Submitted by: Peter Huffman, Deputy Country Director, Ethiopia

The rain continues, but the excitement carries on. I just came back from Rema, which is a small village 200 kilometers northeast of Addis Ababa. A Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) member commitment has fully electrified this mountainous community with solar panels for each tukul (aka hut), including the local primary school and health center.

President Clinton, some of his delegation, and 7 of our staff were visiting the famous rock hewn churches of Lalibela while we were preparing in Rema for tomorrow’s visit. We travelled via helicopter, and before the skids touched the local soccer field, the entire community of 5,000 had rushed to greet us. They were absolutely bewildered and excited – less of the foreigners, but more of the unfamiliar “cars that fly”

While the President is visiting Rema tomorrow, we will be escorting most of the delegation to ALERT Hospital, where the Clinton Foundation has built the largest pediatric HIV/AIDS clinic in the country – which has quickly become a Center of Excellence for treating children. It’s a marvelous site to see healthy and happy children that only 6 months ago were on the brink of death. So I’m ecstatic that so many of our guests will be able to see firsthand one of the fruits of our intense labor over the past year. Stay tuned, even if it’s just for a predictable weather report of Ethiopia!

The preparation wasn’t all work, as you can see we found time to interact and play with the community. It’s still unclear if the baby I am holding is giddy with excitement or crying from fear…

Submitted by: Peter Huffman, Deputy Country Director, Ethiopia

President Clinton’s plane is about to take off from the US as I write this, and he will be arriving in Ethiopia - the country of “13 months of sunshine” (albeit it has been raining nonstop the last week!) – in less than a day. 

This morning, more than 1,000 volunteers from the community came together with our staff and government counterparts, to prepare for his arrival. It’s amazing how camaraderie and excitement resulted in them constructing a road, building a massive fence, planting flowers, erecting a stage – and all while doing it with the perennial smile and warmth that embodies the Ethiopian spirit.

On Friday, his first event will be at Godino Health Center, which is approximately 100 kilometers from the capital city, Addis Ababa.  Godino is one of 50 similar rural communities throughout the country, where we will be establishing family-focused, comprehensive rural community models of healthcare, with the goal of improving the lives of the 85% of Ethiopians living in rural areas. The entire community is eagerly planning for the large event –more than 10,000 people will attend the massive kickoff of this new program. 

I have had the great opportunity to work with the Clinton Foundation for nearly four years now, and of the three Presidential visits to Africa I have helped facilitate, this trip is especially exciting given the multitude of events President Clinton will be visiting in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Liberia, and Senegal. 

His first stop is here in Ethiopia, home to the Foundation’s largest country office in the world outside of the US – with a staff size approaching 100.  We have a gamut of projects here, which concentrate on HIV/AIDS, health systems, drug and medical equipment procurement, and the more recently established Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI).

We look forward to his arrival, and I’ll be sure to blog when I can from Ethiopia, and later in the week, from Senegal. It should be an amazing trip – so check back daily for updates.