Around Hawzen this week

Back in Hawzen and back at work today after a visit to Harar and Addis Ababa. It is always nice to get back and see the view over the country side to the Gheralta mountains. There is minimal ambient light, so it is almost pitch black outside, just faint star light if you look up. So different from the big city. No great photos of Meskel from my trip to Addis Ababa as one of my cameras was stolen, but did manage to shoot quite a few in Harar of the old city.

With no ambient street light from, I live in a pitch black world. with just the stars and milky way above. A crescenting moon starts to shed light on the landscape below each night giving shape and form to the hills, the village and rural houses in the distance. Away from the gyrations of the stock market and debt talk. At daybreak the sounds of roosters and animals and people moving about with their lives provides another day of reality in village life and survival.

However, harsh reality, walking through the village at 8 am there were about 100 people lined up what appeared to be a shallow trench of about 150 m in length running from in front of several houses across the "main road" of the village and up the road before turning into another street. About 5 women with pick axes were digging away at making this trench which on closer examination had a water pipe. Looked like a water leak? No reliance on SE Water to fix a burst pipe here - community effort to get it done.
Feels like I am in Mary Poppins movie. The weather has changed here from rain , to rain storms in the afternoon to dry weather with a constant northerly wind. Does the wind change mean time to move on?

Our MVP site in Hawzen has a  coffee shop opposite as well as a pool room (they are very common in Hawzen). Unfortunately they dont have pool cues but have invented another game with the balls, much like lawn bowls. When no-one has anything on the drivers expecially and some of the staff congreagate for a fast exciting game.  The rules seem to be mad up on the spot if we get involved. On a more seriius note, our Tigrinya lessons are progressing and can make ourselves understood in the market.

Some interesting african music - listen to the music - Turaeg tribe band Tinariwen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCkSX6Kl3ig&feature=related
and Gnawa Diffusion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMeQvtk88Zg