First morning in Soddo

I have spent four nights in Ethiopia with my travelmate Hillevi. On arriving to Addis Ababa our journey continued towards Awassa in four hours. Busride passed recovering from yesterdays overnight flight and looking at unique African landscapes. We arrived at our destination by nightfall, staying in a hotel already familiar to us. The sleepless night on the airplane made this night’s sleep especially sweet and recovered us completely for the coming hardships. Weekend in the familiar pension turned out to be all but a relaxing time to sleep since the music from the nightclubs did not give any chance to sleep even for an hour. Therefore the first thing we thought of in the morning was that we need a new hotel, if we wanted to rest before continuing on to Soddo.

Stepping off the Soddo bus with two huge luggages (26kg each) and backpacks a local taxi driver affirmed that the locals attitude towards white people with luggages has not changed a bit. We were charged three times the normal price. I had to start wrestling from my all familiar defensive position in order not hand out my two week spending money in just few days.

There is no sign of the recess here. Buildings pop up on every street and vanishing eucalyptus groves alter the surroundings completely. Three years ago a big junction seemed like the biggest change. Today there are many roundabouts decorated with flowers.

Once we rid ourselves of our luggage we went to school to take a look at the changes there. Oxnard had become a school solely for kids from disadvantaged families. Campus of the school was previously owned by two separate people and one of them gave up his lease. The school now has only half of the classrooms and campus area.

According to the Ethiopian calendar the new year starts in the middle of September. The students have been sent out from the city to their parents for the summer and they return in October. We arrived when the tailor was taking measurements for children’s uniforms. Having greeted the children we set ourselves to listen with interest as the school owner talked about all the changes in the school system.

MERLE