Ethiopia for dummies – Part 3/ Internet ( And how the Skype ban affects me)

I know I haven’t updated in weeks. This post was written a while back but not completed and with the recent uproar over the ban on Skype and its bretheren in Ethiopia, it seems an appropriate topic to pontificate on.

 When I was web surfing in Delhi for details on internet quality in Ethiopia ( I fully appreciate the irony ) I came across a lot of scary blog entries with facts like Ethiopia has the third worst internet in the world and a number of common social networking sites are banned etc. In fact since this blog is hosted by Blogspot, I actually wrote to their customer support to check whether I would still have access from Addis. They never replied but I have my answer now. I am unsure of the legal issues or the level of government sanctions still prevailing, so I can only write on the current internet situation as perceived by a non-tech savvy foreigner. The first thing to be noted is that there are no private players in the telecom or internet sectors and all services are provided by the government agency, Ethio-telecom or etc.

First – Internet access.

There are two ways to activate personal internet service. The first is by purchasing a plug in modem. EDVO wireless internet was introduced end of 2009 and offers a speed up to 3.1 MBs and you pay per bite. It requires a modem from a computer/phone store or the Ethio-Telecom office and costs around 2000 Birr(112 $ or 6500 Rs). The ‘limited data plan’ EVDO service (400-700Kb/s) provides three options: a 1 GB internet access for Birr 300 monthly payment, a 2 GB internet access for Birr 500 monthly payment, and a 4 GB internet access for Birr 700 monthly payment. In the recent past, Ethio Telecom provided unlimited EVDO that apparently was often used in Internet cafés but this is no longer available.

The EVDO modem

We use the EVDO modem with a 2 GB limit. Practically we need to recharge with 500 Birr at the beginning of the month which suffices for all normal internet surfing. We obviously keep downloads to the minimum but usually set a download on the last day of the month to use up all the credit. Needless to say, any money left at the end of the month does not carry over to the next and a fresh recharge of 300/500/700 Birr is necessary.

The Ethio-Telecom website is advertising that ADSL connections are now available with a 6 GB limit and up to 2 Mbps speeds. The pre-requisite is an available landline. I think they have just started offering this service and I don’t know of anyone availing this service at the moment.   

The second way to access the net is on your smartphone or notepad with a 3G Sim card. Though normal mobile Sim cards are dime a dozen  and regularly thrust in your face by hawkers on the street, 3G Sim cards are difficult to obtain. I first tried one out loaned by a friend, realized it worked well and then bugged my office until they obtained one for me. To the best of my knowledge,3G Sim cards are available only from the Ethio-telecom office at the Piassa. Normal Sim cards cost around 25 Birr (80 Rs/1.5$) while the 3G Sim cards cost around 200 Birr (650 Rs/ 11$)

The internet connectivity is good on most smartphones, I am using an iPhone while my husband has a Samsung Ace. I also have various news and entertainment apps ( Fashion Police, anyone?) to surf the web other than Google, all of which are fast enough to be functional. I think it goes without saying that we don’t have too many patients and I have far too much time on my hands.   

I have a prepaid connection so I have to recharge by buying a 20/50/100 Birr card and entering the relevant code. I don’t think the 3G Sims are used very commonly because it is working out to be really cheap.      

Update – In case you have no interest in things Ethiopia, you may have not heard this piece of stunning news. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18461292. I had downloaded some now unmentionable apps which let me call any phone number in India for a small fee. A payment of 13€ (20$/1000Rs) enabled unlimited calls to any mobile or landline in India. I was able to send a continuous stream of photos and videos of Vihaan to appease the grandparents. I could even send clinical photos to colleagues for a quick consultation. 

Hourly updates on the Vihaan channel

Now that these easy breezy means of communication are a thing of the past, a feeling of glum depression is settling in. Freedom is a right appreciated only when denied. Homesickness may be a palpable reality now that I can no longer call my mother at the drop of a hat to confirm a Sambhar recipe or a senior to ask the best way to sterilize iris hooks. Suddenly the scorching heat of Delhi doesn’t seem so bad and Ethiopia seems much more remote from home than a six hour flight.  

Reading,Riting and Rithmetic

I can’t believe this day is here already but my baby starts school tomorrow. Admittedly the day of leaving the nest, even if only for a couple of hours, has been preponed by our Addis Ababa move. Back in Delhi, I might have waited till he turned two before unleashing Vihaan on the world. Although I used to feel rather guilty about not providing him more company his age there as well. One of the advantages of living in huge housing boards is that your kid can create his own band of brothers just by stepping into the common playground, an advantage denied to me both in Delhi and in Addis. So basically I am going to pay a huge amount of money to get my son the companionship which I could get 30 years ago by venturing into the colony and my mom could get 60 years ago by venturing out of bed. Just to give you an idea of scale, my medical education was cheaper than Vihaans playschool.

Time to braid his hair

A few sentences of defence. Yes, Vihaan is too terribly young to actually start school but he really enjoys the company of other children or “Beby” as he puts it and I hope he will miss the 1001 people pampering him at Delhi a little less if he is busy. Also his social skills are a trifle cave man like at the moment consisting of random poking and shoving and hoarding of precious “taupies”. I am perfectly willing to send him to a clean ( and cheaper ) neighbourhood crèche but unfortunately, the number of establishments willing to take a child this young are few. Also, we really, really, really  liked this place. Also my school fees was Rs.5 a month so I have to compensate to the universe in general.We’ve decided to let him attend this playschool for a few months and to take a call on shifting him to a less premier institution once he turns two and more socially acceptable. 

I will detail more on the playschools I have explored in Addis Ababa once the experiment is underway. To the next eighteen years of education !

Too early for the arclights

Footnote : The first day was a huge success. Vihaan immediately waded into the toddler melee clutching his tiger soft toy and did not look back till it was time to leave three hours later. I realized that it was the first time he has ever been out of sight of a family member for any length of time and the first time I couldn’t get a detailed account of his activities. My nanny is lovely but has limited English skills. I could elicit that both of them had fun, that there were children younger than Vihaan as well in his group and that he pulled a child’s hair during the course of the morning. So, we will be back in school on Friday if they are willing to have him. Maybe the fee isn’t too steep after all.  

Last minute chaos

Vihaan and Vishals mom are due to arrive tomorrow by Ethiopian airlines. The trip has been planned for weeks, the tickets bought, a three month visa obtained and endless packing and re-packing done. And now we are keeping a midnight vigil and biting our fingers to the bone because Vishals mom packed the authorization letter for travelling with Vihaan in her suitcase which has been checked in.She can't clear immigration without the letter so we have mailed her another copy which Rahul is taking franctic copies of, as I type. The best laid plans of mice and men...... 

Addis Ababa for dummies – Part 2 / Crime

It is probably not fair for me to comment on the crime levels in Addis after being here for less than a month. What I write is mostly based on anecdotes of long time residents and how safe I feel walking on the streets. I lead an extremely sheltered life here, we live just off Bole Road which is Expat Central and the hospital we work in is one minutes walk away.

I feel reasonably safe walking around the main streets during the daytime. I don’t get harassed too much by the begging kids either because I am not obviously faranji. The constant advice we have received is to be wary of pickpockets and mobile-jackers. And to never talk on the phone on the street. The common technique is for a man pillion riding on a bike to shove you hard from behind and then to grab the mobile which falls down from your hand. Unfortunately, this has meant that I have been able to take very few candid street photos till now. Maybe we are being too cautious but obviously don’t want to take a chance. Recently I heard of another mishap – two Indian guys were returning home from a party around midnight. They parked their car outside their house and one of them got out to unlock the gate. A man hiding in the shadows jumped out and assaulted him, grabbed his laptop and phone and fled. The victim had to be rushed to a hospital in the middle of the night for stitches on his scalp. This was probably a one off incident but still scary.

The Indian community in Addis seems to be well settled and set on rapidly augmenting their numbers both by breeding and importing family members from India. The ladies also have tales of visiting the dreaded Merkato market to hunt down elusive Indian ingredients.Though Ethiopia is a virgin market and business oppurtunities are numerous, I am sure this would not supercede their concern for personal safety, so overall,that is a good indicator of the safety profile.

My sorry-ass photo of Merkato taken from INSIDE  the car

I went to the Merkato as well. Unfortunately my escorts were as lily-livered as me and we all pussy footed around the periphery, ran our errand and were back before you could count to ten.

Ethiopian women also seem to have a great deal of freedom, they travel by public transport and are walking and driving on the streets even late at night. Public transport, especially the ubiquitous minibus seems really safe, if cramped and are extremely cheap. I haven’t experimented with late night taxis till now but they are supposed to be a good option. 

  

I have heard it repeated again and again that serious crime is rare in Addis and only petty thefts are common. However, all the houses have a high stone compound wall topped with barbed wire or glass shards. I assume they are there for a reason. Also I am not terribly comfortable with the ubiquitous chat shops in every neighbourhood. I am of course, more used to the Indian attitude towards intoxicants of all types – it is indoctrinated in our systems that alcohol is an evil consumed by bad people which makes them do bad things – like wife beating ! Horror! Shudder! And the liquor shops comply by having forbidding  barred windows whence they stealthily dispense unidentifiable bottles securely wrapped in brown paper. {( Whence? Really?) and who passed the colour coding laws – Alcohol in brown paper and feminine personal hygiene products in black plastic packets} And the customers comply by approaching the shops in an appropriately furtive manner, obtaining the aforementioned wrapped bottles and slinking into a dark basement “ Government licensed Permit Room with A/C” – And the villagers throw stones at them! 

Compare this to the Addis Ababa way where come sundown you gather at the neighbouring watering hole for a few hours of meditative chewing and gentle hallucinating while watching the world go by. No wonder my gentle Hindu soul shudders. Kidding, love the 8 Birr beers which are EVERYWHERE.   

For now I am going to continue with the routine precautions, give a wide berth to the chat chewers and I bet I’ll still lose my phone six months down the line once I let my guard down.  

Easter Lunch

Lambs to the slaughter - literally!

Easter was last Sunday and I still haven’t posted about it which means my laziness is now pathological. I have only one thing to say about Easter in Addis Ababa – The Goats Die! From Good Friday onwards there was a goat invasion of Addis with herds of them in every market, even grazing on the grass growing on the road divider on Bole Road. Apparently they cost around 2000 Birr per goat. The chicken cost between 50-200 Birr with the prices being hiked up for Easter. One of the English newspapers had an amusing headline on Monday protesting the steep prices ‘Doro-What??’- a pun on Doro-Wot  which is an Ethiopian chicken dish. I understand Amharic puns now. Clap, clap. Although if you consider that the majority of the readers are probably expats whose Amharic is as sketchy as mine, then  reporter was probably just playing to our limited intellect. 

Grab a plate

When we arrived at our hosts house, the goat had already been butchered and the meat was marinating for the barbeque.The raw meat did make me squeamish as expected and I did not try it, but  even hardened non vegetarians steer clear of it so thats ok. The Ethiopian chilli pastes taste really good and are definitely not too spicy for the Indian palate.  I am developing a taste for Injera but not the wots.I think it will taste rather good with a curry instead. Will report on the experiment.

The more conventional way to eat the meat

Residence Permit

My Green Card!

Both my residence and work permit are here and not a day too soon as my one month Business visa expires today. Strangely enough the Ethiopian embassy in Delhi issues visas starting from the date of application for the visa and not the date of arrival in Ethiopia,so you have to time your departure well. For example, my mother in law and Vihaan arrive in Addis on the 3^rd of May ( Yay!) and she returns on the 26^th of May. Therefore, I’ve asked them to apply for a visa after the 26^th of April so she will be well within the specified period. The other option is to of course, get a visa on arrival which is possible for Indian citizens. But I don’t want her to stand in an additional line with Vihaan who will definitely be uppity and jumpity and probably poopity pants by then. The visa on arrival is definitely an option I’ll explore when my mother arrives as she will be travelling alone.

In other news, tomorrow is the Ethiopian Good Friday and the following Sunday is Easter. This would also mark the end of the fasting season. Selfishly, we were rather grateful that we arrived when the general populace was fasting because getting vegetarian food was easier. And we never had to explain what vegetarian food was, we just asked for fasting food. This actually consists of vegan fare as it is dairy free as well but works well enough for us. Come Sunday it is going to be every man for himself. Our social calendar is surprisingly full as we are invited both to an Easter lunch and a Tamil Sangamam event to celebrate the Tamil New Year.

I still haven’t figured out why there are so many Tamilians in Addis Ababa. Geographically, it is more distant without even a direct flight and yet..I did read that the erstwhile Emperor Haile Saillasie recruited teachers from Kerala to work in the state government run schools and Universities, so are the Tamilians part of that connection? Currently, I have to admit they are utilizing the business oppurtunities well and are rushing to meet the demands of a developing economy. Most people have established business interests other than the salaried job for which they originally came here.  And although they complain about the living conditions and food, they have also relocated entire extended families here.  It will be interesting to find out the rest of the story. As for the Easter lunch, I am steering clear of the kitfo.

Addis Ababa for dummies – Part 1 / Drinking water

As I’ve mentioned multiple times previously, there is very less information about moving to Addis Ababa on the net. There were a couple of decent blogs which gave a realistic picture of life here but I still had a lot of stuff I knew nothing about. This basically means I carted along a whole load of woollen warmers and cooking utensils when I would have been better off getting more formal wear for the hospital and electronic devices.

In India, it would be an understatement to say that the standard of hygiene where street food and drink are concerned is extremely poor. You know that scene in Slumdog Millionaire where the kids fill tap water in empty mineral water bottles, re-seal and sell them, that may not be too far from the truth. I know of Caucasians who have developed unrelenting gastroenteritis after eating a plate of Gol-Gappa ( Delhi Belly anyone? ) However, as a true child of the land I pride myself on my cast iron stomach and can easily enjoy the many culinary delights of Chandni Chowk without so much as an extra gurgle in my GI passage. In all fairness, I also need to disclose that we have no running water in my locality and a tanker delivers  water of undetermined origin as frequently as we need it. We run this tanker water through a Reverse-Osmosis water purifying system and drink that. Pretty horrifying when you actually think about it.

Despite this background, imagine the extent of cultural snobbery when I decided that perhaps the water in Addis may not be safe enough for me and actually spent some considerable effort in trying to obtain a water purifier which can be fitted on to the tap. Thus even the water I used for brushing and washing would be safe to an extent. I would of course use mineral water for drinking and cooking. In my defense, I have an eighteen month old son to worry about and I’d read lots of blogs where people were peeling and washing all vegetables in bleach before consuming them. Also, I had a lot of time on my hands.

In reality,my house in Addis has 24 hour running hot and cold water. The water looks really clean and tastes good and lathers well. Locally manufactured mineral water is freely available in the usual 1 Litre, 2 Litre as well as 20 Litre containers for household consumption. There are multiple brands of water available,of which I randomly selected the Aqua Addis at the supermarket. You have to pay an initial deposit of about 230 Birr ( 700 Rs ) for the 20 L container but the empty one can be exchanged for a new one for 25 Birr ( 75 Rs ).  I am currently drinking the mineral water but use the normal corporation supplied water for all other purposes including cooking with no ill effects. I guess the Indian and Ethiopian immune systems share a common pool of antibodies for water borne pathogens or maybe they are generic third world antibodies. Full disclosure – my son has been vaccinated against Hepatitis A, the pathogen which commonly causes jaundice, before coming here.

As I’ve mentioned previously, I write this blog in fragments as and when I have time. And a day after I finished writing the above section the water supply suddenly stopped and we had no water for two days. Franctic enquiry revealed that a water supply pipe had been broken during road construction and no one had any information to how long it would take to repair it. The less said about those two days, the better except we discovered a new restaurant in the vicinity with great cheese pizzas.In Delhi, we have huge plastic water storage containers for just such eventualities but we were caught completely unawares here. We remedied that soon after and bought this plastic water can which should be able to store enough water for a day.

These water storage cans are available in Addis in all hues and sizes and their very presence indicates that water cuts are not an unusual occurrence.Our house also has a overhead water storage tanker which buffers us for a day, so actually there was no water for three days. I saw the familiar sight of water tankers parked on the road for replenishing the tanks, at an exorbitant rate of course. That is one aspect of Delhi which I am glad to forget and am fervently praying this was an isolated event.