Posted by Chris & Jodi under
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Yesterday I found myself on a plane to Ethiopia. Although it had been in the pipeline for a while it turned out to be all very last minute – only booking the flight on Monday. As it turned out I was on the same flight as Miah – a good friend who is leaving Uganda to start a PhD at Oxford. She was on her way back to South Korea for a month before university starts. We weren’t sitting together as she was next to her mum who had come to Uganda to make sure she returned home!! Well that’s the reason Miah gave us anyway.
I found myself sat next to two young, spoiled Ugandan boys (I will call them boys as they definitely acted like it and they can’t have been more than 15). It turned out to be unbearable.
Before take off they downed miniature bottles of Jack Daniels and threw the almost empty bottles on the floor, which meant all I could smell for the rest of the flight was alcohol. Still before take off they were demanding beer and then food from the flight attendants. During take off the one next to me stretches right across me to see out the window and tells me he lives in a big house by the lake, as if that would impress me. I put my headphones in and try to watch Confessions of a Shopaholic – talk about escapism. No such luck – I then get a tap on my shoulder, I take one ear plug out and scawl at the boy. Not getting my subtlety he asks if we can talk. I want to say no and get back to my film but I don’t. He introduces himself and then says, “I can’t help but notice that you have a ring, are you married because you look too young.” To which I say, “Yes I’ve been married 6 years and I’m a lot older than you think.”
Fed up ~ I go and find Miah. We chat about the OVC programme I have come to Ethiopia to support as she had just been here a few months ago. Time flys as we chat and in no time the plane lands in Addis. There are only 5 people getting off the plane as it is proceeding to Dubai. Miah escorts me to the plane door where we say our goodbyes. I was actually quite emotional. Miah has been one of my closest friends over the past few years and although we are completely different, in some ways we think exactly the same and have the same approach to our work. I will definitely miss her. In this kind of work you never know if your paths will cross again.
So as I leave the plane, tears in my eyes I feel very alone. I am the only one at immigration so it doesn’t take long to go through. Coming out of the airport I was looking for name on a card as I was told the hotel would pick me up. But to my surprise and great relief, Woubi, a colleague from the Ethiopia office had accompanied the driver to welcome me. It was just what I needed at the time and snapped me out of my sadness.
After a nice chat with Woubi he dropped me at the hotel and explained the plan for the week (which by the way is non-stop from now till Wednesday, they want to get the most out of me with not even a break over the weekend!) I go down to the reception and try to order some dinner to have in my room. While I am ordering, a sleazy Italian tells me if I can’t decide what to have he would happily take me out to the town and show me a good time. I politely decline and return to my room to wait for the room service. The sleazy guy incident makes me feel alone again and I find solace in Garfield the movie – something under other circumstances I would never consider watching, but that actually make me forget the annoying drunk kids on the plane, the sleazy guy downstairs and the fact that Miah is now back in South Korea. It is a strange life I lead.