A big day on Bole

I was up about 6:15 which, as long as I get to bed early which I did last night, is great since I have the whole morning (after schull of course). I decided to get in my walk before breakfast and headed out to Bole. There were police officers everywhere and of course ferenge was curious. I then noticed some fanfare at the intersection just north of the guest house and remembered there was a 5k run for women today; hence the conglomeration of police and civilians eagerly awaiting the event which started at 9AM. I believe the Ethiopian officials always ensure there is a huge police presence, with clubs and some automatic weapons, at locations where large numbers of people convene, as they have learned from the past. The event is called Women First and there must have been a few thousand runners. They were almost all women, with a few men in the mix. Only women were allowed to register though.

I walked down Bole heading for Kezanches and then heard the church at that intersection broadcasting so turned back about 2/3 of the way. There was even more activity than there was before my 20 minute hike as I approached Bilo's again.

I visited with Marou (my friendly neighbourhood security guard) and a few other people. The manager of Bilo's came out to chat and offered me some information. His last day at Bilo's is Tuesday and he has been there for 6 years. He is not fond of management and is thrilled to be moving to work that is more within his field of accounting. Marou now calls me "Guitar" which is a lovely handle for someone who owns 6 of them :).

I am meeting someone at 11aM to walk down to Bole 19. I met this woman Kazume when she was staying at the guest house in November. She wants to find somewhere to play tennis so our trip will be educational for her as she will then know where Bole 19 is.

There was an absolute sea of orange run jerseys at the 5k today and at 9AM on the dot, the front-runners broke the ribbon at the start. There were about 200-300 women at the front, probably seasoned runners; the first prize is 8,000 birr and if the first woman across the finish line also has he run card stamped by the stations along the way, she gets 10,000.

I hope Ethiopia (as Canada) has made some progress on eradicating gender-based discrimination; runs and fund-raising events are great, but the old cliche "talk si cheap" comes to mind. Let's hope this nonsense (and all sorts of discrimination) will some day be a thing of the past.