-I see working at the embassy as an ideal opportunity to make use of my education and my previous working experience. I have an MA in Development and Natural Resource Economics from the University of Life Science in Norway. As part of this, I spent a semester at Mekelle University in Tigray, and did my fieldwork there (http://www.norway.org.et/News_and_events/education/Nine-NOMA--students-at-Mekelle-University-/ ). Prior to this, I have worked for UNDP in Norway, and various NGOs in the US and Tanzania, says Hanna, who is born in Kristiansand, but grew up in Oslo.
Hanna has also contributed for a number of newspapers and magazines. On several occasions, she has contributed to Capital Newspaper in Ethiopia.( http://www.capitalethiopia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13930:the-downside-of-economic-growth&catid=44:readers-view&Itemid=161 and She has compiled her impressions from her time in Tigray in the following article:
Tigray – A World Apart
Furthermost north in Ethiopia, at the border with Eritrea, is Tigray. Home to hundreds of rock-hewn churches, breath-taking views and hospitality to which there is no equal. At the same time, no region of Ethiopia is more dependent on foreign aid – the rain is unpredictable and rarely sufficient, the families are large and alternative sources of income rare. Affected by the war with Eritrea, but benefiting from investments in roads and buildings, especially in urban and semi-urban areas. Entire areas where out-of-towner, let alone foreigner, has ever set foot, but now abound with Chinese workers. A region of paradoxes that never seizes to surprise.
The first word I learnt in Tigrinya was ’derqi’, drought. The second was ’tsegive’, I’m full. Vulnerability and unparalleled hospitality are the foremost characteristics of the region. Education, material goods and access to food is limited. A will to share both knowledge and nutrition is ever present. A family I visited with my travel companions was assumed by all of us to be relatively wealthy. The reason for this? They had a metal bed. With no mattress, no blanket, and loose metal springs, but a bed nonetheless. A luxury item that had been bought, achieved through barter or as a gift – of limited practical use, but a clear indication of wealth, setting this family apart as no statement of theirs could ever do.
If vulnerability and hospitality are the most prominent characteristics, pride is a close third. Not in the form of bragging, but the quiet, confident knowledge of superiority. If given the opportunity, the inhabitants will display their particular way of dancing, a mixture of jumping, shaking of shoulders and whirling of hair. Even with my Nordic hair, I was encouraged to succumb to the tradition of braiding and buttering, and my resistance was regarded with curiosity. When asked about their rock-hewn churches, even guides educated by UNESCO insisted that they were built with the help of angels and saints, even pointing to the clearly visible hoof-prints of St. Gabriel’s horse. Visiting the almost-impossible to reach locations, arguing seemed futile. Their explanation, after all, seemed the most likely.
An increase in tourism of later years has given increased revenue to local inhabitants. At the same time, the untouched nature has been compromised. It is a question of time before modernity reaches even the furthest corners of Tigray, especially with the current rates of investment and growth. When travelling through villages only accessible by foot, there was clearly a need for change – children as old as nine or ten where informally put up for adoption, people came forward in every household asking for simple medical examinations and help with legal issues, putting their faith in someone unknown, who seemed to them more educated, more in touch with the modern solutions they knew existed. As their villages become connected with roads, as extension agents increase their interventions, and as medical centers are built and their services extended, reducing their vulnerability to disease, starvation and an early death, one can only hope that their nature-given characteristics of pride and hospitability remain.