Yared Ayele

BIGFoot Services

noreply@blogger.com (Yared Ayele) — Fri, 23 May 2008 03:48:00 +0000

I provide the following Services:

Web Design

Custom development for non-profit organizations, small businesses.
Customization and design of shopping carts for online shops

Tutoring

Personalized tutoring for middle school, high school and college students
English Composition (ESL courses and ENG 101 at the Seattle Community Colleges)
Mathematics (High School Algebra & Geometry, Algebra, Geometry, Calculus (Math 124 & Math 125 at Community College/UW)

I also teach basic/tutor Amharic (conversation and grammar).

Contact me at: mrayele@gmail.com

slacking, travelling and getting back to normal routine

noreply@blogger.com (Yared Ayele) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 17:19:00 +0000

I know I have been really lazy in posting to this blog in the last few months. In fact, I wrote my last post a few days I arrived in Addis Ababa. One reason is it is really not convenient to write and post online in one of Ethiopian’s internet cafes. It is even a difficult task if you are traveling around the countryside.

Anyways, I have now back to the states, Seattle. Although I am currently in the Midwest (Chicago/St. Charles) for some work related training. I can’t say much about the Midwest because I have only gotten to go outside the training conference complex or twice in two weeks that I have been there.

I did get to visit Chicago over the weekend and visit the tallest building in North America, the Sears Tower in downtown Chicago.

….more updates to come.

Moyale-Awasa-Addis

noreply@blogger.com (Yared Ayele) — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 13:05:00 +0000

I arrived in Addis Ababa in the early mornings of Monday July 2nd
2007. I rode the 800km or so trip in the comfort of an air-conditioned
vehicle. Here is the story of how I ended up riding the day and half
trip with a retired American IT professional from the state of Neveda
in the United States.

There are usually buses that depart from Moyale early in the morning
to a town of Shashmane. I was planning to wake up at around 5am in the
morning to take one of those buses up north with the hope of spending
the night in Shashmane before continuing my journey to Addis Ababa the
next morning. This would have meant that I would arrive in Addis on
Monday morning or afternoon.

The night before, however, one of the guys I met at the border post
came up to my room and told me about a government vehicle that is
going up north (he said it going straight to Addis Ababa) at around
8am in the morning. After much negotiation, I decided to take that
with the hope that I will be able to take pictures easily along the
way and would also arrive a lot sooner. So, the plan was that I would
wakeup in the morning and met the driver at the border post. The
driver is returning to the capitol after dropping two Kenyans at the
border and he trying to make extra money.

When I met the driver in the morning, however, he told me he is only
going up to Dilla and it looked like he is not even going to make it
out of Moyale until around 9am. Obviously, I was upset but decided to
go along with it because I have no other alternative since all public
transport up north (at least as far as Shashmane) has already gone for
the day.

So, I just packed my stuff, checked out of my hotel and headed for the
border with the hope that I would find another person that is heading
straight to Addis Ababa. As I was approaching the border post, a bunch
of guys that saw me arrive the day before were calling for me. They
all knew I am American (words get around in a small town) and told me
about a "Furenge" that has just gone inside the immigration office and
is heading up north. Surely, there was a huge GMC truck with a NEVEDA
license plate parked outside. What are the odds, ha?

Long story short, Mr. Osterhagen (a retired IT Professional) was
gracious enough to agree to give me a ride to the capitol. We left
Moyale at around 10am. The rest of the journey was unlike my previous
trip from Nairobi by any measure. For once, the mostly two lane road
is paved and in a fairly good condition. In contrast to the
semi-desert of Northern Kenya, Southern Ethiopia is green and full of
beautiful scenery, with the Rift Valley to our West as we drove up
north. We mostly drove straight without stopping, only to take a few
pictures here and there.

After spending the night in Awasa, a small college town about 45min
north of Addis Ababa, we arrive in the capitol around 11am in the next
morning. Before heading home to my grandparents house, I went to
Ethiopian Commercial Bank in Mesqel Square area with my American
Companion and also had a quick snack in small place behind the
National Theater. Mr. Osterhagen decided to spend the night in a hotel
and we departed at the Quen Saba Hotel (we found in our lonely planet
guide book and used his GPS/mapping software to get there), which is
only about a 15 minutes taxi ride from my grandmother house. I hired a
contact taxi to take my there for 20birr. Believe it or not, I found
the house without much problem after 11 years of being away!!!

From Nairobi to Moyale

noreply@blogger.com (Yared Ayele) — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 13:50:00 +0000

I am finally in the "motherland". It only took about 2 day of travel on top of a truck though. We left Nairobi on Thursday night (10PM) and arrived in Moyale on Saturday 10pm after traveling day and night, LITERALLY. We mostly traveled at night because it is really hot during the day and never really made any stops, except for a quick lunch twice.

The buses leave from a suburb of Nairobi called Eastleigh, which is where all the Ethiopian and Somalia immigrants made their home. It makes you doubt if you are really in a Kenyan city. It seems "qchat' is the primary food source. Initially, I was told there was a bus the goes direct to Moyale and even got a ticket the day before. But when I arrived the next day one hour before the bus was suppose to leave, they said there was no bus and I had to take a Lori, a huge truck with a cargo loaded to its max. After a lot of drama about the price, which Lori to get on and how much to pay for Delala (broker), we left at 10pm. Four of us were on top of the truck, completely exposed to rain, heath and dust. The two guys are technicians and help the driver whatever he makes a stop for Diesel and when he has to stop at the dozens of Police Stops (Kelas). The other guy is Ethiopian coming back from South Africa, after scouting the route for "customers" and he is suppose to smuggle 10 people to Mozambique next month. This is guy is not even any older than my age. Are we really this much despirate to leave our country?

Crossing the border was very simple, just showed my password to the friendly people on both side of the border. One of them asked me to open my bag and I had to show her everything in my bag. She didn't say anything except asking what kind of Camera I was caring; She asked if it was Sony and I replied 'yes'. I also had to change some money from Kenya shilling to Ethiopian birr and this was very simple since there are many people at the border that want to change for you.

I can't tell exactly to be able to be back to what I call "Home away from Home". Once I arrived I checked in to a hotel from 25 Birr (3 us dollars) and had my injera bewet. Then, I have been roaming the streets completly unnoticed, sharing the only main street with the local taxes, gari, motercycles and of course, the goats.

Tomorrow morning, I am leaving for Shashamane and I should be able to arrive in Addis the day after that. I am very excited to see some famly.

In Dubai Airport

noreply@blogger.com (Yared Ayele) — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 08:29:00 +0000

I didn't think I would have access to the Internet so soon after my departure but since I have an hour in Dubai Airport and the Internet (unlimited) is FREE, why not write a blog!?

So, I have decided that Air Emirate is the best airline that I have experienced so far. In addition to the spacious Boeing 777 their food and services is excellent. I don't remember how many times they served food and snacks.

Anyway, I am about to take off to Nairobi. I will be there in the early afternoons. There isn't much to say now but I am getting that familiar feeling as I get closer to Africa.

Best,

_YA

Graduated, going home - Finally

noreply@blogger.com (Yared Ayele) — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 10:48:00 +0000

Today, I head over to the "motherland" again. This time, I am flaying to Kenya to spend some time with some friends, maybe even visit a non-profit organization in a small village north of Nairobi. My final destination is Ethiopia, which I hope to arrive the first week of July overland through Moyale.

I will spending the new year (2000!) at home and enjoying all the festivities with friends and family. This is before I have to start my new job in early October.

This should be an adventure. I will try my best to post updates/photos on this website as much as possible.

Keep well and enjoy your summer.

Victoria Falls

noreply@blogger.com (Yared Ayele) — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 13:19:00 +0000

Today, I went and checked out Victoria Falls, one of the 7 wonders of the World. It is a spectacular site. It is literally impossible to take a good picture of the falls coming down because of the smoke/fog and also the water the splashes.

But the site is really spectacular. Across the river is Zimbabwe, where you can jump of the a bridge a 111 meters high. I going to check it out this afternoon (I forgot to take my password with me earlier this morning).

Tomorrow, I will spending the whole day and night in a small village near the town. It should be a different experience.

from Livingstone, Zambia

noreply@blogger.com (Yared Ayele) — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 15:00:00 +0000

Today (Monday April 9th), I woke up at 5am in the morning and went with a friend to see some wild animals at the Chope National Park. It was an interesting experience...we saw mostly birds, a couple of elephants, two lions with their cubs, a buffalo, and Kudos, Antelopes (a lot of them--they say here they are the McDonald of the bush.).

At around 9am, I took a taxi to the border of Zambia/Zimbabwe. I crossed to Zambia on the Ferry cross the Chope river, which forms a borderline between Zambia, Botswana and also Namibia. Here for the first time in my life, an official at a border post gave me a hard time. He almost gave me the Visa stamp before he realized I was originally from Ethiopia...then he started asking all these questions: why are you here? Are you from Ethiopia? Where u staying? When are you leaving? Where are u going? And demanded to see a plane ticket out of Zambia. Then, he made me pay $100, which is a loooot of money here. I could have gotten it waved but I decided not to get myself into another hastle.

Later, when I asked the locals..they said something about the Ethiopians being known for Foraging money and most have been kicked out of Zambia. But it was an interesting experience.

Anyway, I am currently in a backpackers place in Livingstone, a small dusty town about 60k from the border. I payed 20us DOLLARS for a small bed in a dorm room with 4 beds: the other 3 guys are from the States also.

I am going to see one of the wonders of the world tomorrow, Victoria Falls.
Catch u later...from South Africa. I also wanted to go to Lusaka, the capital 6hrs drive from here but I don't have time. I fly to South Africa on the 12th.

Happy Easter from Bostwana

noreply@blogger.com (Yared Ayele) — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 08:40:00 +0000

I am currently in Kasane, Botswana. It is a small and remote town on the Chope river, up north close to the Zambia border/Victoria Falls. It is a big tourist destination because its proximity to the Chope National Park, which I heard has excellent Game Drives.

The journey here has been interesting. I left Cape Town on early Tuesday morning. I was in Johannesburg by 7AM. After hanging out at the airport for a couple of hours, I headed to Park Station about ½ from the airport to take a bus to Gabrorne, the capital of Botswana. It took about 6 hours in a nice and air conditioned bus. They played two movies, one was a kids movie that I don’t remember the name of and the other, Hitch (Will Smith).

On the bus, I met this guy from Swiden who was returning to Kasana after getting his camera fixed. He has been cycling through Africa for the last 21 days, through Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and all the way to Bostwana. He is heading to Nambibia after Kasana.

Anyway, we shared a room for 200 Pulas in one of the Lodges in Gabs, which means I only had to pay P100 (about 12US). He left early the next morning while I stayed behind to check out the city and was planning to take the night train at 9PM.

Long story short, I did not take the train because it was already full by the time I got to the train station. Transportation is really packed/busy at this time of the year because people generally go to the country side to celebrate Eastern with their families.

After looking around for other lodges to stay, I ended up going to a soccer match with a taxi driver and also ended up sleeping in his one room house just outside of the city. I gave him a 100 Pula and we shared a chicken for dinner.

The next morning, I took an early (6am) bus to Francistown, another major town up north close to the Zimbabwe border. The line for the bus was as long as a football field and I had to stand for the entire six hours drive to Francistown. Yes, the bus was packed and people were standing on aisle of the bus in a space that is not even comfortable to stand. Try standing up for six hours in a confined space! That is all I have to say about that.

I was tired and hungry to when I got to Francistown around 2:30pm and the buses to Kasane were all gone to Kasane (another 6-7 hours drive). I decided to go to the nearest guest house (160Pula) sleep the rest of the afternoon. I took another/smaller bus to Kasane early the next morning (6am) and arrived in Kasane around 2 or so. I have been chilling here at a friends house for now and will be doing some river cruise and game drive before I head up north to Zambia tomorrow mid day.

Happy Easter!

"Langa,1 more", "Mobray, Mobray...Sisi, where u going?"

noreply@blogger.com (Yared Ayele) — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 15:20:00 +0000

I usually wake up around 7AM for a morning jog, but this has been less frequent in the last two weeks since I have been waking up at 2AM or 3AM in the morning only to lay awake fighting the ever irritating mosquito bites. I don't have too much to complain about mosquitoes here since they are only irritating when they eat me while I am awake. Since their bites don't really leave any permanent marks on my skin, unlike many people, I see no need to use any form of bug repellent in my room or on my skin. I am just thankful that they are not infected and therefore will not disease me with Malaria. Good thing I am not in West Africa or in the Northern part of the country.

I digress. After eating breakfast, I walk for about 15 minutes to the nearest Taxi Rank (taxi station) to take a Taxi to Langa, the township where my school is located. The taxi ride coasts only R4 (about $0.50) and takes about 10 to 15 minutes. However, it sometimes takes 20-30 minutes to fill up since people are coming out of the townships to work in the city/suburbs in the morning instead of the going to the townships.

This has some historical significance. The black inhabitants of the townships are the products of the apartheid policy that forced them to live in the slums in hostels, only to be allowed in the city to work for the rich white folks. The Pass Laws Act of 1952 made this possible:

"The Pass Laws Act of 1952 required black South Africans over the age of 16 to carry a pass book, known as a dompas, everywhere and at all times. The dompas was similar to a passport, but it contained more pages filled with more extensive information than a normal passport. Within the pages of an individual's dompas was their fingerprints, photograph, personal details of employment, permission from the government to be in a particular part of the country, qualifications to work or seek work in the area, and an employer's reports on worker performance and behavior. If a worker displeased their employer and they in turn declined to endorse the book for the pertinent time period, the worker's right to stay in the area was jeopardized." (1)

How is this significant today? Like I pointed our earlier, finding a taxi that goes into the townships early in the morning (before 9PM) is not an easy task. Before 9 in the morning, it is hard to find a taxi that is actually transporting people in that direction. I have been lucky so far because I manage to flag a taxi that is returning after unloading passengers coming out of Langa. This often requires standing at a strategic location each morning. Since business is really busy in the morning, the taxi drivers rush straight to the Taxi Rank in Langa; this is rare in a city where Taxis stop in every imaginable corner to pick-up passengers. This means I get there faster that usually possible.

In the same way, it is just as difficult to find a taxi that goes out of the townships after 6PM even though the locals say that Taxis are officially on business until 8PM. After 8PM, the smaller Taxicabs that we are familiar with in the West take over business. Although convenient (they will take you straight to your destination), they are as expensive as calling a Taxi in Seattle. The train is also an option to go and out of the townships, but it costs just the same as the local taxis without the convenience of coming frequently and with the inconvenience of transferring at the downtown station. I often take the local buses to go up and down major roads…although you can flag one down from any corner, they are not as frequent as the taxis.

I enjoy using the taxis for transportation. There no such better experience than mingling with the locals often without being noticed as a foreigner…this only lasts until I open mouse. Even that I can get away with it by saying "Taxi Rank" and "Mobray" (my destinations), "Thank you Driver" (you say this when you want to get out) with the local accent. Along with my local looking clothing, it works if only they don't start speaking with in Xhosa, in which case I have no idea what they said and respond "I am sorry, I don't speak Xhosa". At least, I have already mastered the click.

A lot of times, Western's are frustrated because they cannot go into the townships without suspected as a foreigner and therefore target for robbery or stabbing as I read someone recent experience of living in Cape Town for no less than three weeks. I have heard of students, I have meet a lot of them from the US here, including those our own UW students here with the CHID study abroad program, talk about this experience as if they are going to get stripped down as soon as they set foot in the townships. In my view, this does a lot of damage. For one, a lot of these individuals make little effort to minimize being on the stoplight when they go into the townships, if they ever do actually to go outside of their group of fellow Americans—sadly, which makes is impossible to not be targeted as a tourist.

My view is regardless of your skin colour, you can go into the townships without being perceived as a rich tourist with money. First step, put down your Western clothes, leave all your credit cards, stack of cash and jewelry. Putting down your Western clothes often means getting used to wearing long pants. Take enough money for transportation, food or whatever else you need to buy. Remember, your expensive personal belongings are not even safe at home than with you – not matter what part of the city you are staying. If your leave your personal belongings that you fear you might lose, then you have no fear that you will get robbed. Chances are that nobody is going to threaten to stab you unless you have something that is worth doing so. As you would walk around anywhere new for the first time, be aware of your belongings. I usually avoid carrying my wallet and if I did, will not put it in my pack-pocket.

And remember, I am not suggesting you get on Taxi and head to the slums of the township, where you will be met with viscous local gangs. If that is your thought I am suggesting, I think you are been brainwashed. You see the townships, no matter what you have heard or read about, today are vibrant and safe communities with gas stations, shopping malls, police and more KFCs that you would guess exist. Although I must acknowledge, one needs a local guide to be able to go to these places, it does not make it unsafe to set food in public shopping malls or other public places located in the townships.

The fact that we imagine these places totally inaccessible paints a different reality; this makes places ungoverned, the locals as thieves that will strip down any outsider at the first opportunity. The people in the townships are, in fact, as the rest of the people you meet in Cape Town: they are friendly, respectful and approachable to strangers. As with any community, there are those youngsters, jobless youth and gang members, who thrive on these opportunities to make money. But even those will not touch you if you are in a public places. The locals themselves are under constant threats from these kinds of people, sadly. The only difference that I see going to into the ghettos in NY or Seattle at night is that poverty is more prevalent here and creates a lot more disparity….

But remember, this does not make the whole townships unsafe and therefore an excuse to make general statements about the community as unsafe for foreigners. Talk to any students from the US that have spent time in Cape Town, sadly, the majority of them, black or white, will not hesitate to continue perpetuating the general perceptions when they have mode no efforts to go there themselves. This is sad.

Part of it is that, I think, most of them are perfectly content in spending time partying, eating in Western style restraints, buying food in western style grocery stories, hanging with those people the meet in Observatory and call this a "Cultural Experience." By the way, these are activates unavoidable in almost any major city in Africa and there is nothing wrong with them. I have respect for people's definition of the term "Cultural" experience, which is often relative to their own social status and personal background at home, but it is no reason to dismiss the townships as unwelcoming place without no personal attempt is to immerse oneself and face a challenge of having a different "cultural experience" and realistically difference place. Part of it is that it is a lot easier to make those dismissive statements out of frustration than go on a difficult personal quest to face what often defines the majority of the South Africa population: black disparity.

I got carried away, but I shall write the taxi ride experience more…especially when going in an out of the townships. For now, lets just say that you might end up giving change, counting the money for the driver or opening and closing the door at every stop.

In the mean time, leave your feedback, questions and comments.

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(1) http://home.snu.edu/~dwilliam/f97projects/apartheid/Laws.htm

I am ready for the new school year

noreply@blogger.com (Yared Ayele) — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 14:45:00 +0000

The past two weeks here in Cape Town have been ready sweet. Since the new school year don’t officially start until next Wed (17 Jan), I have been just relaxing, checking out places, catching up with old friends, sleeping on a beach for hours and just reading whatever I decide stick around at home. Did I mentioned I have been eating at KFC like crazy – yes, you better believe it, KFC. The chicken is way BETTER here though!

Before I return to Seattle for graduation in June, I will be teaching computer literacy in a local high school and completing my research project on ICT and Sustainable Development. Isilimela Secondary School has partnerships with the UW CHID program and Roosevelt High School's Hands For Bridge program and Shoreline Community College in Seattle. Isilimela Secondary school is located in Langa Township just outside of Cape Town. For those who don’t know much about the townships of South Africa, they are past informal settlements where the old apartheid government used to force black people to live separate from the whites.

Across South Africa, today these have turned into contemporary urban ghettos where people live in harsh conditions compare to the white population and new emerging black middle class. Langa is the closest and one of the oldest townships in Cape Town area and it is vibrant community. Visit the Shoreline Community college website to read about Langa:

http://www.international.shoreline.edu/StudentExperience/SouthAfrica/townships.html
http://www.international.shoreline.edu/StudentExperience/SouthAfrica/highschool.html

I will primary be spending my days working at the Isilimela Computer lab, teaching students basic computer skills…with the primary focus of promoting technology as a medium of communication and youth empowerment. This is the same school that I spent some time teaching technology in 2004.

Isilimela students in 2004.

In addition, I will be helping with a project at another school located in a coloured township called Kraaifontain—about 1 hour away from the center of Cape Town. I visited the school last week and I was just surprised how much different it is from Isilimela in term of infrastructure, the state of the computer lab, etc.

An organization from Seattle called Bridges to Understanding will be doing a project here in the next months and the school is also selected to partner with Washington Middle School in Seattle. Six students from Hector Peterson Secondary school will be selected to come to Seattle to participate in project focused in promoting intercultural and interracial dialog and understanding. Those of you students at UW, you should look out for a class to be offered in the spring by the Comparative History of Ideas (CHID) department. In addition to attending lectures, you will help facilitate discussion about race, differences and reconciliation at the Washington Middle School when the South Africa students arrive. This project was success last year with Archbishop Desmond Tutu delivering a keynote speech at Washington Middle School. Check out these links:

Keynote Address by Archbishop Desmond Tutu: http://depts.washington.edu/coe/news/video/tutu.html (Short Video)

I will be helping out with some technology training at Hector Peterson and sure will spending a lot of time at the Computer lab.

Obviously, I am super excited about this opportunities and ready for the new school year to start! Keep checking back for more updates and commentaries about news and things that going here.

If you want to read what I feel about technology and its impact of sustainable development in Africa and its role in promoting dialog and empowering youth, read my blog at http://youhearditnow.org

Happy New Year - 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Yared Ayele) — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 12:25:00 +0000

Only a few hours into 2007, I am already excited about the many things that are awaiting for me in the new year. I am going to be traveling for most of the year; I will be in South Africa for a few months before heading back to the US and then East Africa (Rwanda, Kenya, Ethiopia...)

Since I am going to be on the road, I thought I would keep an online blog to share my adventures with the world! I would also have time, I think, to reflect on many things that are of interest to me, such as information, technology, development, peace, conflicts, education, and even a little bit world politics.

So...visit often!

Best wishes for 2007!