Settling into Addis

Our first few days have been spent in and around Addis, reacquainting ourselves with the patience required to get anything done here. The traffic seems worse than ever, taxi prices have more than doubled and there are buildings springing up everywhere. There’s still that all-pervading Addis aroma of injerera & shiro, mixed with petrol fumes and goats (which are here in greater abundance than ever as it’s the end of a 16 day fasting when people have not eaten any meat).

I’m struck by just how many beds & mattresses are on sale here – all made in the same place with the same garish pattern. How can there possibly be a market for so many? What are people doing with their beds?!

On our second night, Fi’s reading of a bedtime story was interrupted by a huge green flash of light, followed shortly afterwards by a power cut.  I went downstairs a little while later to find a neighbour’s children sitting in the candle-lit sitting room. A power cable had fallen from the telegraph pole and landed in their yard – it had been raining and as we all know, water & electricity don’t mix. It had caused a fire, but thankfully damage was minimal and no one was hurt.

Already we’re confirming our view that we may well be starting with the most difficult country. Addis is a challenging city in which to entertain young children at low cost – there’s very little safe green space to play, so it’s all too easy to resort to going to the Hilton swimming pool (which costs £50 for a family of five) . We’re also getting to grips with what the rainy season means in Addis – I’m sticking with my theory that if it’s raining when you get up, it will be sunny in the afternoon; a beautiful sunny morning means that it will cloud over and rain later.

After Fi’s initial work, on Thursday I went off to try to arrange our tour to the south of the country, including trying to meet with Millie’s birth family. With fantastic help from the local Amref Health Africa office, we managed to get a car plus driver guide in time to leave the next day, at a fraction of the cost of a package tour