Week 2 - Orientation & Jazz

Now my second week in Addis Ababa is already over. This week I enjoyed some delicious meals, especially at lunchtime when Addis Guzo cooks. There is a wide selection of fresh vegetables and fruits like mango, papaya, avocados, and more. Ethiopian coffee tastes excellent and the aroma of roasted coffee beans fills the air everywhere.

On Monday and Friday evenings, I went to a jazz concert. The music sounded similar to what I know, but there were also traditional sequences played. One of the musicians at Africa Jazz Village played the Masinko, a traditional one-stringed instrument often used in traditional music.

While working, I had the opportunity to visit the 'Old Compound,' the former campus of Addis Guzo. It is now home to war veterans who are wheelchair-bound due to war injuries. It is like a residential facility with caregivers, a kitchen, and a simple restaurant. In addition, the Old Compound serves as a storage space for materials and wheelchairs. It was very impressive to see how they live there. The area is large and green, located right next to a river that flows with more of a dark brown broth than water.

In physiotherapy, I am slowly understanding the procedures and feeling more useful. The clients, especially the children, usually come in at the same time and stay for several hours. So we usually give tasks and treat multiple people at the same time. The biggest challenge for me is still - and probably will be until the end of the internship - the language. However, I can already communicate the most important things in keywords with difficulty.

Today, Saturday, I went on a small hike to Washa Mikael Rock-Hewn Church, which was built in solid rock in the 12th century. Since the roof has collapsed, you can get a good view of the interior of the Orthodox church. There is now a new church on the premises, painted with the colors of the Ethiopian flag. The path to the church led through a freshly scented eucalyptus mixed forest. I saw many different-colored small birds, and raptors circled in the distance. Especially at the edge of the forest, at the border of residential areas, there is heaps of waste. In the beautiful nature of the forest, there are also broken shoes, clothing, cigarette butts, and plastic waste...

Tomorrow, I am leaving the city for the first time, I am excited. Monday (March 1st) is a national holiday. It commemorates the victory against Italian invasion forces in the Battle of Adwa.