14

African memories

Field work in Gambo, Ethiopia

During 2013, I had the chance to spend the autumn in a remote area of South

Ethiopia. It was just after the main rainy season and the fields were surprisingly

green. People may think of the Horn of Africa as the unbearably hottest, driest

and most desert place on earth. Therefore, those who had not been there would

never believe how green and lush some parts of this region of Africa can be.

This is the case of Gambo, a small town of approximately 5,000 inhabitants

located in the highlands, at 2,200 m of altitude, 250 km south of Addis Ababa.

The economy of Gambo town is mainly based on agriculture which is highly

dependent on rainfall, comprising a period of about 4 months (June-September)

that alternates with periods of drought. The most predominant crops are wheat,

corn, barley, sorghum and teff whereas vegetation mainly consists of banana and

also eucalyptus from afforestation processes carried out during the 40s. The

course of the river Leppis falls near the town, and there are several sources of

groundwater.

In this rural area, there are no paved roads and the nearest town (Arsi-

Neguele) is 18 km along a forest track, so the way of living is completely

different from cities. Best houses are upgraded cement; however, most of the

people live in traditional mud huts with very close relationships with animals.

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In Ethiopia, there are

around 52 million people at risk of

suffering from malaria. The

transmission pattern is seasonal

and the greatest number of cases

occurs between September and

November, just after the main

rainy season. Due to the altitude

and climatic features, there is no

malaria in Gambo; however, the

Gambo General Rural Hospital

attends patients from the

surrounding villages where

malaria is an important issue. As

far as we are aware, the Anopheles

mosquito distribution in this highland area is unknown, so our aim was to

improve the knowledge on the malaria vectors in this isolated part of Ethiopia as

well as their prevalence of Plasmodium spp. infection. For that purpose, we

carried out an entomological field study covering several villages at different

altitudes (from

2,200 to 1,600 m).

Field work

in an African rural

area can be very

challenging in

terms of

infrastructure and

especially when

you have a tight

budget. Regarding

to transport, we

had to collect

mosquitos from

urbanized cities to

very isolated villages in the middle of the highlands. So, we took all the

available transports to get to our sampling places. Buses or motorbikes, when

there were accessible paths or even riding a horse or horse charts were the

chosen options in some occasions. However, most of the times we had to walk

very long hours carrying a heavy bag with the required equipment (mosquito

traps, batteries and GPS), through crop fields or hilly paths under a melting sun.

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Sample points were randomly

selected. Once we arrived to a selected

house, people usually came out

immediately to greet us. Greeting in

Ethiopia, is a very important tradition and

part of daily life. In these rural areas,

people were not used to having foreigners

in their own home, so after the long and

warm greeting of all family members we

first explained them in their local language

what we were intended to do, with the

invaluable assistance of our local translator.

Almost anyone refused to collaborate in the

study and people appeared to be willing to

participate. They were aware of the

importance of research on malaria to

eventually get rid of the disease. In fact,

neighbors would come out of their houses

willing to help and offering their homes to

catch “waba bimbi” (malaria mosquito in Amharic).

In the villages, people were extremely friendly and the poorest they were,

the most hospitable they showed. We usually reached the houses in the morning,

when people were working in the fields or were gone to the traditional market,

but still, there was always someone to help us out. We always received a warm

welcome, and were immediately offered to take a sit. Many times people offered

to prepare a coffee ceremony for us. This is a traditional ritual that consists of

roasting green coffee beans over hot coals in a brazier, grinding beans in a

traditional wooden mortar and pestle and boiled them in a beautiful pot (jebena).

The coffee ceremony is one of the most recognizable parts of Ethiopian culture.

The coffee was often served with popcorn and we were offered to try “the

injera”, a flat-bread traditionally made out of teff flour, which is the national

dish in Ethiopia.

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After placing the mosquito traps, everything was settled for the night

capture, and we said goodbye until the next day for traps collection. In our

experience, rural people were certainly much more generous and disinterested

than people in towns, what made our project much more pleasant there.

I would like to thank the Spanish Society of Tropical Medicine and

International Health (SEMTSI) and the Royal Spanish Football Federation

(RFEF) as funders, for giving me the opportunity to live this experience. It has

been very rewarding both professionally and personally. Field work was carried

out along with Laura Prieto and Corado Paulos, their help and effort was

essential for the success of this project. I also thank Moncho Pérez for his

cooperation, Jose Manuel Ramos for his guidance and coordination and

Guadalupe Martín for her support. Last but not least, I would like to thank in a

special manner all those Ethiopian people who have generously collaborated

with us in this project.

Ines Martín-Martín