Bedele town has a remarkable population of goats who seem to enjoy chewing 'chat' as much as some of the residents.
One unique area is called the 'desert' which is reached by a long drive down onto into the valley. This area is without trees and drier than the nearly highlands but also supports the growing of rice as well as maize. The village of Kolosir is a settlement for families displaced due to famine from drought-stricken areas of Ethiopia. The village has the most interesting backdrop - a straight hill rises from the plain.
The other striking feature of the village was a large tent previously used by the World Food Program for food distribution. Our UN vehicle was the source of great curiousity and my driver, Joseph, spent his time explaining that we were only there to visit the health centre. This new health centre was targeted to be upgraded from a clinic in order to provide more health services including a labour and delivery unit.
I always included a visit to the incinerator or biomedical waste disposal pit as part of my audit. At Kolosir, the path to the disposal pit was through the maize field but we did eventually find it!
And always, there were the children. I was constantly a source of interest and when I spoke to them, it was usually followed by great hilarity because of my accent or mispronounced words of Oromifa or Amharic. In Kolosir as in most villages, there was very little in the way of toys or other sources of entertainment for the children.
A very common sight was of children looking after younger children, such as the young girl to the left, with her younger sibling on her back. The young man on the right outfitted in the Ethiopia gear, had been my guide to the health centre and disposal pit.
My visits to the health centre were usually accompanied by young children who were sometimes camera shy and other times, wanted to be front and centre in the photograph.
In the trip down the valley, we came face to face with another Isuzu truck which provide the main transport on the back roads. They were usually loaded down with people, animals or other products for market and are a very a common sight but I just had to grab a picture as we passed.
On our return trip, we had time to take some pictures of the beautiful scenery. Joseph and Hamza, the Illubabor Zone Communicable Disease Control team leader were posing for a picture when they were joined by several local lads who told us that there were lions in the nearby forests.
In a population of 80 Million, mostly pastoralists (farmers), a striking feature of Ethiopia is that you are never alone. Even when the road seemed empty of people, as soon as we stopped the car to take a picture, people materialized from the fields or forests!
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