Hello all,

I’ve tried to write each of you large personalized emails, but have found this undertaking to be too ambitious in light of our training schedule and internet access. I’m now trying the group email approach so you will all get the same big picture, and then my individual emails to you can be less scattered and more precise. Thank you for your patience. Here goes…

The last few weeks have been very busy but also quite calming. I’ve been ramping up parts of my thesis with my advisor back home, becoming more comfortable with the culture and the language, learning to celebrate Thanksgiving with warm weather and no football, and most excitingly, we are getting ready to move from our training town to our 2 year “permanent” (Ethiopially speaking) town.

A few weeks ago Liz and I went with the other volunteers to Wancii (Juan-chee) Lake, a dormant volcano 40km (and many frightening, hairpin curves) north of Wolisso. We rode horses 4km to the bottom of the crater, explored the island monastery (Ethiopian Orthodox), and then rode back up. The landscape here was beautiful – picture a lush volcano crater filled with straw huts and unfamiliar vegetation (deep browns and greens) as far as the eye can see (pictures posted here on the blog). One of the indigenous plants here, called forest banana, is a huge leaf, which grows like a tree, and it looks like the object with which Cleopatra’s maids would have fanned her. Our trip to the lake was grand, and a beautiful escape from training. Liz and I also took a brief vacation from our home-stay family (for her 24th birthday), spending a night at the resort in our town, which was a hope-restoring picture of what life in a home to call our own will look like (starting Dec 15th, once we are officially sworn in as volunteers). We have loved the home-stay family we live, but are certainly restless to have a place to ourselves. This lack of privacy is a common thread of exhaustion among the fellow volunteers, but overall, we have been thankful for the experience with this family.

On November 13, three women PC volunteers and I went on a practicum visit to a local PLWHA (People Living with HIV/AIDS) Association, having been assigned a quick consultant gig regarding their income generating activities. This was the first meeting I’ve ever conducted being completely reliant on a translator (a PC language teacher we trust), and it was eye-opening in several ways. The association has over 130 members, and they also have a storeroom of high quality wooden furniture that some of their members have constructed. When we asked them how we could help, they told us they needed help planning the exposition (at which they want to present their furniture for the first time to the public). This caught us a bit off guard, “So you have not sold any furniture yet???” The association wanted to launch the furniture business by showing the entire stock at the expo, but their funding is inadequate in regard to hosting the expo, and all the organizations they partner with have put the expo-planning on the backburner. In addition, the association is directing their current financial resources towards building an additional storehouse to hold more furniture. My fellow volunteers and I were taken aback that the association did not want to sell their furniture yet, the difference in entrepreneurial spirit between Ethiopia and the States being the big learning experience for the month. What we assumed as Americans is that they should sell, sell, sell, while they were hoping to empower other PLWHA that they can still make a living by producing a beautiful bed, desk, or table. We respectfully and humbly recommended that they start to sell the existing product and spend some resources on advertising their furniture and contracting with ongoing construction in town as opposed to building what we deemed to be unnecessary additional storage (we coined that recommendation “Reallocation of Resources”).

Onto the big news… the moment all Peace Corps Trainees look most forward to is “site announcement”, when you find out where you will live for the two year duration of your service. After a serious petition to our boss, we were thankful to hear we are moving to Bishoftu/Debre Zeit. Liz and I wanted Debre Zeit (Amharic name, meaning Mount of Olives) because it’s a beautiful resort town (7 crater lakes – due to its proximity to the Great Rift Valley), and more importantly, Save the Children USA works here, partnering with local community organizations. Getting the chance to work directly with OVCs (Orphans and Vulnerable Children) is a dream job for Liz, and RATSON (the Save the Children partner organization in town) has some neat programs (and ideas for programs) in mediation/negotiation, local radio stations (free press), and micro-enterprise (including eco-tourism), to which I am particularly drawn.

We are in Debre Zeit this week doing all the necessary new-town chores – buying a bed, setting up a bank account, learning where the market is, and most excitingly, meeting people from the major NGOs and gov’t organizations in town. Our house is a dream – one mile off the highway on a quiet, safe, wooded compound with an owner landlord living in a house (with her sister, sister’s husband, and two dogs) behind ours. We will have electricity, a hot shower, an indoor toilet, a kitchen, a living room, and a bedroom. Not exactly what we envisioned as we packed our bags for Africa… Liz and I could not be happier with the Peace Corps’ taste in housing; our house here is larger than our apartment in Cincinnati (though this is not saying too much). The last perk (that we know of for now) of Debre Zeit is that it is very close to Addis (30 miles), making it very easy for us to greet guests at the international airport. Consider this my shameful plea for visitors – as well as a plea for literature. Liz and I set up our PO Box here – if you have a favorite paperback you think we should read, please send it along. Mail has been very reliable so far and I promise to take the time to read and return anything you send. Better yet, bring the book when you visit – that way you won’t have to pay for international media mail. Our address is
Ato Chris Colizza
PO Box 1377
Debre Zeit, Ethiopia
No zip code needed, and “Ato” stands for “Mr.” I hope this finds you all well, please respond with any questions or thoughts you have on life here in Ethiopia, the potential of you visiting, and the recent concerns of your heart and other life goings-on. I look forward to hearing from you.