Post a Comment. Wednesday, March 2, Awasa. I just got back from another trip to Awasa, which is in Southern Ethiopia, about 5 hours away from Addis Ababa. I've focused some of my research there because it is a medium size city with a large University presence and is a transit point from different areas of the country as well as surrounding countries.
All of these factors are common in sites where emergency contraception is common. We went there once before, in late January, to speak with pharmacists, sex workers and University students. Unfortunately the students had been in the middle of exams, so we left them some surveys to fill out not my favorite idea and completed our other interviews. The interviews at that time had been really interesting. On the way to Awasa we had stopped at a town called Sheshamanye. Sheshamanye is known for one thing, it is the Rasta's capital!
Rastafarian is popular here, especially in the south and Sheshamanye is the land the former emperor Haile gave the Rasta people. Driving through it feels as though a typical Ethiopian town, with donkeys and women carrying water on their heads, has been invaded by a Phish show, or backpackers on Koh Sahn road!
We interviewed some sex workers there, at one of DKT's drop in centers. The centers are really amazing places where women can relax during the day, do their laundry, watch tv, and of course, get education and free condoms!
The knowledge gap between the women we spoke to in Addis and in Sheshamanye was astounding. While they all use condoms good news! It was great to speak with the girls and share some information with them as well. This time around we merely drove through Sheshamanye, and made it to Awasa on Monday afternoon, in time to speak to some girls at the University about Postpill. When I was first creating this study everyone in my office told me University students would never talk to me.
