http://yaredayele.com/index.php/blog en mrayele@gmail.com Copyright 2010 2010-12-30T23:41:06+00:00 http://yaredayele.com/index.php/site/thoughts_for_the_new_year/ http://yaredayele.com/index.php/site/thoughts_for_the_new_year/#When:23:41:06Z Dear Friends, Family and Colleagues: I just want to wish you a Happy and Prosperous New Year. I still can’t believe I have already been here 3 months, but they are the most productive and memorable of the year 2010. As you may know, I am serving as an IT Adviser to Dire Dawa University in Ethiopia, and although the work is challenging, I have found there is a lot of gratification in getting up every morning and working to truly and passionately make a difference and feeling your contribution is one that is much deeded and appreciated. Ethiopia is in a time of great transformation and this period is one every Ethiopian at home and abroad want to be part of. Imagine this, there are currently 13 Universities being built across all regions of Ethiopia and all of them are in dire needs of human resources (teachers and professionals) to deliver their mission to the equally dire and desperate young Ethiopians. Dire Dawa University, where I am currently working, is one of these Universities. For those of you who graduated from Colleges and Universities in the last 3 years, Imagine you being the most experienced teaching faculty and often the head and dean of Departments in a University? Imagine, a University campus where student registration is done manually, where you can’t search for books digitally, you can’t access internet to do your work and research….?  well, imagine me being the sole responsible person for the establishment of an entire IT department for a whole University campus? Imagine, this in 13 different Universities in Ethiopia where those are the only and few Universities the average middle and lower class Ethiopian can get the basic University Education. You see, the Ethiopia government is investing a loooot of Money on these Universities and trust me this Universities have lots and lots of Technologies…but what they really need is skilled, experienced and professional human resources? It makes total sense too….where can you get those unless you have had the institutions to produce these educated elites in the last 10 years? We know this has not been the case in Ethiopia. I told a few friends a few days ago that if an individual or organization abroad contacts me to offer thousands of Computers to the University, I will refuse the offer in a heart bit and ask for equivalent contribution of skilled and experienced people. The lack of technologies and material resources is there, but what is much needed is the human resources to enable those technologies to fulfill their full potential. Anyways, I hope this inspires you to visit and find ways to contribute to the transformation of Ethiopia, especially for this whole call this country home. You may certainly ask me how you can support my work here….I may even be able to arrange for you a 3-6 month visit/work if you are able to do so… Happy New Year! Files from Home in Dire Ethiopian Diaspora 2010-12-30T23:41:06+00:00 http://yaredayele.com/index.php/site/work_life_and_fun_in_dire-_part_2_vacation_fun/ http://yaredayele.com/index.php/site/work_life_and_fun_in_dire-_part_2_vacation_fun/#When:15:17:18Z Last week, I accompanied my grandmother to a Kulubi Gebriel, a historical church located in a small town about 49km from Dire Dawa called Kulubi. The church is located on a hilltop about 2.5km from the center of the town and the main road from Dire Dawa to Addis Ababa. On 26 July and 28 December, the days dedicated to Saint Gabriel, more than 100, 000 Ethiopians from all over the country descend on the church, a festive religious occasion and certainly a historical event to witness. We arrived at the Church in an early evening on Monday , where my grandmother spent the afternoon praying, giving the gifts she brought with her from Addis Ababa to the monitory and giving out money to the needy. I, along with two friends, spent the afternoon wondering around the compound of the church and the small town. Of course, we treated ourselves with an awesome Tibse and raw meat.This is a religious pilgrimage many across Ethiopia make, often making many personal sacrifices, including walking the 49km from Dire Dawa by foot, spending the night praying on the church compound, fasting the two days, and giving gifts of various value, including an Oxen, goats,sheep, gold, candles and the like... We spend the night in a tent that was setup by Ethiopian Electric Power workers. While my two friends slept in a car (I had rented a car in Dire Dawa for 400 birr/$25 USD a day), I slept next to my grandmother only wearing gabi (cotton blanket) in a shivering high altitude cold. The next morning, the day of St. Gabriel, we got up at 4am for prayer, chanting and candle lighting ceremony. The Tabot came out of the church at around 5am; we only heard this as we did not get to see it, but this is similar and colorful ceremony as the one in Gonder. The rest of the morning was spent praying and listening to Sermons. We headed back to Dire-Dawa around 11am and arrived there after 4 hours, a good part of it spent in the town of Kulubi stuck in a car and 100, 000 human traffic. For me, this was awesome to see such a colorful celebration that has ancient roots; the church itself is claims to be build by Ras Degen Mekonnen, father of Haile Selassie, in 1896. The King built it after the victory of Adawa, which the King said it was an answer to a prayer request during his previous visit what was before a small Shrine on the top of the when the church is currently built. Just a day before on Sat Dec 25th Christmas Day, I spent the afternoon wondering around Harar for a few hours (It was my first day in Harar and didn't really see much) and celebrated Christmas with VSO and Haramaya University friends. Gary, a VSO volunteer from Ireland, had found a tall and leafless tree somewhere on campus had placed it in his house as a Christmas tree. We, about 17 of us, most are faculty of Law at Haramaya, had brought gifts to put under the tree. We then put numbers on each gift and picked a number randomly. My gift was #17, a Coffee Bug! Interestingly, two of the other Ferengy at the party where UW Law School Alumni. One is actually the Dean of the Law school at Haramaya University. They, along one other Habesha and Dutch, are hired by the University directly as contractors. Another sign of a lack of human resources in Ethiopia.... I guess it is a small world... Harama University, for those that are not familiar is an old established University in Ethiopia, perhaps considered the Harvard of Ethiopia? It has been around for over 50 or so years and had produced many famous Ethiopian academicians. The campus is located about 5km from a Haramaya town and there is literally nothing else on and off campus. The University itself is a small town in the woods and In fact, Hyenas are seen wondering around like dogs on campus and around student and staff dormitories. The campus is generally impressive compare to Dire Dawa, especially given the fact that over half of the Dire Dawa campus is still under serious construction, the campus is literally a desert camp full of dust and construction vehicles that blow off the dust on student, staff and building like it is nothing... I think this is would be my last 2010 update from Dire. In the next few weeks, I expect I will be traveling to Bale (Southern Ethiopia) to celebrate Gena with some relatives. I might also be on a North tour, visiting Universities in Gonder, Axus, Desse with Department Deans and staff. What a wonderful way to start a new year....isn't it? If I don't check-in again, Happy New Year. I hope the new year is brings success (however you define it), happiness and new adventures to your life and let me remind you that it is you and only you that are in control for the things that ought and can happen to your Life. In other words, any situation that you think is holding you from achieving what you really really desire to be doing, it transformable. You just have to change how it occurs to you....Confused? Read "The Three Laws of Performance", by Stave Zaffron and Dave Logan. Filed From Home in Dire. Travel, Personal 2010-12-29T15:17:18+00:00 http://yaredayele.com/index.php/site/3_months_in_ethiopia_work_life_and_vacation_-_part_1_work/ http://yaredayele.com/index.php/site/3_months_in_ethiopia_work_life_and_vacation_-_part_1_work/#When:14:25:01Z Three months into my 1 year tenure at Dire Dawa University as VSO International Volunteer, I have to say I am having a rare opportunity and the best personal and professional experience .  My role at Dire Dawa University is to serve as an ICT (Information Communication Technology) adviser for the University leadership to ensure the establishment of an IT Department and introduction ion of campus wide ICT services.  Being one of the recently opened Universities (Dire Dawa was opened in 2007), Dire Dawa University is still in the process of being established as a fully functional University although it is currently serving about 7000 students across 5 schools; Social Science, Natural Science, Business and Economics, Institute of Technology and Law. So far, I have been primary involved in building the servers, and the physical networks to enabled for the introduction of ICT services to the whole university.  The University had invested on a high-speed wireless technology that can network the entire campus wireless and I am involved on all aspect of implementing this network, including the proper construction of the antenna on top of the Technology building, where the Wireless Access Points will be mounted . Although we currently only have 512kbp internet connection, we are starting the process to get a fiber-optic high-speed broadband connection. This is easy said that done as dealing with Ethiopian Telecommunication (the main and only and government owned Internet Provider in Ethiopia) itself requires patience and persistence.  Part of my job is to serve all the Academic, Administration and Student service offices by establishing and introducing ICT services so that their work and services are supported by technology. The Academics are the schools and departments that are in desperate need for a reliable ICT service for learning, teaching and research. This means having the computer labs for students and teachers as well as the education and training for the proper utilization of these resources, such as internet connections, software tools, etc. I have had to guest lecture an 3rd year Computer Science course and it is not a bit exaggeration to say that the average high school senior in US is more computer literate than these 3rd year Computer Science students. To put this into context, the students came across all over Ethiopia, from cities and towns often with no prior exposure to computer and computer concepts during their secondary education. Plus, the lack of ICT facilities, there is only 1 General Access student lab for the entire campus, make it difficult for students to get an opportunity for more exposure to computers and computer concepts outside of lecture and labs. One must also mention the qualification and quality of the instructors, all of them not any older than myself and with no prior teaching and working experience. Let me put it this way, the 3rd year Computer Science students that I have just told you about, it is likely that they will be placed somewhere else as University instructors when they graduate next year. Yes, there is such a desperate lack of Human Resources.  As a diaspora living in abroad, does this NOT make you came and give back?  I have to tell you, although they are a whole lot that makes it difficult to fully contribute your experience and skills, there is much much gratification to have the opportunity to try do so… The Administration offices are all the offices are responsible for the proper management of the University, such as having the proper software tools for enrolling students and keeping student records, asset management software for tracking University assets (Computers, projectors, printers, staff…etc). Those with Management Information System (MIS) background and in project management can relate to this. I have not done much work on this respect yet except to be involved in some aspect of making sure proper computer and technology tools are being purchased by the University and the vendors are delivering the expected specification of computers, printers, etc. This is such a difficult task since no one in Finance and at the University warehouse can tell weather a newly purchased printer, laptop and computer has the correct memory, hard disk and other essential specification. The task of distributing to end users (staff, etc), managing, maintain and tracking is also a big challenge. Just last week, I have had to tell a Hardware vendor from Addis to take back all the printers he delivered; the Finance department had purchased 20 large 2 tray prints, but the 20 printers delivered where simple black and white HP printers with only 1 tray-150 paper capacity.  As it is too common here, I was offered a 1000 birr bribe and accept the delivery. Although the Ethiopian government had put in place a sophisticated process to eliminate corruption, this still seems an issue that is not going to go away so soon and easily. To purchase ICT equipment, for example, the University bid Committee is required to announce a public bid to give every business (small and big) an opportunity to complete for the business and follow a defined selection process that often takes weeks. This is great since not a single individual can decide where to purchase equipment (hence avoiding favoritism and monopoly), but the process is long and often tedious. From a personal experience, for example, I have had to wait 4 weeks for a simple construction materials (for the wireless antenna) that costs about 2000 birr. Consequently, I am forced to wait over 2 months for the construction of 1 2000 birr pole to implement a half a million networking equipment. It seems a laughing matter, doesn’t it? Student services include Libraries , dormitories, etc. For example, I have been involved on acquiring an e-library software and collection for the library so that students can access books online since there is basically no books at the library. The library also does not have any software for cataloging, checking out, and loaning books; everything is a manual process. Even students have to literally browse library book shelves to find available books. It is not only my job to identifying the software tools to be used for such purposes, but also to establish the physical and virtual network s (eg: building servers, laying out cables, etc) to allow for such tools to be used across the three libraries. Currently, I have fixed a simple PHP based application that allows students to access a random collection of PDF e-books, journals that were downloaded from the web by students and library staff. I have put about 20GB of PDF files on the web server and student can use a simple searching tool to search by titles, authors and departments. You see, the task of developing the application is simple but the challenge is cataloging the books with the proper tags (name, title, author, subject,  department, etc) so that students can find what they are looking for easily. On top of these and most importantly, my job is to establish the ICT department and the job structure so that all of these services can be supported and sustained in the future. Currently, there is only two of us that are considered ICT staff and are trying to introduce all these services to the University. This itself is a challenge since the University does not have the budget to hire ICT staff, it seems they are still waiting for the budget to be release from Ministry of Education. To give some ideas, a System Admin with a reasonable experience can be hired for a monthly salary of about 2000 birr (about $125 with the current exchange rate ($1=16 birr). So, the annual salary turns out to be about only $2000/ 32000 birr? Anyone got a $2000 birr to spare? I can use it to pay for an ICT staff for a whole year! Filed from my House in Dire Dawa Information/Technology 2010-12-13T14:25:01+00:00 http://yaredayele.com/index.php/site/3_months_in_ethiopia_work_life_and_vacation_-_part_2_life_in_dire/ http://yaredayele.com/index.php/site/3_months_in_ethiopia_work_life_and_vacation_-_part_2_life_in_dire/#When:14:54:21Z Life is in Dire Dawa is simple and enjoyable, or perhaps I have chosen to make it that way? Here are my basic daily routine to give you an idea of exactly what I mean. During work days, I would get up around 6:30 am in the morning,  most days it is usually my Maid (Serategnya) Burtukan that wakes me as I still have not gotten over the habit of going to bed late (2am or 3am). Other days, I would get up, open the door for her before she arrives and go back to bed. By the time I am ready to go to work, my breakfast is usually made and ready, usually hot tea, scrambled egg, chechibsa, chiko, firfir or beso. I eat my breakfast while Burtukan cleans the house and makes my bed and leave for work around 7:30 am to catch the University staff bus by the main road. The bus arrives on campus for 8am start work day. Currently, I have chosen to set my office in a Server room, where it is air conditioned. It is only when I arrived that we set up the server rack, placed the two servers on the rack, and turn on the newly installed AC. Although they have yet to give any services, the two servers that were unplugged and sitting on a table when I arrived, are now running 24 hours. I have made one of them to be web server, with Linux OS, Apache web server and a mysql database as we are currently building the website.  For those tech savy, I have configured an SVN (Sourcesafe) and have a number of students and staff work on the website and check-in code. Speaking of the website, although I am still gathering the content from the University, a draft version is published for now at http://diredawau.com. Stay tuned for the official website domain at http://ddu.edu.et once I can sort the domain issue with Ethiopian Telecommunication…errr. :( Now days, my days are usually spent dealing with the University Compound services to give me a labor force to set up the network antenna, building the ladder, cables ,etc. If you want to know what is this is like: imagine it is taking about 2 months to get done something that is usually would take 1 week with proper planning, equipment, material and management of people and resources. I also work with a number of students on adding content on the website, usually during their class breaks and often during lunch time. By the time lunch comes, which is from 12:00PM to 1:30pm, I am back on the bus to have lunch at home although I sometimes choose to stay on campus and eat a quick Beyanetu or shiro (12 birr) at the student Café. When I get home for lunch, Burtukan have my lunch ready, often injera bewot, Pasta, Makoroni and the like. If she happen to be still there, she would serve lunch or else I would serve myself. After lunch and a quick nap, I am back on the bus to campus; often I miss the bus so I get on a Bajaj (three wheel taxi) to get to work. This time of the day (12:00 PM to 8PM), Dire Dawa is hot and you will feel your head is about to crack open if you stand on the sun for more than 10 or 15 minutes. No wonder you will not see a single soul on the streets; well, the story is most people are at home with their chat… In the evenings, I often stay late on campus became that is where it is quiet and I can get more work done or can do some personal internet browsing. Since I arrived, my strategy has been to work with Computer Science students to get most of the labor work, such as updating content for the website, arranging computer labs, installing software, etc. I get a lot of reward and they also get some practical skills. Not surprisingly, they are hungry and thankful of such opportunities. As a result, I work closely with a newly established ICT Club; composed of a dozen Computer Science students. They coordinate basic computer skill courses (Windows, Word, etc) for students from all departments and I have also given them the responsibility of managing the general access student computer lab, etc. To say the least I get a lot of reward from this part of my job and can also get a lot of done. Since I am not giving the responsibly of delegating work and managing any staff (there is only one, Bisrat), I get things done by students. Bisrat rarely have time to work with me as it seems he is tasked by everyone on campus, including teachers, students and staff. This is another challenging part of my job, where I would have to be involved and do everything that must be done, literally from building servers, designating website, drafting ICT strategy and policy, and providing support for the newly introduced services, and work with administrations and deans of school of procurement of software and equipment, etc ,  On the weekend, I am often campus working on students, at Haramaya University for a quick get away or simply at home chilling or wondering around town and swimming, playing table tennis at the local recreation center (Papas?). My cool evenings are often spent at Bridge (local café for the young and professional) with friends drinking St. George (Ethiopian beer), my favorite Sprese (fresh Papaya, Mango and Guava juice) or simply the usual macchiato or tea. Yes, I have had enough of the raw meet, tibse and goal meat experience often associated with visiting Dire. umm…now that I think of it, I have not tried the famous roasted chicken, yet. Yes, I have had one or two Chat ceremonies at home and elsewhere; I enjoy the ceremony and the conversations than chewing the leaf itself.  Yes, I have seen the Dire night scene and there is not much to say, except to say there are too many university students for my comfort and overwhelming male-female ratio and of those few, the professional prostitutes outnumber the rest. Perhaps, I have picked the wrong places or this an’t my thing?  I am not sure. :-( Files from at Home in Dire Personal 2010-10-13T14:54:21+00:00 http://yaredayele.com/index.php/site/two_weeks_in_taiwan_-_i_am_pronounced_healthy_by_a_chinese_traditional_doc/ http://yaredayele.com/index.php/site/two_weeks_in_taiwan_-_i_am_pronounced_healthy_by_a_chinese_traditional_doc/#When:11:33:06Z Spending two weeks in Twain with good friends Leif, Yonas and Chaig-ching was a perfect vacation before a year long volunteer work in Ethiopia. The trip was filled with memorable times with chiag-ching family in a small town in Central Taiwan, a small city called Nantou, hikes, hot springs, message, a visit to one of the tallest buildings in the world (Taipe 101), and good and cheap food. Did I mention we got a test of typical typhoon threat? This being my first ever travel to Asia, it was a totally different experience . First of all, it is amazing how developed, civilized and clean the whole country appears, at least to the tourist's eye. Everywhere we went, there were excellent roads, transportation and friendly people. Speaking of the people, I was actually amazed at the politeness although it may appear a disrespect and a complete disregard to the typical Westner. People will never really look at you directly and if they did it would be a split of a second and they will look away appearing completely oblivious to your presence. Coming from the west and having travelled mostly in Africa, this is a completely different to me as I am used to being either starred at or given a little more attention, specially in places where I know I standout as an outsider. Being black in Taiwan, I had expected to be a center of attention, at least I had thought I would get a second look from the people. If is surprising and even pleasant is that once you have started a conversation with, they are friendly and fully interested in you although their lack of confidence in the English language make it a bit difficult to communicate well. In all of my travels, I always strive to connect with the local people of the places and I cannot think of any other place where I was able to do than this trip. Thanks to Chaig-ching's wonderful family, we not only had an opportunity to discover places and had an experiences a typical tourist would rarely get in a country like Twain. I still vividly remember Chaig-chig's mom's reaction when I said to her "Tonight, I am not going to bed until I bit you." None of us were able to bit her in Chinese checker's for days. We would play late into the night, sometimes until midnight and still end losing to the master of the game. Well, it finally happened that evening when I almooooooost won, by playing into the wrong side of the board, which I guess gave me an advantage! Well, the master lost the game that evening but unfortunately I was not the winner. I believe it was Leif that bit her for the first time….! Another memorable experience that is worth to be mentioned is the a visit to a very known Chinese Traditional doctor in Nanto. As I have never been to a traditional doctor before, I was both a bit scared and skeptical when we all decided to venture up the hill were this Chaig-chig's family doctor is found. Once we got there we all sit around a tea table and waited until the doctor emerged from the backroom. Then, we were examined, diagnosed and prescribed a various combination of natural herbs. I, however, was diagnosed healthy and was told did not need any medicine. Yonas, Leif and Chaig-chig were told their problems and prescribed a medicine. Lastly, I think it is worth to mention the 4 day adventure in Taipe, the capital and largest city in the country where me, Leif and Yonas had some interesting experiences and adventures. In brief, we meet 2 Germen guys who had just arrived a week earlier to study International Business for one year. We got to hang out with them one evening at a night market and in bar, which apparently was a Gay bar and at the end of the night, we learned we were all thought to be Gays by everyone at the bar including the three girls (2 were lesbian couple) we were talking to all night. We also meet some people from Nigeria and Ghana, that were there teaching English and apparently making a lot of money, a contractor from Dubai and an American who says he was traveling all over Southern Asia. Check out pictures on Facebook and on my Picasa folder. Reported from Internet Cafe in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Travel 2010-09-15T11:33:06+00:00 http://yaredayele.com/index.php/site/testing_this_weblog/ http://yaredayele.com/index.php/site/testing_this_weblog/#When:05:56:43Z It is only recently that I seriously contemplated about what it really means to be home and what or where home is for me and other millions of immigrants in the diaspora? I started thinking about this just recently as my departure date to Ethiopia approached fast. In the midst of getting all the logistics (paper work, paper work, more paper work, and packing) done, I didn’t really have much time to really contemplate on the significant of going to Ethiopia to work as an IT Advisor for Dire Dawa University. I am going to Ethiopia through an organization called CUSO-VSO, a Canadian based NGO that sends volunteers all over the world. I am only able to do this because my employer has a partnership with CUSO-VSO that allows any employee to take a maximum of 1 year to go as a CUSO-VSO volunteer anywhere in the world, while still retaining the benefit of being an employee with a guaranteed job security up on return. Of course, the fine prints are a bit complicated…but isn’t that always the case? Going back to the concept of home, for all the 14 or so years I have lived in the US, I have never felt "home". Don’t get me wrong, I love this country for all the wonderful opportunities, conveniences and luxurious (perceived or otherwise!), and for the record I am a proud American citizen and my entire immediate family lives in the US. This is despite moving to this country at a young age; attended both High School and University in the US. So, it seems it is a perfect place to be content with to call "home"? Not for me! I have come to a conclusion a few years ago that I need to go somewhere outside of the continental US every two years to keep my sanity and preserve my sensitivity to the existence of the rest of the world. I seem to always view my time in this country as a temporary, a transition period to something different, better, and bigger I want to do or get to. And I am almost assured that “something” does not involve the typical “American Dream”; 8-5 job, a Condo or a big house, etc. Perhaps it is fair to say I have not assimilated ? Q: What is your view of the “American Dream”? Q: What is your story? Do you ever feel you or your friends have assimilated to the American Way? Well, where do you draw the line anyway? Between assimilated and not-assimilated, that is.... The irony is that it does not take long, once I am outside of the US, for me to yearn to came "Home" to see my family and friends and before I miss all the conveniences (NO, I don’t mean satellite TV and hot showers ) that came along with living in the US. I miss to see my dear mother who seems to not to want to endure another long separation from her oldest son – it took 6 years for my mother and siblings to join my father and in the US. Q: What is your immigrant story? Or do you even have one? So, this had me to conclude that “Home”, at least for me, is where my “heart” is. Q: Where is “Home” for you? What do you consider “Home”? “Home”, for me is where I spent probably the happiest and most memorable times of my entire life. Even after many years of being away, “home” for me is where my heart is. In just a few days, I will be going to a country and continent that I most treasure, Not for its opportunities and conveniences and luxuries (I do realize these things a perceived values), but for the people, the land, and the social, cultural values and the opportunities it provides to connect with a fellow human, and to LIVE life with humility, humbleness, enjoyment and fullness. This blog, “Home Away From Home” is about my adventures to truly discover what makes me happy, valued and valuable in this world. I hope to share my perspectives and experiences of living both in America and Ethiopia. These perspectives won’t generally be limited to just Ethiopia and US, they will certainly be inclusive and relevant to the African Content and the Western World or so called the Developed World. There will certainly being posts about Technology, Education, International Development, The Brain Drain and and of course adventures of travel and culture... It is my hope that as you read this blog posts, you will realize you have something to share and contribute -- I hope you will do so respectfully and realize that the views expressed are mine and just that. The whole idea is to have conversations….conversation about what it truly means to be an individual in this world, a human in this content and a citizen of a nation? What does it mean to be privileged individual, human and citizen? What does it mean to be part of a generation of change? A generation with a potential to bring about change in once community, country, content and the world? Q: How do you feel about your potential to be bring “Change”? What is “Change” for you? Where does one start? You see, as a Ethiopian Diaspora living in the US, and part of a generation of young Ethiopians living the country to be Educated and searching for opportunity, I feel there is a role to play in developing our country and our continent? If Not us, whose role it is? Can we have a conversation about that as a starting place? With Sincere Humility, Filed From Panora Bread in Seattle, WA Ethiopian Diaspora, Personal 2010-08-12T05:56:43+00:00