So here we are with our three licenses: The last one I got is for agriculture, which I envision using to raise ornamental and street trees, ornamental vines, shrubs, plants, and probably some crops -- I never see any dark fruits (e.g.g, blackberries, raspberies, blueberries), nor any nectarines/peaches, or cherries. Mushrooms are all imported. Etc. There are several 3-5-star hotels under construction here and a number already exist, including a Hilton and a Sheraton, plus local hotels. We think we can sell to them. The second license is for vet services. Do you remember that there are no vet diagnostic labs in the country and that the vet schools concentrate on commercial animals? And all the misery that has caused us and undoubtedly many other people. We do not knw how profitable this enterprise will be in the short term, but if not now, its time will come. I, of course, expect to live to be 120. The first licence I got is for Purposes A, B, and C in our company Memorandum of Association (a loooong doc w many reqirements that I had to put together this winter, along w others): A. Producing textile, leather, paper, wood, plastic, and other products B. Engaging in art production, including textile-art and photography C. Engaging in publishing activities D. Engaging in the agriculture, food, and industry sectors E. Engaging in veterinary services Is this fun, or what??? Of course the "businesses" aren't realised. The only one that is begun is the sewing one, and that is hardly off the ground. But we think they'll all come along as time and inclination persists! Here's something else I am looking into -- expanding the vet services so that the diagnostic lab will be for people as well as animals. This would greatly expand our ability to get donations. The infamous Yohannes (see below) claimed that, if sponsored by the Clinton Foundation, I could get many donations from US institutions. So, before I leave for the US next week, I am going to check this out. The Clinton Foundation has its largest non-US office here in Ethiopia, and one of its main efforts is in health care. It's done a lot in the town of Debre Zeit, where the main vet school is, and where we sometimes think about relocating to. Sheik Mohammed Alamoudi (a philanthropic billionaire in his 80's from Saudi Arabia, born in Ethiopia (1/2 Yemeni and 1/2 Ethiopian)), has also supported health care here for a long time. He gave the Clinton Foundation $20,000,000 in 2007 for health projects. In 2002 (?) the US gv't was considering organizing the US vet labs into a network w standardized procedures, becasue vet labs are used to looking for things like anthrax, plague, and other diseases human labs are not. I don't think anything came of it, but its original proposal does mean that the concept of interaction between human and animal labs isn't new. I'm asking for a smallish piece of land -- about 6,000 square meters (about 1.5 acres) to hold all or most of our projects. We will see what we actually get, but there is no doubt that we will get something. The next large task (before requesting the land) re the agric project is to go to the Ministry of Agric and find out what plants are not allowed for import (they had a major problem w a noxious one during the time of the preceding (extraordinarily brutal) govrnment), and to identify the best regions w/in striking distance of the city for growing what we are interested in. The land w get will have the basic utilities but no structures. We're looking into straw-bale construction so we can construct cheaply. Habitat for Humanity is here, and they are into straw-bale. We wdn't be eligible for direct help of course, but we hope they'll give us some guidance. Some big news -- a few weeks ago we bought a 1992 Suzuki Vitara for the company. It's a 4-wheel drive vehicle. A sort of dark cherry red. We have an excellent mechanic who specializes in Suzukis, and he inspected several for us before recommending this one. We got it at a good price for this market. Good used cars appreciate here rather than depreciating -- because over half of the price is Customs duty. Before moving here, I was looking into bringing my 1997 Volvo over. It's worth only abt $800 in the US. The xportation cost wd have been $4k. The customs duty wd have been $20K. Before buying the car, we were spending outrageous amounts/month in taxi fees. Getting through the bureaucracy here is detailed and very time consming. It all has to be done in person, and it takes multiple -- usually many -- trips to one or more (usually more) offices. When I think a given task is almost done, it usually turns out that there is one more step to do -- and then of course another, etc. If you're not in a hurry, it doesn't matter, and in fact the process can be fun, but we are trying to get our business going before we run out of our start-up money. The reason I waited so long to buy a car is that I kept expecting the Customs business to get done "any week," and I wanted to find out what the duty would be before deciding what level of vehicle to buy. E.g., a much-used 1986 Corolla is abt $8K -- again the Customs duty problem. Can you imagine paying so much for a 22 yr-old car w a history that you know very little about? I still don't know what Customs will be asking me for. I've already paid an unexpected (and unjustified) 6K, and I could be asked for a great deal more. A true worst case would mean that the fabric, and some other primary assets of the business, would be seized. Not that we couldn't make a living, given that we have our machines categorized as duty-free, but it would be slow-going, and we might never make up the loss. This problem came about because our transitor on the Ethiopian end said that all personal and business effects would be duty free because of my investment permit and my residence permit. This transitor was chosen by the US transitor. The US transitor was chosen by the US mover -- United. At any rate, given the length of time we have already waited for the Customs answers, and given the money we were spending for transportation, we decided that we should just buy a good car that wd appreciate. While running around through the beaurocracy that transferring car ownership takes, we got to to know Yohannes, the guy who sold us the car. As we talked, he began to offer to help us with a number of issues that are eating us alive financially -- the Customs thing, housing, and etc. It sounded very good at first, and we liked him fairly well. However, he wanted to become a shareholder/partner in the business with a large percent of the ownership and control, and he wanted to accomplish this Right Away. Adding him wd supposedly have brought more cash and also more drive into the operation, but we have decided the guy is just another hyena -- which is what we have been calling the folks who see $$FOREIGNER$$ when they set eys on me. However, we proposed that he do some consulting for us. He seems able to set up a legal way for us to import all our fabric duty-free. That would be a fine thing. He also says he can find a way to sell some of it for us, again in a way that would not be a legal problem. In theory we cannot sell our imported fabric unless the purchaser pays the duty -- and, strictly speaking, perhaps we are not allowed to sell it even then. {OK, since then, Yohannes proved unproductive as a consultant. Then we caught him in a bald-faced lie. Goodby Yohannes.} A few years ago, the Eth gv't levied a 35% duty on all imported finished cotton fabric, and our fabric is 99% gorgeous cotton material. Cotton's been a sore spot w them for decades -- the British got control of the whole of Ethiopia's cotton exports at one point in the '40's after England helped the (then) emperor, Haile Selassie, get rid of the Italians who were overrunning the country. Cotton fabric production is now one of the best-developed Ethiopian industries. It is mostly "raw" fabric, but there is some basic printed fabric as well. Ours, on the other hand, is fabulous stuff, fine weave, beautiful printing, etc., and though nothing like it is made here or even imported by anyone else, still it falls under the category of finished cotton fabric that is taxed at 35% (!!!!!). Some of the raw cotton is gorgeous, as are most of the hand-woven types. We are going to try dyeing them. In case a lot of this sounds rather bad and depressing, don't worry -- I am in fine spirits. Because I learned months ago about the Customs problem, I've come to terms with it -- perhaps we will end up a very small-scale business, but we are so content as we are, what the hell. Living w these good friends has proved to be wonderful. I'm sure that it's the reason that, w/ almost NO effort, I have lost 30 -40 pounds in the 7 months I have been here. When I arrived, I was verging on what felt like grotesquely fat between sizes 18 and 20. Now I am back to sizes 14-16, and pretty much w/in what I conceive as "normal," and that is such a pleasure. Since I have lived alone for most of my life wouldn't you say it's surprising that I have so easily adapted to group living?? Plus, I probably can't communicate how invigorating it has been to have moved here. To have a new and good life start at age 65 is a wonserfulthing. Often enough, life starts to go downhill around then. Thee's so much of interest to learn and do and observe here -- everything from the routines of daily life to learning things about how the country operates. The geography alone is amazing. Everything from rain forest to desert to mountains. There are abt 80 distictly different "nations" w/in Ethiopia. You've seen the pix of the women w large ceramic plates in their lower lips? That culture is in the south here. In principle, each nation has as much power and rights as any other -- from the urban Addis culture to the indigenous cultures, which are mostly in the south. [Posted in FML 6085]