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Update - 25th September 2005

FUN FROM THE FIELD 9
Hi Again,
When I get off the local bus there is always a group of young folk rushing to the bus in the hope of carrying your parcels to earn some money. Little tots from about four years to the bigger boys of about fourteen. I must admit that I have a favourite. Perhaps it is because he reminds me of one of my grandsons whom I miss very much. Anyway my ‘ragamuffin’ usually waits outside of the little shop, also situated very strategically for me on my route home, where I buy my mai (water), in packs of six and most of the other necessities of life, bani (bread) muz (bananas), oranges, dinish (potatoes), soap, pasta and so on AND chocolate biscuits. So my ragamuffin, who is probably about eleven or twelve years old carries my pack of water on his shoulder and a bag in the other hand and off we go.

School had just started and I wondered if my helper would be going to school. But no he was there during school hours still dressed in his ragged clothes. He is very thin so his long trousers tend to sag around his hips. I still haven’t discovered his name. He only says “chow” when he leaves me. I have asked my lady friends in the shop about him but they don’t know so when there is an opportunity I will ask one of my work colleagues for his story.

Always exciting things happening here. A couple of weeks ago I started scratching my head. I thought ‘Oh No’. There is always the danger of getting those little things crawling around making a home in your hair - not uncommon in these parts. I asked a young lass at work what I should do. She said she would buy me something. It turned out to be paraffin oil which I had to rub into my hair and leave for three to four hours before washing. So I chose a day when I could work at home on my computer but alas it was also a day when I had constant knocks on my door from people at work who were wanting certain things. It must have been rather alarming for them to confront this apparition with hair plastered down with paraffin oil and boy do you know how hard it is to wash out paraffin oil. All seems to be well now although I don’t really know for sure if it was little creatures or not. Other work colleagues told me the itching is due to the hardness of the water. We shall see.

During the past week we had a Media Workshop to launch the Awareness Raising Campaign on Disability. There is a Committee organizing events and activities to celebrate the International Day of the Disabled on December 3rd. I was asked to give a presentation on our findings as a result of the situational assessment we have been doing relating to disability in Tigray. It was possibly an awakening for many of the people present as our findings have highlighted the rather big gaps about what is being done and what is not being done. We have no accurate figures of how many people with disabilities are in Tigray and what are the categories of disabilities. Last known census indicated about 94,000 (some years ago). I would estimate it could be double as huge groups such as the mentally retarded (common name in Ethiopia - not intellectually impaired), psychiatric patients, severely disabled and so on do not appear to have been included in most of the data collection that has been done. There are only four schools for children with special needs (providing for about 200 blind and deaf) although another two to three are going to start soon. In one zone alone (six zones in Tigray) it was reported that there were over 1,240 children with disabilities. The list goes on and on so there are great areas of need.

There are positive aspects like the development of Associations for People with Disabilities. At least nineteen Regional Associations and Branches have been formed (Deaf, Blind, Ex-Leprosy, Physically Disabled). Some really great people involved but the Associations are in the very early stages of evolving and need considerable technical and financial support. One big omission to date is an Association for Mentally Retarded Children and Youth. There is a National Association and we are planning for a Regional Association to be started in Tigray. There are no formal facilities for the mentally afflicted and oh my goodness there are thousands here in Tigray. Lots of work ahead!!!!

Until next time - take care.
Helen.
25th Sept. 2005