Here we go again

Thursday, December 27.  En route to Addis

On my way back to Addis Ababa for my ninth year in Ethiopia.  Needed to skip last year as there was some ethnic strife which I had not known to exist in the past,  There would have been no problem working in Addis, but i like to travel and explore on weekends and the government was not allowing any travel into or out of the city, and internet was unpredictably and inconsistently unavailable with more than the usual amount of censoring of email, even when it was possible to do so.

Addis has been dramatically transformed in the past 10 years with literally hundreds of 10 and 15 story buildings replacing slums.  For the people living in the slums that was the only life they had ever known and they resented being sent from their city to newly constructed undistinguished high rises on the periphery.  Furthermore, the land on which these new buildings were constructed was land belonging to the Oromio people, the largest single ethnic group in the country with their own distinctive language and culture,  Essentially all land in the nation is owned by the government, but to these people it had been their land for at least decades and likely centuries. 

While Amharic is the official language of the country, it only spoken by 45% of the population.  There are at least 87 languages spoken in this country of approximately 100 million people, and Oromo is the most common other than Amharic.

This year is different. While there are still occasional brief outburst of conflict, it is my understanding that government restrictions have, for the most part, been lifted.

I have with me, for the first time, two pre-med junior college students from Rockhurst University, Daniel and Sierra.  Neither has ever been out of the country before.

Yesterday we flew from Kansas City to Toronto with delays of the plane and our van pickup at the airport.  Arrived at our hotel just as the restaurant was closing, so ordered in pizza which we finally ate at midnight.

Boarding Ethiopian Airlines today in Toronto was much less eventful.  There is a nine hour time difference so we left at 10:45 am., but will be arriving in Addis at 7a.m. local time.  Traveling during the day is not a good idea on a trip abroad, but that is the only schedule of Ethiopian, the only non-stop flying to Addis.