Ethiopia by E-mail
Date: Sat, 09 Oct 2004 14:13:09 -0600
From: "James E. Rollin, Ph.D." <rollin@uic.edu>
Another week into the semester. I have been here a month. This week, the students were working on their final project for the Community Development class. On Wednesday next week, they will present their final work. The assignment was to conduct a community assessment. All of the groups are doing well, working in different local communities. Of five groups, two groups went well beyond their assignment to do an assessment and started a community development/policy change project. The projects look as if they will be sustainable by the communities.
When we arrived, they told us the rainy season was over & the dry season had begun. Well we have had heavy rains about 3-4 days a week here so I don't know exactly what they mean by dry. When I was here in May, it was dry with no rain for the two weeks.
I have been working with others on a grant proposal to the World Bank to help the University move forward with its development.
Today I am going looking for a printer for my computer, a short-wave radio or world satellite radio so I can keep up on the news. I sporadically get a copy of the international edition of the New York Times but it is thin & light on US national news.
I walked down to Meskal Square & back this morning and took some photos. While I was there, I also went to the Addis Ababa Museum in one of the former palaces.
I have enclosed a photo of a wall along the road near my apartment. It is near a couple of women's shelters & near a place that works with street children. With women's rights, I think this country is about where the US was in the 1950s.
Jim