Team Introduction

The Profs :









Dr. Mike Grevers

Dr. Abebe Tullu


The grad students:



















Melissa Arcand (Ph.D Student from Soil Science)

Michelle Hubbards (Ph.D Student from Department of. Applied Microbiology and Food Science)

Alexis Schafer (Ph.D Student from Toxicology)



















Amanda Van De Kerckhove (M.Sc Student from Animal Science)



















Jenn Wright (M.Sc Student from Human Nutrition)



















Dani Xu (Ph.D Student from Soil Science)

What to pack for Ethiopia?

Since our project is sponsored by CIDA, we are required to attended a two day workshop on intercultural effectiveness put on by Centre for Intercultural Learning (http://www.international.gc.ca/cfsi-icse/cil-cai/about-apropos-eng.asp). It was an interesting workshop and we got to know each other a lot better (not like we won't be seeing each other everyday for the next month or so...)
Anyway, after the workshop we devised a packing list for our trip. Here's a list of some of the items that we'll be bringing with us.
- Sleeping bag liner
- Inflatable pillow
- Sink plug
- Travel lock
- Smallish water bottle
- Mosquito repellent (DEET)
- Sunscreen (50 SPF)
- Pictures of our family
- Protein bars
- Rehydration salts
- Leatherman
- Imodium
- Gravol
- Hand sanitizer
- Camera
- Sunglasses
- Laundry soap
- Clothes line
- Plug adaptor
- Books (It's the only chance a grad student will get to read a non-fiction)
- Playing card
- Nutella (highly recommended by Sheala)

I am sure we're overpacked for this one month stint. But at least we'll come prepared for everything...

Ethiopia Grad Student Sponsorship Fundraiser

Hi everyone,

Welcome to our blog. We are excited about our trip to Ethiopia in the coming month, if we can get internet access, we hope to be able to update you on our journey in Ethiopia through the blogosphere.

As many of you know, we held a small fundraiser back in March to raise money to sponsor a female grad student in Hawassa University (Awassa, Ethiopia). We were able to raise $2600, enough to pay for a student's living expenses for 2 years in Ethiopia. Thanks again for all those who donated their money and time for this worthy cause. We hope to be able to give this student the money we raised in person.

We would also like to thank Morris Industries for donating 36 (2 Gig) USB keys that we will bring with us to Ethiopia. We were told that many students would like to have USB keys but they are hard to come by. Hopefully they can make good use of the ones donated by Morris Industries.

We are also bringing a long with us a couple duffle bags full of bras, underwears and feminine products to Addis Ababba. Saba from Saba's African Cuisine (http://www.whattodoinsaskatoon.com/ads/pages/saba/default.htm) is also going to Ethiopia this May. She's collecting donation items to give away to Eritrean women refugees. We are helping her to some of these donation items over so she doesn't have to pay for the extra luggage.