Leaving Africa, Final Thoughts

Tomorrow I jump on a plane to head back to NYC. I have grown fond of Addis Ababa and made some good friends here. Staying on in Addis (I never made it to Tigray as the project vehicle was wrecked and thus I had no wheels) gave me more time to think about what I originally came to Africa for -- to consider the role of technology, educational or otherwise, in a developing world context. Though I think I'm less convinced there is a role, I now have a first hand experience informing that perspective. Further studies and consideration will hopefully lead my thoughts in a more optimistic direction.
Africa (I'll generalize, based only on my travels in Kenya and Ethiopia) has a lot of available and willing human labor and some natural resources to offer the "global market". Yet, the developed world or rather the trans-national companies that create opportunity in this market are obsessed with realizing increased efficiencies (via software and re-engineering) that reduce labor and raw material as inputs (or substitute natural resources [what the developing world has] with synthetic resources [what the developed world can make]). So, in a way it seems that technological innovation might in fact be at odds with the idea that technology can improve lives in the developing world.
But, maybe these same efficiencies can be leveraged to deliver low-cost or public domain educational resources to help people get an education that otherwise would be unavailable. Education might be the most effective catapult out of this disparate situation for individuals. Then again, maybe not; after all good education is driven by good teaching not the materials used to teach with. And what incentives exist today for educated people to teach in Africa?
From what I have read, the past 40 years of aid to Africa has not resulted in a better situation for Africans. However, if Jeff Sachs is right and people in extreme poverty can at least be upgraded to just being poor with the foreign aid dollars already committed and almost on the table, then I think we (the developed world) have an obligation to try. Probably no efforts will be revolutionary in the short term and with our collective short attention span, may be hard to sustain, but this growing global disparity has to be unacceptable even to the most callous capitalists around. We'll see.
My public ruminations and this blog are now done. Thanks for following along; I look forward to seeing you all soon.

Progress in Addis

Amir and I have just finished 2 of the 3 surveys (rather the data entry worksheets and their corresponding databases). Amir is very computer savvy, so we're making great progress and have even thought up a couple of improvements that will hopefully decrease the amount of time needed to enter data as well as the chance for errors.

Yesterday, I spent what might be my last day at Ethiopian Immigration. I have a visa! I'm going to miss those folks (having visited them every business day since arriving in the country). Though the derg ended in, what 1991?, I can confidently report that communist protocols are alive and well at the immigration office. It's a great routine. Go to room 89, desk 1 desk 2 desk 3 desk 4 desk 5, come back tomorrow and begin in room 91 ... come back tomorrow. If I didn't know better I would think they just enoyed my company. Though I personally conversed with no fewer than a dozen people to get my visa, they only charged me $20. Since there's very few communist vestiges left in the world I consider myself lucky to have gotten to experience one.

Seriously, Ethiopia has been great. The food is fantastic and unbelievably cheap. Today 4 of us had lunch for about $5 total! Beer is less than $1 per bottle and the coffee is outstanding. This weekend I will hopefully (assuming there is no necessary trip to immigration) go north to Mekele/Koraro. Not seeing anything but Addis (and that's only been the Earth Institute Office and Immigration) would be a shame.

I'll close with a fabulous African adage I read recently:

When the old lady disappears, the hyenas start shitting gray hair.

That's a good one. ;-) Deuhna seunbetu.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

I have been in Addis now for 2 days. My first day went nowhere but down. My hotel was just awful -- and I have stayed in some awful hotels but not at $50/night. Thinking I had few options I went out to see the town and was basically overwhelmed by the beggars; it is very tough to see such young children, homeless and scrounging for money or food. Once you get past the young children, you can expect to be worked over by the college-age kids who shower you with conversational niceties, before asking for money. I now have enough experience with them to truly appreciate their ability to segue into the part about asking for money; it's impressive and I am taking notes so you better hold tight to your dollars when I return. Actually it is pain, but one can't hold grudge. They're doing the best they can and there seems to be a pervassive impression that all Europeans and Americans have endless amounts of money (which relatively speaking, I suppose we do). From here, it's just a matter of figuring out how to creatively separate the traveler from his cash. It seems to me that the best benefit of being Western is the opportunity to improve one's lot. Without some hope that things can get better tomorrow, today can be pretty damn bleak.

But for me, I found a much better hotel (and it is cheaper), and I ran into my friend Ben Okumu, who also is at Columbia and works on the MVP (responsible for statistical analysis and data modeling). I also found a great (cheap) Ethiopian resturant so my belly convinced me that things are not so bad afterall (how is it that an intolerable hotel costs $50 and an all-you-can-eat delicious buffet costs about $1.25?).

Ben has just returned from Koraro and convinced that I have to make it there, so I will try. I was told there isn't enough time, but I think I am going to have to make the time to see the fabled stone-hewn churches. I hope to get there somehow.

The work here is going well. The data manager that I am working with is already well-versed in MS Access and so after only a half a day's instruction he was off creating the templates and database tables for the first survey on Malaria.
I would like to include some pictures but with the speed of my Internet connection that probably will not happen.

Will post again soon. I am 4.5 weeks into 6 weeks of traveling and still no illness. I think it's time to move to tap water. ;-) CYA.

Old Town, Mombasa

It's Wednesday; I am in Nairobi and I just spent the better part of the day being sent between 6 different offices to make an airline ticket change (I had changed my flight to Ethiopia by phone, but I still needed to get a new ticket issued). Ultimately, I just bought a new ticket since it was only slightly more than the cost to update, which NO ONE could figure out how to do. And, I just couldn't bear being sent to one more office. So I leave for Addis Ababa in the morning.

This entry is from Old Town in Mombasa. Kristen and I had a great few days of relaxing in a very nice beach side resort, but I'll try to post photos of that place later (I can only post 5 pics with each post). These are more interesting though.




It was Sunday while we were here, so there was very little going on. Normally, this area is a bustling street market. There was some of it going on, but only a fraction of what one would find during the week. Narrow, winding streets characterize this part of town, but that is shown very well here. We got a tour from a local guy (everyone in Kenya wants to sell you something) that was very interesting, and I'm sure we wouldn't have wondered off in these neighborhoods without him.



I liked this scene. The tangle of old electric wires was everywhere and so were the mosques. This tower contains the loudspeakers where the call to prayer is announced 5 times per day.



This is a very old door. Many have been sold or have disintegrated, but now there is a government effort to maintain them (for what that's worth). These doors were very elaborately designed and were built solidly to, as I read somewhere, "protect the modesty of the woman who kept the home". Old Mombasa is mostly Muslim and there must have been 7 mosques in a relatively small neighborhood. The doors were of 3 different designs: Portuguese, Indian or Arab. I believe the one here is Indian.



Matatu! We rode them all around Mombasa. They're actually cheap, very efficient and the driver/money collectors were all very friendly and helpful. I'm a Matatu convert now. I may get one when I return to NYC and start a new trend.