Celebrity spotting in Addis Ababa

Tuesday 7th October

I took the morning flight from Dire Dawa to Addis Ababa. I was struck by how much more expensive Addis is than elsewhere. A taxi ride that cost 5 birr in Dire Dawa cost about 40 birr in the capital. I went for a swim in the Hilton Hotels pool before meeting Dr Abye from Addis Ababa University. The pool was gorgeous but far from refreshing - it was scorching hot! It was almost too hot to get into, hotter than the average bath!

I met Dr Abye in the Hilton's garden. To my surprise he pointed Haile Gebreselassie dining with an acquaintance! It's not every day you see a world famous athlete, so I was rather pleased with this celebrity spot. Dr Abye talked about organising a group of Deans from the university to visit Reed Training in London to improve their management, finance, communication and team working skills. It looks likely that Ethiopiaid will finance two weeks of training for these Ethiopian academics.

We also talked about how Ethiopiaid could facilitate a link between Addis Ababa University and Royal Holloway University in the UK and discussed their current funding requirements.

As I was leaving I bumped into the same guy from the German charity 'Menschen fuer Menschen' that I had met a few days earlier at Dire Dawa airport! The NGO world is pretty small. I went for a wonder around town and got a little frustrated at the number of Ethiopian students who wanted to accompany me around town to practice their English. I just managed to lose one when another would appear! I delved into some souvenir shops around the Nigeria Street area and ended up with a bag of treasures - wood carvings, drums, decorated wooden combs and paintings on goat skins amongst other things.