The Ally Report: Ethiopia

Sha-she-me-ne.

No. It’s not a nonsense line for background singers. Not like rama-rama-ding-dong, or pa-pa-ooo-mow-mow. It’s the name of a city of almost 100,000 people in Ethiopia, south of the nation’s capital of Addis Ababa. And it’s where Allyson will live during her two months in Africa. She’ll stay with other Doctors Without Borders team members there and essentially commute to feeding centers in small villages in the Shashemene area.

Shashemene has an interesting history, as you can read about in detail in this New York Times piece from about seven years ago. Haile Selassie, the last emperor of Ethiopia and the man considered God by Rastafarians, granted Jamaica’s Rastafarians land in Shashemene many years ago. And the city is considered holy by the today’s Rastas. 

Those of you who know her pretty well (or those who listened to the recent podcast we did together — and if you didn’t, well, now you should) know of her fondness for reggae. So she should feel a little bit at home in Shashemene.

Of course, we’ve got to wait for word about the accommodations. Right now, as I write, she is in the air, flying from Europe to Addis Ababa.

We’ll keep you posted as more word comes in.

Thanks to Hurricane Hannah, Allyson spent a very bumpy flight to London last night. She had a few hours’ layover at Heathrow, then flew on Brussels and promptly checked into her room and crashed for a few hours, owing to an almost sleepless flight over the Atlantic.

She has the evening off tonight in Brussels. She’s about to head out for dinner right now. Just talked to her. She has a full day of briefing in Brussels tomorrow, then will leave for Africa tomorrow night. 

We’ll keep you posted on her progress.