rich cultural experience. We are off to a brewery tour today!! and then to an Ethiopian culture night tonight for the conference. More on Addis to come...
Monday, April 26, 2010
Closing out Kampala
Today is Monday our last full day in Kampala. I am excited for next week in Addis Ababa but will always have a special place in my heart for Kampala. I will say that I am excited as I have heard Addis is cleaner than Kampala (more paved roads). My team member Kristi put it well when she said that when we get home we wont be able to just tell everyone all the things we learned. Our learnings and findings will come out over the next few months, so I wont try to get in deep about some of my key learnings rather I’ll just highlight a few fun things that might spark some interest or questions.
1.) Packing into cars: If a car holds 6 you can at least get 8 in it
2.) Customer Service is very different in other parts of the world relative to the U.S. restaurant service requires patience and the ability to always be thinking about what you are eating
3.) Extended family is king! Everyone here is very opening and welcome with their homes (something we could learn from in our very individualistic culture) people often take in orphans, children with HIV, nieces and nephews grandparents etc.
4.) Safety: We probably overdo safety in the U.S. but in my travels there are many stark observations that are different. Babies on the back of motorbikes, no helmets anywhere, men without shoes on unloading trucks of coffee, giant holes in sidewalks and I could go on. Bottom line is with our system of signs, railings and baracades in our country, you have to make sure you are on your toes.
5.) Polygamy (there is a lot) and Women’s Rights (there is a little) :As most of you know Africa has an issue with HIV/AIDS. Uganda is not that much different. Most of the HIV is spread through an unprotected sexual relationship. Here it is not uncommon at all for a married man with kids to have multiple wives, partners etc. Most of the HIV is spread through what they call here in an awareness campaign the sexual network. They are trying to raise awareness about the damage having multiple partners can cause. They face many challenges with this. In terms of women’s rights. Yes there are women in power and women in really good jobs here. But when it comes down to it women are supposed to have children (and lots of them) and if their husband is cheating it is often overlooked. Now keep in mind this is not everyone but just some general trends. There is a lot of challenges for women here.
I’ll stop at that for now but none the less a very interesting cultural exp thus far and I am sure more will come to mind in the coming time. Off to Addis…
1.) Packing into cars: If a car holds 6 you can at least get 8 in it
2.) Customer Service is very different in other parts of the world relative to the U.S. restaurant service requires patience and the ability to always be thinking about what you are eating
3.) Extended family is king! Everyone here is very opening and welcome with their homes (something we could learn from in our very individualistic culture) people often take in orphans, children with HIV, nieces and nephews grandparents etc.
4.) Safety: We probably overdo safety in the U.S. but in my travels there are many stark observations that are different. Babies on the back of motorbikes, no helmets anywhere, men without shoes on unloading trucks of coffee, giant holes in sidewalks and I could go on. Bottom line is with our system of signs, railings and baracades in our country, you have to make sure you are on your toes.
5.) Polygamy (there is a lot) and Women’s Rights (there is a little) :As most of you know Africa has an issue with HIV/AIDS. Uganda is not that much different. Most of the HIV is spread through an unprotected sexual relationship. Here it is not uncommon at all for a married man with kids to have multiple wives, partners etc. Most of the HIV is spread through what they call here in an awareness campaign the sexual network. They are trying to raise awareness about the damage having multiple partners can cause. They face many challenges with this. In terms of women’s rights. Yes there are women in power and women in really good jobs here. But when it comes down to it women are supposed to have children (and lots of them) and if their husband is cheating it is often overlooked. Now keep in mind this is not everyone but just some general trends. There is a lot of challenges for women here.
I’ll stop at that for now but none the less a very interesting cultural exp thus far and I am sure more will come to mind in the coming time. Off to Addis…
Dancing with Hippos
After week two in Kampala a couple of us decided to take the issue of doing a Safari into our own hands and plan. Peter and I worked out the details and four out of the 6 of us set off on Saturday to Paraa Lodge in Northern Uganda in Murchison Falls National Park. The lodge was beautiful situated on top of a large hill overlooking the Nile river. The rooms were very “lodge like” rustic but very nice. It was a nice trip away from the city (even though it took almost 6 hours each way to get there and back) There was good lodge food, traditional Ugandan dancing at night and wildlife that would walk right up to the lodge. While out dancing by the bonfire on Saturday night a hippo came up about 15 feet from our gathering, crazy stuff. The trip included a boat cruise up to the falls which included hippos, crocodiles, and cape buffalo. The next AM we did a game drive and saw a lion, many antelope, and elephant and a lot of giraffes.
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