PR Event

Today the Japanese Ambassador to Ethiopia attended the opening ceremony
at the water technology center here in Addis Ababa. There were a few
other bigwigs from JICA and the Ethiopian Ministry of Water Resources
(MoWR) as well. All of the center staff gathered in the lecture hall.
There was a low stage set up with a banner announcing the ceremonial
launch of our project in front of which all the officials sat. This was
timed to coincide with the fact that the first day of the courses is
tomorrow. The ministry's PR division videotaped the short speeches given
by the officials and then we led everyone out to the back of the center
where the course coordinators demonstrated some of the
machinery--including a 150m drilling rig--and model water pumps. The
Ambassador seemed to enjoy the tour but declined to join us for lunch at
the center; his driver quickly pulled up in a Lexus with a little
Japanese flag over the front wheel well and drove him away. Immediately,
another Japanese official suddenly announced he had an
"ah...ah...emergency meeting" and jumped in his Landcruiser, followed by
another Landcruiser that picked up the Vice Minister from MoWR.
Nevertheless, this actually allowed everyone who remained to feel
slightly more at ease, I thought. The other Ethiopian officials and the
JICA Resident Representative stuck around and ate with the center
coordinators, staff and trainees in the cafeteria, swilling orange Fanta
and Pepsi as they dined on finger foods like fried meatballs on
toothpicks, plain bread and rice pilaf. Everyone sat around low tables
and ate with forks and mixed their soft drinks with carbonated mineral
water. Overall, since everything was over by half-past noon, I think the
ceremony was rather successful.