Updates

2009 >

June 2009

A visit to the Bank

We think we must have spent a whole day in the bank during our stay getting money exchanged. The bank requires organising and quickly. Basically there are separate windows with tellers that do different things and your transaction may require you visiting two or three of these windows. There is no queuing system you are given a disc with a number, but these are random and if a number is called and no one comes forward they will wait until that person appears. All this would not be so bad if the bank was not full to the rafters with people pushing to get to the front in 43 degrees of heat.

Before you enter however there is very strict security; a man with a gun and a woman will look in your bag and frisk you before entering. They always took our cameras put them in a metal cabinet and gave us another disc with a number on it. (Not to get confused with the discs you will receive once in the bank). The thing that amazed us was once in the bank there are customers with sticks, staffs, large umbrellas and mobile phones with cameras. So what exactly the security are looking for remains a mystery and why our camera is perceived as such a threat.

For further information on the Bahir Dar Projects and how you can help please email Angela and Mike on khyber.king@btinternet.com