When nothing goes according to plan: Starting our boy’s book in Ethiopia
In September, while our Kenya boy’s book was being illustrated, translated, and designed, I scooted over to Ethiopia to start our next book: the Ethiopia boy’s book.
Ethiopia is a beautiful and culturally rich country, although as always, doing fieldwork can bring some logistical challenges which require being flexible and a good sense of humor! First, we struggled to find the right person to be our research assistant, as we wanted to be sure to have someone who would relate well to adolescent boys, but also be fluent in the right local language. With the help of our great partners in Ethiopia, we found a super researcher, Kahsay, and were off to Axum Town in Tigray Region (northern Ethiopia) to start data collection.
Once we arrived in Axum, Kahsay and I thought we were smooth sailing! Within the first day, we managed to confirm students and out of school boys for our participatory activities, buy research materials and snacks for the boys (nobody likes to sit in a classroom on an empty stomach!), and set up our first focus group discussion with primary school teachers. It all seemed too good to be true…
Cut to 10:30pm, the night before our first day of data collection with the school boys—the Head Teacher calls me with an apologetic tone in his voice. “Hello Dear, I am sorry to inform you, our school will be closed next week, as will all government schools.” I tried to remain calm, but what did he mean all schools would be closed this week? We were less than 6 hours before and everything had seemed fine!
It turned out that Axum was experiencing both a high amount of unseasonal rainfall and a horrible locust infestation, which threatened the newly planted crops. Since most families in the area engage in some type of farming (either for personal/family use or as a main source of income), the regional government closed all schools so students could go back to their homes and help their families recover the seeds, before their crops were ruined for the season.
After a few deep breaths and a frantic call to Kahsay, we came up with a new plan and schedule. If everything went perfectly, we would finish our data activities before the huge local holiday and midterm exams, but there was not a single minute for anything else to go wrong!
Luckily, thanks to the diligence of Kahsay and our local partner organization in Axum, we managed to get it all done successfully. It was quite intense and sometimes felt like there were not enough minutes in the day, but with multiple bunnas (Ethiopian traditional coffee, very strong), anything is possible!
While we got off to a bit of a bumpy start, the days we spent with the boys in Axum made us forget about the early challenges that got us there. With their insights and stories, we’re one huge step closer to completing this boy’s book! Stay tuned for more Ethiopia boy’s book updates!