Work in Gambella

My day usually begins after a breakfast that takes longer than it should. The hardest part of breakfast is getting someone to actually bring you a bill at the end of it.

So CCL has a nice office space right in the center of Gambella town in a big bulky government office building. I usually head over there and develop a game plan for the day with the other CCL staff. Most of my work at the moment does not actually take place in the office though. If it did, I don’t know how I would manage. The office is usually over 100 degrees. The air conditioner stuck in the wall is there only to tease you since it has never been operational. The fan is operational but the lack of electricity often transforms it into another object of torment. The last options are the three windows, but unfortunately breeze, even slight, is quite a rare commodity here in Gambella. Basically the office turns into a sauna and you constantly watch the power level on your laptop as it slowly dies because there is no electric.

My days during this trip to Gambella mainly consist of getting out of the office ASAP, hopping into a bajaj taxi, and whizzing around town to schools and churches where we meet with school directors and church elders. Since they now know what CCL is all about, these meetings are really just explaining the new project we are hoping to collaborate with them on. About half of these meetings take place in English, where I take the lead, and the other half in Amharic, where my colleague takes over. These meetings halt at noon each day though, as the town has collectively decided that work should not be done in the heat of the day. So between noon and about 3pm people eat long lunches, take naps, or do whatever they can to escape the heat. Then afternoon meetings take place over a cup of peanut tea, a glass bottled Coke, or an excessively strong coffee.

Ahhh… now this is the life!