Thoughts from Ryan, Part III

Ryan’s Observations part 3

-After touring the churches in Lalibela we went to the top of a hill to look over the view of the town of Lalibela. It is here I met a man who was 25 years old. He was only in the 10th grade because of his family situation. He is the oldest of 6 children. The family is poor and lives as farmers about 55 km from town. His father died about 2 years ago when the river water washed him off his feet and downstream to his death, so now he is trying to learn enough to become a tour guide. He came to Lalibela to get his education. He started school at age 15. He is separated from his family and often does not have the money to pay for his meals or rent (95 birr/month or about $7) so he skips classes in order to work for shop keepers to make money for bread for food. The school provides pens and notebooks and occasionally books, but nothing else. He said many of his friends have sponsors who help them with their living expenses while they get through school.

-One thing I find I have more of here is time to think. It is nice to sit at the end of my day and think about the day. This is something I rarely do in the US with all the ‘entertainment’ to keep my mind occupied.

-When dealing with the people, I often wish I could just tell them how things ‘should be’ and do it for them, but I think that this may only help them once and not allow them to develop their own thoughts and ideas. It is also somewhat arrogant of me to think that the way we do things in America is the best. Yes America is a great place, but it is not without its faults. Ethiopians have their own culture and ways of doing things and who is to say that they need to do everything like America or whichever developed nation is trying to solve some problem. I think the people here need to take responsibility to improve their own situation. Like the stories of Miles Standish and the Pilgrims, those who did not work did not eat.

-Ultimately, the question I struggle with is, “How do you instill a sense of drive and personal responsibility into a people who appear to have so many obstacles (education, government, $, etc) and crutches (Foreign Aid)?”

-I met a student who graduated from Gondor University with a degree in Environmental Health and Safety. He told me that he does not use his degree because no one will do anything to fix the problems when suggestions are made. As a result many who earn this sort of degree never use it. They end up working in some administrative role within the hospital.

-Dealing with a computer: I have learned that I have two pet peeves when dealing with computers in Ethiopia. First, when I turn a computer on here there are random empty folders and files created by someone but never named throughout the entire computer including the desktop, start menu, and my documents. For example, on the typical desktop I find about 4 new folders with nothing in them and a few word, excel, or PowerPoint files. Second, there appears to be absolutely no method to where files are placed and there are rarely folders created for organizing anything.

-Jose (an environmental health and safety officer/doctor from Spain) said he tells people they are ‘very important’ to the success of a given project even when they are not because if the people do not think they are personally involved in a project the job or equipment which is being proposed may not be completed or used and the next time Jose needs help the people will not want to help him. This leads to Jose shaking a lot of hands as we walk around the hospital and telling ‘everyone’ that they are very important to the success of whatever Jose is trying to get accomplished.

-Accountability and follow up is desperately needed when medical equipment is donated to a third world country like Ethiopia. We have been told there are crates of medical equipment that has been donated but is not being used. This is probably because no one wants to spend the money to transport the equipment to the hospital when in all likelihood the equipment will not be used because no one will know how to use or maintain it properly.

-Has American influence/aid contributed to the problem of begging and reliance on others in Ethiopia?

-Would an isolationist policy be better for the people in Ethiopia? (Shannon’s thought: it is puzzling to see how undeveloped the country is now when centuries ago they used to be very advanced for their time in building castles, rock churches, and elaborate palaces and tombs.)

-Could you build a private hospital and after a period of time have a graded transition back to the government regulation?