Martin's Ethiopian VSO Diary
and Photos
I created this web site for my friends to read about my experiences
as a VSO volunteer in Ethiopia. If
you have found this page by accident or searching, then I hope that you
find it interesting. If you would like to use any
of the images then please ask me first because I did not take all of
the photos. You can contact me at martin@martinjones.net
You can find links to the diary entries and the photos in the navigation
bar in the left frame. Although the diary entries have photos connected
with them, you will find that the photo section contains many more
photos.
If you're not sure what a VSO volunteer is then please check
VSO's website for a complete
description. If you just want a quick definition, then a volunteer
is normally a well qualified individual who volunteers to work in
a developing country for two years. The volunteer will live like a
local and will be paid a local salary. Actually, because of VSO's
country wide salary policy, my salary was about a third of
a local person doing the work for which I was recruited.
My personal placement was in a town called Mekelle in the northern
region of Ethiopia called Tigray. I was assigned to a technical
institute called Mekelle Institute of Technology (MIT) as a computer
science lecturer for degree level students. I arrived in Ethiopia
in February, 2003 and left in March, 2005.
The diary entries present the
ups, downs, and some of the things I found interesting. I have not
made all of the
information available on the web; friends can request the complete
versions.
In the background you can see coffee drying.
Coffee is an important export for Ethiopia (it is named after the Kaffe
region). Green, yellow, and red are the national colours.
Martin Jones (martin@martinjones.net), 18th March 2005
and Photos