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It is 4:00 a.m. and I hear hyenas whooping in the distance at Haramaya University, outside of Harar, Ethiopia. It is strangely both eerie and comforting; it is a familiar sound yet one that I have not heard in a few years despite frequent trips back to Ethiopia. I am here on a Fulbright Scholar award and based in Axum, a historical city with ancient archaeological treasures: stelae, tombs of kings, Queen of Sheba's palace, and of course, the Ark of the Covenant, housed in the beautiful St. Mary of Tsion church. This is not your typical Fulbright post. Ethiopia is not for the faint of heart, but it is my chosen appointment and it is where I belong.
Mid-way through a ten-month appointment, I am pleased to give a status report of accomplishments and challenges for there have been many. But why Ethiopia and why Axum in particular? About eighteen months ago, my son, a Fulbright Scholar in the Philippines himself, saw an announcement on the Fulbright website that Mekelle University (Ethiopia) was seeking information science professionals through Fulbright.
I have a long history of living and working in Ethiopia having first served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the mid1970s during the final reign of Emperor Haile Selassie, his disposition, and the subsequent takeover by the Provisional Military Advisory Committee (the Derg), a time period that later became known as the "Red Terror." I have returned several times for library projects and publishing workshops, and worked in Mekelle on a children's library project in 2010 while on sabbatical. So it was natural for my son to think of me as a suitable candidate.
I was under the mistaken impression that Fulbright Scholars were for those academics at the beginning of their careers, not for those mid-career or late career as I am. A number of librarians have been appointed as Fulbright Scholars to various countries in the past, but it is still relatively rare and one that I would like to encourage. Is a Fulbright Scholar award in your future?
Although I enjoyed my previous time in Mekelle, I checked out the University of Aksum (note different spelling) and discovered that they were willing to accept Fulbright applications. While I was in Mekelle...