CAFOD blog

We arrived at our hotel in a zombie-like state after a nine-hour flight via Amman.

As I fell into my bed I decided to worry about the possible threat of African creepy-crawlies some other time …Amazingly, I woke early and my first sight of Africa in daylight was in the hotel’s gardens.

Exotic flowers, palm trees and brightly-coloured birds shone in brilliant sunshine as I relaxed and wrote postcards for the morning.

In the afternoon Pauline, Janet and I were taken to the CAFOD/Trocaire/SCIAF joint office to meet the staff.

As we waited for our first meeting the heavens opened and hail rained down! It was most strange to see palm trees blanketed in white!

We sat in on an update about the current food crisis in Ethiopia. It was a real eye-opener to hear from the people in the field.

I had not realised how complex responding to a food crisis can be. It is not as simple as ordering food and giving it out to anyone who looks hungry.

There are so many relationships that need to be established, procedures that need to be in place to ensure  the right sort of food to gets to the right people, and that their future needs are also taken into account.

I left the meeting much more aware of the hard work being done by the joint office to support the Ethiopian government and local dioceses’ response to the food crisis.

In the evening we joined three other CAFOD staff for an Ethiopian meal with traditional music and dance.

The entertainment was fantastic. The food – a partly-fermented pancake called “Injera” – will take a bit more getting used to!

Off to Mekelle tomorrow at 4am.

Posted by KathleenOB

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