Lake Awassa from Tabor Hill


The prison

Happy New Year! Today is the 1^st day of 1999 in the Ethiopian calendar. There’s definitely a feeling of holiday excitement in the air. Most of the shops were closed today, the chicken population was conspicuous by its absence and on some street corners there were piles of fresh sheep and goat skins for sale, not only is nothing wasted but money is made from the waste! Awassa was unusually quiet all afternoon although there were a few families slowly strolling around, dressed up in their best clothes. I spent part of the afternoon slowly strolling over Tabor Hill, although definitely not in my best clothes. The sun was shining and there was a fresh breeze blowing over the lake. I sat watching the prison at the foot of the hill. The number of prisoners wandering around seemed far too big for the size of the buildings. Prison in Ethiopia is not a pleasant place to be, although the Red Cross official here in Awassa has told me that prisons here are not as bad as the hell holes he’s seen in West Africa. As I walked down the hill, I passed one of the prison guards wandering around with his AK47 assault rifle cradled in his arms. There’s not much of a chance of anyone succeeding with a prison break I suspect.

The last two days have been the loneliest I’ve felt for a while. Being in the middle of celebrations by other people of an event that has no significance to me has left me feeling left out, sort of unconnected to the people around us. We both talked this afternoon of looking forward to our next jobs in Gondar, where we will not be assessing the people we work with. It will be good to have true colleagues instead of candidates and our bosses. I'm missing hanging out with friends and having a laugh. Most of the time I feel content to be here, but sometimes I want to be doing something with people I know with a sense of humour I can relate to.