November 2, 2008

This week has been full of ups and downs.

In one usual day I stopped at the bank to make a transfer from our old account to our recently opened second account. After the more than two months it took to open the account, it felt good to be able to use it. This account is a requirement from the country of Spain for a project they are sponsoring. But….. it turns out we don’t have permission to USE the account unless we have a special stamp made. Sounds easy enough but it is illegal to make this special stamp.

Kassa and I spent about one hour working with the bank managers explaining that it is possible for one corporation to have two accounts in the the same organization name. The account numbers are what keeps the money separated. It seemed logical enough to us but to these bank officers it was a new idea. Finally, the manager took a brave step and gave us permission to move money within the bank. Now we just have to wait and see what happens when we try to make a withdrawal.

On to the Trampled Rose where Anna was waiting to film me for the DVD she is working on about us. Again it seemed simple enough. She had completed my interview the day before and had already filmed a graduate from the Trampled Rose in her own home environment. All she needed was a photo of me walking on the streets of Addis. We started and were quickly surrounded by about 50 people all trying to stop us. We even had about 7 police officers trying to confiscate the film. Even after a call to the ministry of Information who verified that Anna has all licenses and full government permission to do this work and that we are a legal NGO we still had to jump in the car and tear off to escape.

Next, on to the move of our offices and training center to our new building on the main street. We had hired the movers and finished our contract with our landlords, paid our rent, and agreed to paint the former training center a neutral color so it seemed like we were on the way. But….. the movers could not get in the gate because the landlords had locked everything until we finished painting the building but….. we could not get in to do it…… so more police activity. The man even beat his wife and threw a rock at her in front of the police before we could finally get in to collect our belongings.

But the best part of the day was going with Anna to the filming of one of our graduates at her work place. This particular girl was married at the age of nine and suffered her fistula at the age of 11 with her first pregnancy. Now she is full of hope and life because of our belief that these women deserve a chance to live and we care enough to make the sacrifices to make it happen. The beauty salon where she was hired is so modern and clean, our graduate looked darling in her blue polka dot apron. I was so proud that our dream is becoming a reality.