Nearing the finish line....

Jumping ahead several weeks from our boat trip, (as I forgot to post the boat blog until now) we are in the final stages of creating our land use plan. Having hosted three community development workshops, our fourth, final, and by far the largest workshop will take place this Tuesday. We have invited members from local community groups and are attempting to engage individuals from all backgrounds. Counting by the invites sent out, we are hoping this meeting will reach around 75 attendants. Through this presentation, we are hoping to receive feedback on the plan we have created which means we need to have most of it finished by next week. Lucky us though, it is in amheric so it will be facilitated and presented by the mayors office. Tick tock, I suspect that most evenings this week will be spent planning with Kystie around the table of our new tiny red kitchen.

Bahir Dar Boating

Bright and early we are waiting in the garden of the Ghion hotel; the launching point of our survey boat trip of the Bahir Dar waterfront. Birds chirp around us as they move through the vibrant flowers of the impeccable maintained garden. Jacaranda trees shed their blossoms into a carpet of purple as Ethiopian patrons sit on the terrace enjoying their morning macchiato. This restaurant may not have much in the way of food, but what keeps everyone returning time and time again is the garden; the perfect image of Bahir Dar.

This trip is designed to give us an overview of the area we are hoping our plan will help us protect. My CUI team has been invited to Bahir Dar by the Region Urban Planning Institute and the City Administration to help develop a sustainable waterfront development plan that will help guide Bahir Dar’s growth over the next 20 years. Heading out on the water we see huge white pelicans covering the islands around the wetland shores; fisherman in papyrus reed boats throw their nets out into the shallows and all along the shore; people are bathing and washing in the lake. The brush that lines the shore is covered by clothing and sheets lain out to dry in the hot sun. Environmental preservation and sustainability is one of our key goals with this project and the wetlands surrounding the lake are at the center of this. Providing not only animal and bird habitat, but also acting as a filter for pollutants in the lake, the wetlands survival is integral to the survival of Bahir Dar itself. Without them, the city will lose the beauty that it is famous for and along with it, its tourist industry.

Adventures on the public bus

5am finds us sitting on the wall outside our guesthouse. It is pitch black and even the roosters, the most notorious early risers, are still asleep. A few ghostly figures drift past us on their way to worship, shrouded in the white scarves of the Orthodox Church. We wait, craning our ears for the sound of a mini bus coming down our gravel road to snatch us out of the dark. It has been an amazing two days in Lallibella, visiting the rock hewn churches, true wonders of the ancient world, and hearing our guide spin history into legend and back again, mixing the facts with the grand stories of God and his followers descending and returning to heaven. King Lallibella built the New Jerusalem himself, with the help of God, in a mortally impossible length of time.

We continue to wait for our minibus, to no avail. We had confirmed the night before with a seemingly nice young man who promised he would be there the next morning. At 530 we have resigned ourselves to the fact that they may not be coming. Bad news as we need to be back in Bahir Dar for work the next morning. We rise in silence and begin the 2km trek to the central bus depot. Few people notice of us, some wish us good morning. Those up at 530 don’t much care to chat up the forenji women as they slog down the road. We finally reach the bus depot and the mood descended into mayhem. Five buses lined up at the gate, the only ones in the depot, all attempting to pull out and begin their journeys at the exact same time. “This way, this way!!” men yell, “where do you go???” We are hurried down the line and jostled onto an impossibly packed bus. “Something for your guide?!?!” One of the boys yells as he hangs out the back door of the bus and it begins to move. I hurriedly shove 10 birr in his hand and he drops to the ground. People are everywhere, standing in the ails and sitting on top of one another. A few unfortunate souls are forced to give up their seats for us. Those going the long haul get preference as we pay the most. And so the 12 hour, (what we thought would be a 5), journey begins. Ethiopian public bus is the mode of transport for those who cannot afford the minibus. Of our habusha friends we have spoken to since our return, the unanimous response to this story has always been “WHY did you do that????” THEY do not travel by public bus….

Three hours into our bus journey, we’ve covered the ground our minibus accomplished in one. Not a good sign. The three hour point also signalled our one and only bathroom and food stop for the entire journey. Get off the bus when you weren’t allowed and they’d pull away leaving you chasing them down the A small girl selling limes got on at one of our brief stops. While waiting for payment from her starving customers, the bus began to pull out. Rather than let her off, the back door operator slammed the door trapping her inside. As she pleaded and cried for escape, he covered her mouth. “You go to Bahir Dar” he said and laughed. The bus would have carried her all the way if it hadn’t been for the ferenjis screeching stop from the rear. People were sick and vomited on the floor, to which the response was simple: pour dirt on it. One unfortunate man who couldn’t hold his bladder anymore, relieved himself in the ail, standing and letting it run down his leg. In combination the violently ill woman on the seat beside me, doves in ankle chains chirping below me, and children relieving themselves into plastic bags, it made me wonder why everyone INSISTED on keeping the windows closed. Along the way we lost fellow travellers, driven off the bus by hunger and the promise of a clean (?) washroom. In the end, we survived, home in one piece and poured ourselves into bed long before dusk.

Reflecting on the day, we had an amazing adventure and experienced some true Ethiopian travel. But, as a final lasting souvenir, we were both violently ill the next day. No one gets off that easily…

Bahir Dar - Creating a Sustainable Vision & Waterfront Plan

Our CUI project team has been working in Bahir Dar for over a month now to collaborate with the City Administration & Regional Urban Planning Institute (RUPI) on a 10 Year Sustainable Vision & Waterfront Plan.

RUPI has provided us with guidance and background information and data, while our team has been managing the planning process. We have reviewed and prepared background research, identified issues and developed supporting goals, principles and design strategies to frame the project vision. It has been a multi-stage, stakeholder-driven, and design-based initiative marked by a number of public consultation meetings. Guided by the City’s previous Local Development Plan (LDP) and recent Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) targets, the project approaches development through the lens of sustainability – balancing the socio-economic needs of the waterfront community with that of the environment.

A successful planning process is grounded in a strong and reasonable set of goals and principles. In this plan the City of Bahir Dar & public stakeholders helped us establish a clear VISION: “to create a vibrant, livable and sustainable waterfront that provides for the social and economic needs of its people”. Through publicly approved municipal policy, consultation meetings and design charrettes, we then developed 5 fundamental principles to provide the logic for sustainable development. These principles represent simple but informative rules for the design of Bahir Dar’s waterfront, including but not limited to: (1) public access to the waterfront and its natural areas; (2) green, beautified and sanitary infrastructure & design; (3) mixed-use corridors; (4) appropriate housing and jobs for all; and, (5) access to urban-rural linkages.

A healthy Lakeshore & Riverfront ecosystem provides vital goods and services to the City of Bahir Dar. Given the growing ethic of sustainability, our CUI team is focusing on creating a Plan that looks at the greater City Waterfront Boundary and areas sensitive to development pressure. Through meetings with the Mayor & Cabinet, Government Officials, Experts, University Students and the general public, we are just in the midst of establishing clear strategies for the western, central & eastern edges of the Lake Tana & Blue Nile River Waterfront. The eastern wetland area, on the one hand, consists mostly of informal settlement, agricultural activity and fringes of development. The central Downtown Core, on the other, has high population density, continued investment opportunities and a threatened natural environment. The far western shore (surrounding the Abagerina Peninsula) shows yet another reality, one that is under-utilized and soon to experience development pressures from the expansion of the downtown core and fishing docks.

Once our team finalizes the 10 Year Vision & Waterfront Plan, it will only be useful if it assists the City to achieve the project’s goals and principles. The intent of the Vision is to serve as a useful, illustrative image of what the future might look like. It is also meant to guide planning by informing government policy and decision-making.

The question then remains in my mind – will the plan in fact guide government decision-making? I can’t wait to see.

Ciao from Bahir Dar!

Krystie

Journeying North to Bahir Dar and Lake Tana

Bahir Dar is the largest City and tourist centre in the Tana Region, lying on the Southern shore of Lake Tana and at the mouth of the Blue Nile River. Lake Tana is seen by many as a jewel and reflects the changing face of Ethiopia - a land of extreme juxtaposition where urban modernity meets ancient orthodoxy.

Meandering through the downtown core of Bahir Dar, you can get a taste of the bustling market and the underlying poverty. It is a crowded downtown filled with shoe shiners, street children playing with garbage, disabled people begging and reverent people resting at the gates of the St. Gyorgis Church. The market, rebuilt a few years ago by the Municipal government after an unfortunate fire, is full of life. Women, children, teenagers try to sell everything from fruits and vegetables to goatskin injera-holders and traditional shama cloth. Further down the main thoroughfare is an open piazza leading to the Lake Tana waterfront. Hundreds of people, young and old, rest by the water. They sit on the terraced patio and along the cobbled waterfront pathway. Young men bathe in the lake while papyrus tankwa’s sail passed in pursue of fish. Dotted island monasteries rise from the lake lines revealing the importance of Christianity in this area.

The Lake Tana waterfront and its landscaped corridors contrast sharply with the images of poverty, unemployment and squatting settlements. This is where a little service can go a long way to improve the lives of the vulnerable. For the next two months, our Canadian Urban Institute team has embarked on a journey away from Addis Ababa to support the city of Bahir Dar with an integrated Waterfront Development Plan.

We are working in partnership with Bahir Dar’s Mayor & the Urban Planning Institute to create a Waterfront Plan that balances the socio-economic needs of the people with that of the environment. This is an exciting project that requires a great deal of collaboration. We have already made inroads into the Bahir Dar University and its Department of Wetlands, Fisheries & Biology. We have also met people everywhere truly vested in the future of Bahir Dar’s waterfront development. While walking along the illegal farming and grazing settlements on the lakefront wetlands, we met so many children eager to be apart of our work.

This week we are (1) delineating the Physical boundary of our Plan and Special Focus Areas and (2) collaborating with the Mayor’s Office to lead consultation meetings with Sub-Sectoral Offices, Kebele Officials and (cross our fingers) key community members. With the Mayor’s guidance, many doors previously shut have been opened. As usual, though, timelines & deadlines are an ephemeral concept here in Ethiopia, constantly changing and evolving at a whim. We will just have to see how it goes. One thing I have learnt is this planning process must be owned by the City & its people for it to be successful… and this is my goal for the next few weeks.

Talk to you soon.

Ciao!

Krystie

Journeying North to Bahir Dar and Lake Tana

Bahir Dar is the largest City and tourist centre in the Tana Region, lying on the Southern shore of Lake Tana and at the mouth of the Blue Nile River. Lake Tana is seen by many as a jewel and reflects the changing face of Ethiopia - a land of extreme juxtaposition where urban modernity meets ancient orthodoxy.

Meandering through the downtown core of Bahir Dar, you can get a taste of the bustling market and the underlying poverty. It is a crowded downtown filled with shoe shiners, street children playing with garbage, disabled people begging and reverent people resting at the gates of the St. Gyorgis Church. The market, rebuilt a few years ago by the Municipal government after an unfortunate fire, is full of life. Women, children, teenagers try to sell everything from fruits and vegetables to goatskin injera-holders and traditional shama cloth. Further down the main thoroughfare is an open piazza leading to the Lake Tana waterfront. Hundreds of people, young and old, rest by the water. They sit on the terraced patio and along the cobbled waterfront pathway. Young men bathe in the lake while papyrus tankwa’s sail passed in pursue of fish. Dotted island monasteries rise from the lake lines revealing the importance of Christianity in this area.

The Lake Tana waterfront and its landscaped corridors contrast sharply with the images of poverty, unemployment and squatting settlements. This is where a little service can go a long way to improve the lives of the vulnerable. For the next two months, our Canadian Urban Institute team has embarked on a journey away from Addis Ababa to support the city of Bahir Dar with an integrated Waterfront Development Plan.

We are working in partnership with Bahir Dar’s Mayor & the Urban Planning Institute to create a Waterfront Plan that balances the socio-economic needs of the people with that of the environment. This is an exciting project that requires a great deal of collaboration. We have already made inroads into the Bahir Dar University and its Department of Wetlands, Fisheries & Biology. We have also met people everywhere truly vested in the future of Bahir Dar’s waterfront development. While walking along the illegal farming and grazing settlements on the lakefront wetlands, we met so many children eager to be apart of our work.

This week we are (1) delineating the Physical boundary of our Plan and Special Focus Areas and (2) collaborating with the Mayor’s Office to lead consultation meetings with Sub-Sectoral Offices, Kebele Officials and (cross our fingers) key community members. With the Mayor’s guidance, many doors previously shut have been opened. As usual, though, timelines & deadlines are an ephemeral concept here in Ethiopia, constantly changing and evolving at a whim. We will just have to see how it goes. One thing I have learnt is this planning process must be owned by the City & its people for it to be successful… and this is my goal for the next few weeks.

Talk to you soon.

Ciao!

Krystie

Ethiopian culture is beginning to present itself as a distinct contrast between the communal and the private. While so many things in Ethiopian life are approached with a shared mentality, others aspects are closely guarded secrets. Eating and meals are notably a communal experience. When sitting down for traditional food, you will be served on a single round plate, injera on the bottom and small portions of meat and vegetable dishes lumped around the side. Everyone eats from the central dish and traditionally use only their right hand. People have told us that they get more pleasure from this experience of sharing than from the food itself.
The idea of sharing is also applied to money in day to day life. As a foreigner, the begging and being constantly approached for money can be a touchy subject. In many countries I have visited, these advances are almost solely directed at those seen as visitors and as a result as extremely wealthy. In Ethiopia however, locals are approached and share their wealth often more freely than those of us not native to the country. As there are few support systems in place for the elderly for example, many individuals see it as their responsibility to share when they can with those in need. I have been told that it comes down to religion. In the west we are not obligated to share our wealth by the strong presence of the church. Here in Addis however, where so much of the population is Orthodox Christian, the concept of sharing what you have with those less fortunate than yourself is standard.

In contrast, the idea of sharing knowledge and information appears to exist at the opposite end of the spectrum. Having requested several forms of GIS data from several sources, I received almost none of it. None of the data was highly sensitive; in fact, none was data that I didn’t already possess. I only requested a newer version. In one case, I was given the information, but only on paper (entirely useless) and in another instance, I was flat out denied. Perhaps it is because guidelines for data sharing are so hazy; no one wants to break a rule that they are unsure exists. All in all though, it seems to be opposite the core cultural value of sharing what you have if you have more than others.

Necessities

A few weeks ago the government capped the price of beer, soft drinks, gas, bananas and other necessity items. (Yes, beer is a necessity item. Wine apparently is not because, “only ferenjis drink wine”.) Beers which used to cost up to 20 birr in restaurants has been set at 7, soft drinks have reduced from 12 to 4.50 and bananas have gone from 7 a kilo to 5. Not huge differences, but brought about partially we are told, by restaurants stock piling bottled drinks and other necessity items and holding on to them through inflation. Surprisingly, because of this new law, the police presence has sky rocked beyond any other country I have ever visited. The rule is being actively enforced and businesses that refuse to conform are being shut down at a rapid pace. On Wednesday, I was at a restaurant taking advantage of the free internet over dinner as we so often do. When we received our bill, we noticed Ambo (part of the crackdown) was still 14 birr. We paid, but shortly after were approached by a police officer and informed that we must leave immediately due to unrest in the restaurant. It wasn’t until later that we put two and two together. On my walk home today, police lined the streets (more than usual) and as we passed the main corner near our office, we saw crowds of people and police surrounding a store as the windows were boarded up with metal siding. The rule makes sense to me. In a country where so many people struggle for the means to feed themselves and inflation is causing prices to rise fast, I am glad to see the government actively combating the stocking piling of goods. For restaurants to purchase items at lower prices and then hold on to them through inflation means they can gouge the consumer even more. Keeping the prices down keeps the consumption up which keep jobs and economy going. As a friend stated the other day, keep the beer cheap and he will drink at the bar all night, raise the price and he will drink at home first for free.

Abromenor

“Abromenor” (living together) is an Addis-wide expression that reflects the Culture of sharing… and the undertones of struggle.

As a Community Development Planner in Addis, I have seen some of the highs and lows of “abromenor” and the challenges of participatory slum upgrading. At CUI we have been working with Addis Ketema Woreda 09 & Yeka Woreda 04. What many of the residents there love most about their slum is the generosity of their neighbors. What many hate, however, is the struggle to not just “live” but work together.

In November 2010, the City of Addis Ababa called for local Woreda Governments to mobilize citizens into Neighborhood Development Councils. This was an exciting time. Hundreds of community members from Addis Ketema Woreda 09 & Yeka Woreda 04 organized themselves into Councils, electing local leaders from each zone.
Since then, the neighborhood Councils have mobilized people to identify key problem areas, pool resources together and to draw upon consultants (such as CUI). While the Councils plan and debate development projects, the Woreda Government has been sitting on the sidelines. Local Officials have remained an overseeing eye, distant from the citizens and shaping Council leaders while dangling the carrot of 30-35% seed financing for successful projects.
In Yeka Woreda 04, our team has had a huge presence throughout this process - laying the framework for household surveys and leading focus group discussions, community planning consultations and Capacity building workshops. Mainly though, our team is in charge of pulling together the Community leaders ideas and visions into a cohesive plan… But throughout the process, there have been a few stumbling blocks in bringing people together.

For example, this past week we participated in a “Community Transit Walk”. Council leaders from each zone of Yeka Woreda 04 led us through the winding streets and dilapidated homes of their slum. We saw the insides of mud huts; sewer drains contaminating water pipes; overcrowded government housing; and families sharing 1 pit latrine with no bathing facility. Stigma was present everywhere; wealthy neighbors building barbed wire gates around their mansions to separate themselves from the poor.

The Transit Walk was an important step in engaging the Community and creating an interface between the Woreda, Council and people. Everyone came out to see what we were doing. Woreda Government Officials welcomed us into the Community. Council leaders led us through their homes. Families invited us into the far reaches of their kitchens, latrines and showers. We were sparking dialogues everywhere… But, when it came time for the Leaders to present their findings and vision to us afterwards, no one was to be found. The Neighborhood Council Chair did not even show up for the meeting. In that moment, the sense of “living together” was overshadowed by a lack of “working together”.

The meeting has since been rescheduled. I wonder though what gaps in collective engagement will emerge as we move forward. Will the community look to us to develop foreign-born Plans, ideas and resources? Will they fully collaborate with all sectors of society, from the government and private to the public and marginalized?
Planning by itself will not ensure Neighborhood Councils are successful in participatory upgrading. Therefore, the challenge of these slums will be to deal with, among other things, the capacity of the people to envision a better community, and to commit to working and communicating together. Only time will tell..

Krystie