One of the teaching blocks at college


The college library. Most of the books are on the shelves in front of the windows.


The Higher Diploma training room


A donkey garry at college


Sports hall and science labs under construction for the degree programme


The main college building. The wooden structure is a temporary building for the Certificate course graduation next weekend.

Every day has brought a new aspect of Ethiopian culture to think about. Today it’s coffee sprice. This is a mixture of tea and coffee. Apparently it’s very common and is, of course, consumed with an appropriately Ethiopian dose of sugar. I don’t see the point of mixing the two drinks together and any potentially interesting flavour that might result is drowned out by sweetness. Ethiopians drink sugar. Tea and coffee are served in small cups, not much bigger than espresso cups, and two heaped spoonfuls of sugar is the minimum any Ethiopian will have. Some of my colleagues add four spoonfuls of sugar. Four! Even stranger to me is that some Ethiopians prefer their coffee with salt instead of sugar. I’ve tried it and can simply describe it as a complete waste of good coffee.

While having a break with some colleagues recently, I tried telling them how much sugar is in the Coca Cola they love to drink. They were amazed and a bit sceptical that their bottle of coke contained more sugar than the super-sweet coffee they usually drink. I then tried to tell them about the increasing concern at home about obesity and diabetes. They hadn’t even heard of diabetes and struggled to comprehend my stories about the soaring obesity rate we have at home and how common diabetes is becoming. Their visions of the West (or the “North” as they refer to developed countries as) are of a paradise of opportunities and affluent lifestyle. The fact that so many people at home are slowly killing themselves as result of indulging in that heavenly lifestyle is incomprehensible to most Ethiopians.