EVERY ONE AND I go to ICASA

December 8, 2011

Hiwot Emishaw

ICASA conference facilities, Millennium Hall in Addis Ababa

8.30am: the trick of getting to the conference facilities

As I arrive at the Millennium Hall for the second day of the ICASA (International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa) , I am told by my colleague Neda, EVERY ONE campaign’s administrator, she had the pleasure of sharing the campaign vision with hundreds of eager people from around the world particularly from Africa earlier on Monday

Due to the strict security procedures, we had to park our car about a kilometer away from the hall gates. Neda tells me to make sure I have my fancy exhibitors’ badge which was apparently cleared for security by the National Intelligence and Security Services. I hang on to it and start the long walk to the gates with my 6 inch heels, which I  decided to put on for the occasion- thinking I would get to take the car in to the compounds.  Great!

We are now half way in to the walk and I am starting to regret the high heels and carrying my laptop and so many EVERY ONE pledge cards. Neda offers to help, but I bravely say “no, am fine. These shoes are super comfy”

When we are finally inside, I am completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of people walking in all directions carrying the official ICASA participant bags and all they picked up from the exhibitors so far.

 A sense of excitements fills my heart as I see the many white tents (temporary conference centers) named after the many tourist attractions of my proud land Ethiopia. Not surprisingly, Lalibela (coined the eighth Wonder of the World) is among them.

9am: the EVERY ONE stall 

The EVERY ONE campaign is one of the hundreds of exhibitors at this big event. Neda had done a good job of distributing over two hundred pledge cards when I arrived. Our exhibition stall, which is located just next to the Eastern gate, attracts everyone who passes by. After hundreds of people coming by and taking the one pager and other documents about the campaign, I started figuring out what was most attractive about our stall was  the illusion that we were giving away free t-shirts and goody bags. It got us to over 800 signatures and we only had to give away a few. What is it with people and free stuff anyway? Oh yes, it is free!

11am: Visiting the neighborhood

After hours at our stall, I decided to pay a visit to some of the other exhibitors. I started with the Federal Ministry of Health, which was to my immediate left. I was particularly pleased to see that some of their materials included our EVERY ONE logo. What a wonderful way to see the collaboration between the two of us! I was so pleased with the warm welcome the stall mangers gave me, I decided to give away some of our coveted t-shirts and scarves to them.

Our very own Save the Children, various pharmaceutical companies, laboratories, Ethiopian Midwives Association and countless NGOs were among the exhibitors that I visited. I could not walk anymore in my very uncomfortable shoes so I decided to go back to our stall.

2pm: back in the saddle

As much as I am enjoying promoting the campaign to hundreds of people, I am getting tired of telling people we don’t have any more goody bags for them. “But I just saw my friends carrying about ten” insists a delegate from Cameroon. I politely answer “Sir, we don’t have any more to give to you. Come back tomorrow morning” I say, looking at my colleague Neda, who is about to strangle me because of that remark. She knows she has to pay for it when she comes in tomorrow morning with hundreds of people nagging her about it.

4pm: visiting the local village and shopping (hurray!)

A Kenyan delegate alerts me that there is a wonderful market set up just steps from our exhibitors’ tent to the west. The eternal shopaholic, I look at her gorgeous Ethiopian hand made scarf and become restless.

Neda agrees to watch the stall for a couple of minutes so I can go shopping and visit the local NGOs village. I eagerly make my way to the market but my eyes were immediately attracted to the “Condomize” campaign run by UNFPA, DKT and other partners.

The huge banner and the colorful t-shirts do not detract from the key messages that the Condomize campaign is trying to promote: hundred percent condom use. That is one way of getting to this year’s World AIDS day theme “000- Zero new infections, zero HIV related deaths and Zero Discrimination”.

Before leaving the Condomize space, Henock Alemayehu, the founder and CEO of one of the most prominent anti HIV local NGOS, (Timret Le Hiwot or Alliance for Life) and a good friend of mine grabs me by the arm and takes me to the stall for “Commercial Sex Workers- “Nikat”.( roughly meaning ”Awareness”).  I have learnt about this organization over the years, about the wonderful work they do in creating alternative income generating activities for commercial sex workers (or, Survival Sex workers, as they call them).

5.30pm: it is time to go home

After a long but fruitful day, it is time for me and Neda to go home. Getting to the gate, I realize we have over 500 signatures. The day was a total success.

Sky High Expectations Shattered: My awful journey on Sky Bus

Hiwot Emishaw

December 10, 2011

Sky High Expectations

9.00 am

I am expecting today to be a great day. After weeks and weeks of anticipation and trying to get away from the hustle and bustle of Addis Ababa and the stress of work, I get to be whisked away by my husband to Hawassa for a long weekend.

My husband and I were thrilled to find out Sky Bus travels to Hawassa on Friday Afternoons and comes back on Monday Mornings. We had traveled with them just over a year ago to Gonder and found the experience wonderful.

Unlike the deteriorating service industry in the country, we had seen qualities that left lasting positive impressions on our mind. They were extremely punctual, gave outstanding service, the bus was very clean, had a functioning and silent air conditioning, was fast and the steward was a delight to be around. 

Arriving at Mesqel square with mad hair

2.30pm

We were told to arrive at the departure venue for the bus (

Mesqel Square

) 2.30pm for 3pm departure. Based on our prior experience traveling to Gonder, we had no reason to doubt this.

Around 1.30 pm, my husband arrives at my hair salon to make sure I leave on time. Since I had been at the salon since 9am, I thought I would throw in a massage before the trip. I did, but now I had no time to shower and get my hair done as well as I would have liked, with him breathing down my neck: “Come on mar, you know these people are actually serious about punctuality, I thought you were just freezing your hair”, he says. A man in hair Salons is never a good idea.

I decided to skip the shower to save time and scream on Biniyam, my lovely hair dresser, to get everything done swiftly as the essential massage oil on my body starts to drip down my back. Ugh.   To make matters worse, Biniyam tells me my hair is not properly dried so it is going to be very messy even if he applies the maximum heat possible. Oh No.

It is now 2.15pm and we know we need to get a cub to get to Mesqel Square as there is no way we can make it in 15 minutes on a regular mini bus. We pay 40 Birr and rush before I had a chance to even clean my hands of the sandwich I was eating as my hair got done.

Our cub arrives exactly at 2.33pm. Despite my criminal hair, my oily skin and high level anxiety, we had made it on time. A bunch of fellow travelers are already there with their luggage all over. We step out of the cub and were surprised we could not see the big shiny sky bus on its spot yet.

3.00pm

In the last 27 awful minutes of waiting for the bus that was supposed to be here half an hour earlier, we had called the Sky Bus help line, ticket office and even the travel agent; all of whom told us the bus has left the compound at Legehar

(Even with my terrible sense of distance, not more than 2kms from where we are - I am sure).

What was so annoying about this was not just that the bus was late despite all the sacrifices we had made to get there on time. It was no one we spoke at Sky Bus was even polite enough to tell us they were sorry or explain to us why this was happening. The Operations Manger of the Bus even told my husband “to stop over reacting and wait for the bus”.

My normally very calm and take-it-easy kind of husband was in rage. I was touching my ugly oily hair and cursing Sky bus.

Waiting on the “Cake”

It is now 3.15pm and we are finally on the bus.  With no apologies from the stewardess on duty and the driver who seems completely satisfied with the way things are going so far, we start the journey to Hawassa on the highly congested Debreziet road.

Just when we were about to forget what had happened for the sake of not ruining our hard earned min break and as we get to Kaliti, the bus stopped abruptly. The stewardess and the driver yell at each other about things we don’t understand. She says “we have to wait for it; we can not leave until it comes”.

Passengers onboard became confused. My husband and a few other men go to the driver to inquire about what is going on. After minutes of probing, they are told “We are waiting for the cake; the stewardess forgot to load it before we left”

In sheer disbelief, I ask the stewardess “are you serious? We are already an hour behind schedule because of you and you are now stopping us because you forgot the passenger snacks?”. “No”, she said to me. “It is not snacks, it is cakes. We are waiting for the cakes”.

I went back to my sit and prayed that I don’t kill anyone today.

4.15pm: The “Cake” arrives

Yet another unapologetic Sky Bus affiliate restaurant owner steps in to the bus and hands the package of “Cakes” to the stewardess as if nothing has happened.

The bus is now moving.

5.30pm – “The cakes” are not served.

5.45pm- 

I call on the stewardess, who seems to have removed any form of smile from her face surgically and ask her if she could give me a bottle of water. She doesn’t say anything.

She goes to the back of the bus and brings back my water. I seem to have reminded her of the service she should be providing to the other passengers so everyone gets a bottle.

After a little while, the stewardess decides to put on some entertainment for us. But it doesn’t happen immediately. Ten minutes later, the second part of (CD “B”) a popular Ethiopian Movie, Bale Taxiw, starts to play. I heard later on that CD “A” failed to play so she decided to start the movie half way in anyway.

7.35pm- Are we there yet?

My husband and I, while frantically calling the hard-to-get  hotel we were supposed to stay at not to cancel our reservation, keep guessing if we are any closer to Hawassa as the night replaces the day.

“I think this is Shashemene, don’t you?’, says my husband, with every passing sign of a town. “No, I think this is Zeway love, we are not there yet. If we get to Shashemene, it means we are almost out of the woods” I say. 

My husband replies “but you said the last town was Zeway, we can’t possibly be still there” And then it is my turn to guess if we reached Shashemene. But it seems Shashemene is moving away from us as we try to catch up with it.

We were finally back to happy when we learned a ticket officer called Selam at Sky Bus Hawassa offered to go to our hotel and pay to secure our reservation.

The world makes sense again.

8.25pm: Good Night and See you Never

When we finally arrived and are stepping out of the bus, the stewardess uncharacteristically says “Good Night”. I murmur “Good Night and See you Never”