23rd Novermber 2008

After a holiday home to the UK that was supposed to last 2 weeks but actually lasted 5, I am finally back in Addis! I'm really glad to be back and my time at home has made me realise that I'm not finished in Ethiopia yet, I still have a lot I want to do and experience, both personally and in connection to the charity. However, my joy at being back is mixed with the realisation that I've stepped right back out of my comfort zone …

Everything is easy back in the UK! Nobody points and stares (well, not often), everyone understands what I'm saying, I don't make embarrassing mistakes because I'm not familiar with the social etiquette, and power cuts are rare, not a daily occurrence. Also, I don't feel guilty in UK for having money, and I don't have to second guess my response to every situation involving poverty. Here, I have to think 'is me helping them actually making things better for them, or simply making ME feel better?'.

So, I am very, very glad to be back (see how fast I ran to Lime Tree restaurant Saturday night to have dinner!) but there is definitely going to be a 're-entry' phase! I have around two weeks in Addis before I start my move to Lalibela, and that's going to require an adjustment period all over again!

But enough with the moaning; I'm back and I'm hitting the ground running. Literally! Today was the 8^th Great Ethiopian Run and I was privileged enough to be taking part. U+I were running it to raise money for Hanna's Orphanage, while B ran with us to give us some moral support!

The Great Ethiopian Run is 10k long, and it grew with help from the team that started The Great North Run in the UK. It's an NGO now which uses the event to promote running in Ethiopia and health and social issues such as education for girls and safe sex. When there are so many young people taking part in one event, it's a great way to get messages like that across. Nearly everyone runs – people who have never run before in their life take part, and there were a considerable amount of people running in jeans! But after all, this is land of long distance runners, so they barely need to train to be better than us! To remind us of how talented Ethiopia is at running, Hailie Gabre Selassie spoke before the race. Unfortunately, I couldn't hear what he was saying as one, he was speaking in Amharic, and two, the microphones didn't appear to be working! It was enough to just see him.

At 9 on the dot we were off! There weren't as many costumes as you would see in the London marathon (although there was one person dressed as a condom - I'd love to know who the person was!) but the red and yellow tee shirts created a really colourful crowd. There was live music at various places around the course, and with all the people (32,000 people registered to take part!) it was a like a lively, sweaty, moving party! Thanks especially to the group of men who sang all the way round (including a rendition of 'Criss Cross' at one point!) – it kept my spirits up! It was wonderful to look round to see people from all walks of life taking part, and crowds lining the street to clap and shout encouragement.

Quite a few Westerners could be picked out in the crowds; some were in proper running shorts and obviously meant business, and some just seemed to be there for the experience. M (a friend of a friend from England who is now living in Addis) was running, and the Germans from the Awash trip were there somewhere too, although we didn't see them. I even hear rumours that the British Ambassador ran!

Now, bearing in mind I have not run anywhere since running 5k back in May sometime, and for the last month I have been spending my time eating and sitting on the sofa, I was expecting it to be hard. And it was hard – the sun was intense, the altitude makes it a lot more difficult to breathe, you couldn't always set your own pace as there were so many people, and the course wasn't exactly flat. It was such great fun, though, it didn't matter! I ran most of the first 6k, but after that it was walking. U went great guns and could have finished in a much better time, but the three of us wanted to finish together. I came in at 2 hours and still standing up, so not bad, if I do say so myself!

It was a great way to spend a Sunday morning in Addis! We each got a medal, we raised money for Hanna's Orphanage (thank you to people who sponsored us – and there is still time to sponsor us: email jenny@hannasorphanage.org.uk for details!) and managed to be interviewed by a journalist, so hopefully we got some exposure for the charity too! And I still pretty much have the use of my legs (although in a very slow, I'm-82-years-old kind of way!). I'm proud I finished it!

The man dressed as a condom finished ahead of us, though, so I guess I shouldn't be congratulating myself too much …