Ready or not...

Here we are again, it seems though I can hardly believe it myself.  I depart for Northern Ethiopia in four days to begin a two year contract with an organization that works with small farmers and regional governments in East Africa.  It feels as though I've only just touched back down in Toronto following 18 months in Indonesia, as friends and family are only too quick to point out.  Summer has slipped by with incredible speed, but looking back it was truly one of the best I've ever had.  Being unemployed was a mixed blessing, providing just enough stress to keep me motivated on the job search, while also pushing me to take advantage of the free time to truly soak up all that Toronto had to offer.  Concerts were seen, frisbees were thrown around parks, dance floors were torn up, lakes were jumped in, and all the while I tried to stay present and grounded in my appreciation for my network of incredible family and friends.

And yet, here we are again.  I first applied for this position in the spring at the suggestion of a friend who thought I'd be a good fit.  The hiring process was an incredibly thorough one involving a number of phone interviews as well as a trip to Africa over the course of about 4 months.

So lets set up the opening scene, the details as I currently understand them are as follows:

I am being hired to work on the government services team of a social enterprise in East Africa, the main mandate of which is to reduce hunger and poverty for small farmers in the region.  Founded in Kenya, the organization now has full scale operations in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania with pilot projects in a number of other countries in both East and West Africa, one of which will be the team I am joining in Ethiopia.  Programming focuses on different locally appropriate crops depending on where it is operating, and so my team will be focusing on tef (Eragrostis tef), a staple grain in Ethiopia.

I have been going back and forth about whether or not to try to keep a blog during my time away, especially after my attempts to do the same while living in Indonesia fell by the wayside partway through due to a potent combination of internet difficulties and laziness on my part.  I am hoping the availability of internet will be more consistent in Ethiopia, and still think there's inherent value in recording and sharing my experiences with anyone who might find them helpful.  For myself I also see it as an opportunity for self reflection and analysis, and as a way to share stories of the strange fruit, both metaphorical and literal, that I come across along the way