Life in Dembi Dollo (or The Summer I Lived with Nuns)

"The weather here is quite erratic.  Just like my mind."

-Sister Evelyn [The weather in Dembi Dollo typically shifted from sunny to stormy and back to sunny again within a matter of minutes.  Sister Evelyn typically shifted from serious and business-minded to silly and random within a matter of seconds.] 

The town of Dembi Dollo lies near the western edge of Ethiopia in the province of Oromia, and is one of the major coffee producers for the country.  It is home to a largely Oromo population who speak Afan Oromo, the fourth most spoken language in Africa, as their primary language and Amharic, the national language of Ethiopia, as their secondary language.  Due to Dembi Dollo's elevation over 5,500 feet above sea level, the weather changes rapidly and at times giant clouds envelop the town in a giant mist.  The average household salary is not particularly high, and most families can only afford to eat meat about four times a year.

The Daughters of Charity, with whom Dr. Thomas and Tropical Health Alliance Foundation have partnered, live in a compound in the Danka district of Dembi Dollo.  They've had as guests the founder of Toms Shoes, the son of a prominent actor on "24," and many other less famous but equally, if not more, humanitarian-minded people.

the compound (my room is the second window from the right)

Water-collecting tanks funded in part by THAF

Sister Kaffa and Sister Evelyn on the way to visit some neighbors

A surefire way to jumpstart a conversation here in Dembi Dollo is to bring up the quality of the roads.  Though I enjoy the unpaved nature of the roads here, which are alternately like the Indiana Jones ride when dry and like a muddy Slip-n-Slide when wet, most residents of the town can hardly bear it.  In fact, most of the major roads in the rest of Ethiopia are now paved, save for the majority of the province of Oromia here in Western Ethiopia.  Though the Oromo people are, population-wise, the majority in the country, they have little power politically, and they view the poor quality of the road as emblematic of the injustices perpetrated on them by the governing Amhara and Tigray people from the north.

building a road in town

abandoned Shell gas pumps

dogs often sleep in the middle of the road, oblivious to cars nearly running them over

old car parts on the side of the road

Kids and teenagers can often be found along the roadside playing foosball and ping pong.  I didn't realize until after I had been playing with them for a week that I was supposed to be paying each time I played.

the Dembi Dollo "cinema"

the Dembi Dollo supermarket

A billboard urging people not to practice female genital mutilation

Wednesdays and Saturdays are market days, when people from near and far descend on the city center to sell and purchase goods from coffee to high heel shoes to live chickens.

The smells of animal feces, various spices, and body odor combine in the marketplace to produce an overwhelming, to say the least, olfactory experience.

woman at the market selling butter in mini ice cream cones

This woman was actually very happy when I showed her the picture I had taken.  The baby, on the other hand, was still terrified of falling.

Ethiopian cuisine initially reminded me of Indian food, as both offer various curry dishes, lentils, and flat bread- injeera for Ethiopians and naan for Indians.  Some of the more well-known meat dishes include doro wat, chicken and eggs cooked in a spicy curry-like sauce, and tibs, which is sort of an umbrella term to describe many varieties of grilled meats.

A typical meal at the compound- noodles, beans, and lentils

Though breakfasts at the compound typically consist of pancakes or fresh pita bread, the Ethiopian dish "fir-fir," or scrambled injeera, is also served.  My favorite discoveries thus far have been the deep-fried foods, including samosas, deep-fried leaves, and fried potato slices.

fried leaves dipped in batter

Everyday around 10 am in clinic, we have tea time, with all the staff convening in the break room to sip tea loaded with sugar and munch on deep-fried balls of dough.

"biscuits"- aka extra-fried doughnuts

One afternoon, Mario, a medical resident who just finished his intern year, and I had a chance to help prepare injeera by pouring out the injeera batter onto the pan to cook it.  We quickly discovered that we needn't quit our jobs to become injeera cooks, as it was quite difficult to pour the concentric circles which form the injeera without leaving any gaps.

Another afternoon, I had an opportunity to witness a Toms Shoes distribution at the church across the street from the compound.  Large white bags of shoes had arrived from their manufacturer for distribution to the various groups who would then venture far out into their communities to distribute the footwear to children who lacked them.

Despite its quirks, Dembi Dollo has a certain charm that only a town with bumpy, unpaved roads and misty, fog-filled days can.  And at the end of the day, the nuns' compound is a nice place to find some rest after a long day's work.