Last week of work was crazy in cracking out the final report. We have to move our final presentation a day early within 2 hour notice. The recommendation was very well received. At the press conference Q &A session, the director of PR in MoH told media that the ministry plan to implement every recommendation. It was a great endorsement for our work.
BTY, we were all on TV yesterday.
http://www.fanabc.com/english/index.php/news/item/1128-ibm-experts-help-drive-economic-and-social-change-in-ethiopia
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/NY04541.htm
Friday, September 5, 2014
Monday, September 1, 2014
Community day
Friday August 29 is the community day. The entire CSC team went to St. Mary University (SMU)( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Mary's_University_College_(Addis_Ababa)) to give a workshop on career development. SMU is a private college founded in 1998. It has four campuses and about 6000 students.
The workshop orientation was hosted in auditorium. 65 students attended. The target was female students. The workshop offered 5 breakout sessions on time management, CV development, graduate study abroad, interview skills and digital eminence. I suggested the graduate study session, since I thought at least we can plant some seed of bigger and bolder dreams in these young minds. With the help from Welela and Atig, the session went very well. We discussed why and how to apply a graduate school, and shared our personal experiences in choosing area of study and how it has impacted our career and life. Selam, a local translator for us who had just been admitted to a master program in a German University, share her most recent experiences. The workshop was concluded with Q and A session and small give away prize for those were brave enough to speak up. Finally, the VP of the university delivered closing speech.
Below are some pictures from workshop.
Front gate:
The entrance of auditorium
Students settled down in auditorium.
The workshop program
The graduate study session, the west faced windows are covered by newspaper to block sun in dry season. About 40 students attended our session, all of them were accounting major.
The instruction building
The workshop orientation was hosted in auditorium. 65 students attended. The target was female students. The workshop offered 5 breakout sessions on time management, CV development, graduate study abroad, interview skills and digital eminence. I suggested the graduate study session, since I thought at least we can plant some seed of bigger and bolder dreams in these young minds. With the help from Welela and Atig, the session went very well. We discussed why and how to apply a graduate school, and shared our personal experiences in choosing area of study and how it has impacted our career and life. Selam, a local translator for us who had just been admitted to a master program in a German University, share her most recent experiences. The workshop was concluded with Q and A session and small give away prize for those were brave enough to speak up. Finally, the VP of the university delivered closing speech.
Below are some pictures from workshop.
Front gate:
The entrance of auditorium
The workshop program
The graduate study session, the west faced windows are covered by newspaper to block sun in dry season. About 40 students attended our session, all of them were accounting major.
The main campus, we visited, is about 3-4 acre
maximum in area. Two concrete instruction buildings, two small
court yard, with 2 rows of one story structure for administration and
facilities, including toilets. Struck by stomach flu third time
in three weeks, unfortunately, I had to became a frequent visitor of
the toilet. Through a wet narrow gap between two buildings, a
row of porta potty sized toilet stall was to left, in a tiny yard. The door
was rusted thin metal sheet with holes. The simple stall on
the ground occupied 60% of the space. 40 % of the rest of the area was
taken by an oversize plastic container used as waste basket places
behind the door. That means you have to made effort find a
position not to interfere with the container and the wall et al. There was no flush
mechanism in toilet. One had to use a cut smaller plastic container
to scoop water from a water barrel, a big used plastic
container, to wash the toilet. Although it is not the worst kind I
have seen, but for a higher education institution, it is stunning.
Work and midterm review
Last week was the midterm review with the client. We
delivered our assessment on the MoH website and IT infrastructure and
recommendations to Mr. Ahmed, the director of PR and Communication
Department of MoH. Mr. Ahmed liked our analysis and recommendations,
he wanted us to implement all of them immediately. Later on we met the
Director General of Office of the Minister, Dr. Addis
Tamire, and followed by meeting with the Minister of Health, H.E. Dr. Kesetebirhan Admasu
Birhane. They all embraced our recommendations and want to see
immediate and tangible result, such as straighten up the web site,
set up an internal email system et al. The expectation about
IBM team is that IBM will follow up on execute the recommendations on pro bono
bases just like CSC. We have to spend a lot of time to explain the
nature of CSC mission, ensure them an easy to follow step by step
execution plan which is in preparation will be included in the final report,
and promise them we will made ourselves available for further consultation
after return to our normal job. From their eye, we can tell
they wish IBM will not only give them a report, but also the reality.
I knew exactly where the expectation come from after a three-week immersion. Like most of the African countries, Ethiopia government and institutions rely heavily on aid and NGOs in many operation and infrastructure projects. While it is good to have money come in, but they also tend to be short term scattered projects that fit this or that NGO's interest. For projects like direct health care delivery, although it is not evenly distributed, at least the aid can improve some peoples like in certain region. However, for IT related project, the lack of high level planning and coordination could mean dysfunctional systems. This is what is happening in MoH. Two broken back up power supplies, half rack low end blade servers, two telecom gateway boxes, one wireless controller, and one firewall module is the data center. The intranet supposed to exist but it never works and no one knows why. The same was the email system. Government officials use public emails such as yahoo and Gmail. Mr. Ahmed's yahoo email was hacked, he does not have a backup email to reset the password. The external web site was recently touched up through a funding from Gates Foundation by an American based communication and PR firm whose expertise is not in web application. The list can go on and on. The stories from other CSC teams are more or less the same. Every client wants IBM team to hand them solutions, not just recommendations.
My number one recommendation to the MoH, above all others, is to build its own high quality IT leadership team, with competitive salary, consists of both system and application architects to develop a systematic road map and oversee the installation of the new IT system to meet the need of MoH. With an internal team, they can coordinate the funding from government and development partners to build a cohesive IT infrastructure throughout the federal government and entire health care system. The current piece meal and patch up approach will not only waste the resources and delay the infrastructure development, but also have adverse impact on the long term stability, sustainability and scalability of the IT system.
For now, I am polishing the final report, to make it as detail as possible and try to imaging every possible scenario. In here, you cannot take anything as granted. The things we are used to in everyday life could be new to them, therefore, explain, explain and explain.
Soon will be Friday, the assignment will be over. I will miss everything here. I feel heavy and wonder ”will it be carried on? How can I do more? "
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Cave Church -- Yemrhanekirstose Monastery
Sunday morning at 6, before departure Lalibela, we drove down the valley to visit a unique cave church 42 km away. Yemrhanekirstose Monastery, situated at an latitude of 2700mm was built by Yemrehranna Kristos, the third Zagwe ruler and a predecessor of King Lalibela around AD 1100.
The night before was heavy rain. It was still drizzling in the morning. We were there early. The church is closed, but some kind of chanting or mass was going on inside. The pilgrims outside followed the mass through loudspeaker shifting positions between standing up and knee down. The Ethiopia mass is long, typically 2-3 hours. Some sections allow people to move about, some do not. We must arrived at the no move session. We waited for about one hour to go inside.
Pictures of prayers
Finally inside. The late Axumite Architecture, alternating layers of wood and granite faced with white gypsum.
A priest sitting at the end of cave, alone.
A woman standing at the far end of the cave.
Yemrehanna Kristo is credited with restoring links between Ethiopia and Coptic Church. Priests claim the wood used in church construction was from Egypt, the gypsum was from Jerusalem. The church was an important pilgrimage site in medieval times. The deep end of the cave is open mass grave of some 10K Christian pilgrims, claimed, who travelled from as far as Egypt, Syria, and Jerusalem. It was eerie.
The red thing at the far end is the tomb of Yemrehanna Kristo who build the church. The tomb chamber, claimed, is 10 meters deep.
Intricate painting of patterns inside the church.
Young pilgrims and the belongings of the prayers.
Village of Bilbilla
Lake Tana, the source of Blue Nile.
The night before was heavy rain. It was still drizzling in the morning. We were there early. The church is closed, but some kind of chanting or mass was going on inside. The pilgrims outside followed the mass through loudspeaker shifting positions between standing up and knee down. The Ethiopia mass is long, typically 2-3 hours. Some sections allow people to move about, some do not. We must arrived at the no move session. We waited for about one hour to go inside.
The metal door.
A flooded river near Addis
Friday, August 29, 2014
Hudad and ABUNE YOSEF
The highlight of the Lalibela trip was hiking through the villages to the top of the Abune Yosef Mountains.
In the morning, I got up at 6, run with Yuval, a five times ironman from Tel Aviv Israel, from Marybela hotel down to the valley and back, 10% steep sloop. The view of the lush green valley under the morning sun was spectacular.
Here is the trail, and the valley view and the winding dirt road from hotel balcony.
Many has a little lamb.
Peasants were heading to the Lalibela market.
Idyllic village
Teff field,
Locals farm every inch of the land from valley to the top of the mountain.
Evening at Ben ABEBA restaurant, with stunning view.
In the morning, I got up at 6, run with Yuval, a five times ironman from Tel Aviv Israel, from Marybela hotel down to the valley and back, 10% steep sloop. The view of the lush green valley under the morning sun was spectacular.
Here is the trail, and the valley view and the winding dirt road from hotel balcony.
and jump on the roof top the night before.
The lively Saturday market
The trail head
He is a remarkable boy, followed me all the way to the top. I gave a sandwich to him. He split it in half and gave to his two younger siblings, he did not keep any for himself.
The summit and escarpment
And the view
The Gelada baboons, bleeding heart baboons, found only in the Ethiopia highlands.
Villagers came back from the market.
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