When I got the appointment letter from the regional office of an American company, Petty Ray Geophysical, located in London, I was excited for a better paying job and that I would be working overseas, but I was rather skeptical for my prospect or staying long with the company. I did not shared my feelings or concern with my family. The letter stated that I would be working in Ethiopia as a Gravity Meter Operator; my Camp Manager would explain the details of the job. The letter also had details of the pay and other benefits.
After a long flight from Malta, where I had to go to get visa for Ethiopia, as there was no Embassy or Consulate in Pakistan, I landed at the International Airport of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. There was no baggage terminal at the airport in the 1970’s, I had to go out of the lounge, pick up my baggage and carry it back to the lounge for checking by the custom officer. When I came out of the arrival terminal of the Airport I saw my name in one of the many signs that some people had who came to pick up the visitor to this city. I approached the person whose sign had my name, and introduced myself to him. He has happy to see, greeted me by saying “Welcome to Ethiopia”. He guided me to walk to the company’s Land Rover pickup truck and after a short ride through the streets of Addis Ababa, which I was seeing for the first time, he stopped in front of a house, which was a rest-house-cum-office-warehouse.
The Manager was a British national in mid-forties. He welcomed me and showed me the guest room, where I would be spending the night. He said the dinner would at 7:00 pm and showed me the dining room. I took a quick shower and changed into a casual dress and went to the dining room, where the Manager introduced me to the other staff, including those who had just returned after having a week’s break and would be going back to the camp tomorrow with me. After a three-course dinner, we had some desert and coffee. I was surprised to know that most of the meat, vegetables and other cooking materials, including ice cream is shipped from London or other European countries on a weekly basis.
After dinner, the Manager told me that the breakfast would be available in the dining room from 6:00 a.m., and the driver will leave at 7:00 a.m. to take me and the other staff to the airport to take the plane to go to the camp where I would start working from tomorrow. After the dinner, I went to the guest room, and went to bed, after changing to the nightdress. Next morning after breakfast, I along with four other colleagues reached the Airport to board a charter plane that took about four hours to land at our base camp near the city of Dire Dawa. The camp manager, a German national was very happy to see me, as the person who was working as Gravity Meter Operator had to go on an emergency leave due to some medical issues with his family in France, and the work of survey was hampering the whole project. He showed me my sleeping trailer that I will be sharing with another surveyor, a British national. He showed me how to use the Gravity Meter and the paperwork that I will be using to plot the readings after every 100 meters, and the map of the area that has survey tags and other details. He then showed me the pick-up truck that I will be using for the survey. He told me that the truck has a two-way radio that can be used to contact the camp if any help is needed. The working hours starts at 6:00 a.m. and ends at 6:00 p.m., but he has no problem if I finish the assigned survey and return to the camp earlier. After explaining the other important information about living and working, he wished me luck.
After filling my water cooler, I took some fruits and some snacks. Then I started my truck to go to the field and start the survey. After reaching the assigned area that was marked on the map, I started taking readings using the Gravity Meter and completing the printed sheet with details of the survey. I worked until 5:00 p.m. and returned to the camp around 6:00 p.m. After taking shower, I went to the dining room for a cup of tea and some snacks. In the evening before the dinner most of the people in the camp used to sit outside the trailer for drinking beer and chat. As, I did not drink beer, I had a coke and listened to the chat for about an hour, and then went in my room to read some magazine that I found in the dining room. In my room, I also found a history book of Ethiopia.
From this book, it was fascinating to read that Haile Selassie the current ruler of Ethiopia was made a Ras and Regent for the Empress Regnant Zewditu, and after her death on November 2, 1930, succeeded her as the Emperor.
From next day, I started leaving the camp at 6:00 a.m., and returning in the evening after completing the assigned work. Sometime I even exceeded the assigned target and returned earlier. My camp Manager was very pleased with my work and never asked me why I came back from work so early. Every night, I used to wonder, what am I doing in this desert? What happened to all the hard work that I had done for four years to get an engineering degree in Electronics and now I am working as if I have no degree, because anybody with a high school diploma, could do this job. I was also missing the city life of Karachi, the people, the culture, my family and friends.
Every week I used to wait for the mail from my family. After waiting for more than four week, I got the first letter from my parents. My father replied my letter in English, but my mother wrote in our own language, Urdu. Let me also make this clear for the readers, that in Pakistan, most of the public schools, or even privately owned were using local language, Urdu in Karachi, or English as the medium of instruction for all subjects. The tuition and other expenses for English medium schools was higher, thus only limited number of parents could afford to send their children to English medium schools. My father did all he could to send us to the English medium schools.
After working almost 12 hours per day, 7 days per week for 12 weeks, I returned to Pakistan for a 4 weeks recreational leave, all paid for by the company. My friends and my family did not believe me when I told them about this 4 week off after 12 week’s work at company’s expenses, and that I will be going back to work again. They thought that I was “fired”. After spending the 4-week holiday, I returned to my camp in Ethiopia.
Haile Selassie’s rule in Ethiopia continued until 1974, at which time famine, worsening unemployment, and the political stagnation of his government prompted segments of the army to mutiny. He was deposed of his power, and put under house arrest, until his death, which according
When I got the appointment letter from the regional office of an American company, Petty Ray Geophysical, located in London, I was excited for a better paying job and that I would be working overseas, but I was rather skeptical for my prospect or staying long with the company. I did not shared my feelings or concern with my family. The letter stated that I would be working in Ethiopia as a Gravity Meter Operator; my Camp Manager would explain the details of the job. The letter also had details of the pay and other benefits.
After a long flight from Malta, where I had to go to get visa for Ethiopia, as there was no Embassy or Consulate in Pakistan, I landed at the International Airport of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. There was no baggage terminal at the airport in the 1970’s, I had to go out of the lounge, pick up my baggage and carry it back to the lounge for checking by the custom officer. When I came out of the arrival terminal of the Airport I saw my name in one of the many signs that some people had who came to pick up the visitor to this city. I approached the person whose sign had my name, and introduced myself to him. He has happy to see, greeted me by saying “Welcome to Ethiopia”. He guided me to walk to the company’s Land Rover pickup truck and after a short ride through the streets of Addis Ababa, which I was seeing for the first time, he stopped in front of a house, which was a rest-house-cum-office-warehouse.
The Manager was a British national in mid-forties. He welcomed me and showed me the guest room, where I would be spending the night. He said the dinner would at 7:00 pm and showed me the dining room. I took a quick shower and changed into a casual dress and went to the dining room, where the Manager introduced me to the other staff, including those who had just returned after having a week’s break and would be going back to the camp tomorrow with me. After a three-course dinner, we had some desert and coffee. I was surprised to know that most of the meat, vegetables and other cooking materials, including ice cream is shipped from London or other European countries on a weekly basis.
After dinner, the Manager told me that the breakfast would be available in the dining room from 6:00 a.m., and the driver will leave at 7:00 a.m. to take me and the other staff to the airport to take the plane to go to the camp where I would start working from tomorrow. After the dinner, I went to the guest room, and went to bed, after changing to the nightdress. Next morning after breakfast, I along with four other colleagues reached the Airport to board a charter plane that took about four hours to land at our base camp near the city of Dire Dawa. The camp manager, a German national was very happy to see me, as the person who was working as Gravity Meter Operator had to go on an emergency leave due to some medical issues with his family in France, and the work of survey was hampering the whole project. He showed me my sleeping trailer that I will be sharing with another surveyor, a British national. He showed me how to use the Gravity Meter and the paperwork that I will be using to plot the readings after every 100 meters, and the map of the area that has survey tags and other details. He then showed me the pick-up truck that I will be using for the survey. He told me that the truck has a two-way radio that can be used to contact the camp if any help is needed. The working hours starts at 6:00 a.m. and ends at 6:00 p.m., but he has no problem if I finish the assigned survey and return to the camp earlier. After explaining the other important information about living and working, he wished me luck.
After filling my water cooler, I took some fruits and some snacks. Then I started my truck to go to the field and start the survey. After reaching the assigned area that was marked on the map, I started taking readings using the Gravity Meter and completing the printed sheet with details of the survey. I worked until 5:00 p.m. and returned to the camp around 6:00 p.m. After taking shower, I went to the dining room for a cup of tea and some snacks. In the evening before the dinner most of the people in the camp used to sit outside the trailer for drinking beer and chat. As, I did not drink beer, I had a coke and listened to the chat for about an hour, and then went in my room to read some magazine that I found in the dining room. In my room, I also found a history book of Ethiopia.
From this book, it was fascinating to read that Haile Selassie the current ruler of Ethiopia was made a Ras and Regent for the Empress Regnant Zewditu, and after her death on November 2, 1930, succeeded her as the Emperor.
From next day, I started leaving the camp at 6:00 a.m., and returning in the evening after completing the assigned work. Sometime I even exceeded the assigned target and returned earlier. My camp Manager was very pleased with my work and never asked me why I came back from work so early. Every night, I used to wonder, what am I doing in this desert? What happened to all the hard work that I had done for four years to get an engineering degree in Electronics and now I am working as if I have no degree, because anybody with a high school diploma, could do this job. I was also missing the city life of Karachi, the people, the culture, my family and friends.
My work involved my taking a reading of the gravity meter and entering it in a form. This reading had to be taken every 100 meter. I had to stop at the small colored flags that had the stake number. These flags were put by our surveyor and marked as lines on a map, and could be hundreds of miles long, going East-West or North-South. To cover the specified area, sometime I was going in one direction and later in the other direction. On most days, my survey would be between 10-15 kilometers. It was the most tedious, monotonous and boring job of my life. Although, the pay was almost six times what I was getting in my previous job, or at least four times that I could get in any regular job in Karachi, but the working hours without the weekends and being away from family and city life was difficult for me. Every day, my drive time from the camp to the work area and return would increase by the amount of survey done the previous day. Hence, every two or three weeks the whole camp had to move to another location that would be nearer to the work area.
Our camp had 10-12 trailers. Three or four trailers were used for sleeping, and each sleeping trailers were divided into three “bed rooms” and each had bunk beds. One trailer was for the kitchen-pantry and dining room. One trailer was for shower and laundry-room. Our camp had a portable rest-room that had a commode resting on a hole dug by one of our driller. Naturally, it had no running water for flushing after using it. I hardly used it, except in an emergency during night. During the day, I used the open area behind a bush or my truck parked about half a mile from the camp. There was no problem with having a privacy, as there was no human being in the “desert” or our camp area for many miles.
All our trailers were air-conditioned and for the electricity, we had a diesel-powered generator. For shower and kitchen use, one truck had to drive sometime more than 100 miles to fill up the tanker. The day of moving our camp was a virtually “day-off”, but it involved more work, as we had to prepare for the move, drive for more than half the day and then set-up the camp again. On that day, everybody was a driver. Sometime, I was assigned to drive my own truck, and sometime I had to drive a big truck was pulling a trailer or the generator. The moving day, was somewhat “fun”, but sometime we had lot of problems, either with trucks or with terrain.
All our food was imported food, bought from the stores in Addis Ababa, and brought to our camp, every week by the company-chartered plane. Every week I used to wait for the mail from my family. After waiting for more than four week, I got the first letter from my parents. My father replied my letter in English, but my mother wrote in our own language, Urdu. Let me also make this clear for the readers, that in Pakistan, most of the public schools, or even privately owned were using local language, Urdu in Karachi, or English as the medium of instruction for all subjects. The tuition and other expenses for English medium schools was higher, thus only limited number of parents could afford to send their children to English medium schools. My father did all he could to send us to the English medium schools.
After working almost 12 hours per day, 7 days per week for 12 weeks, I returned to Pakistan for a 4 weeks recreational leave, all paid for by the company. My friends and my family did not believe me when I told them about this 4 week off after 12 week’s work at company’s expenses, and that I will be going back to work again. They thought that I was “fired”. After spending the 4-week holiday, I returned to my camp in Ethiopia.
Haile Selassie’s rule in Ethiopia continued until 1974, at which time famine, worsening unemployment, and the political stagnation of his government prompted segments of the army to mutiny. He was deposed of his power, and put under house arrest, until his death, which according to official sources was natural, but some believe that the army killed him. The new government cancelled all the contracts of the oil companies doing exploration work in the country, and ordered them to leave the country within 30 days. Our company also had to close down their business. The camp manager told me that my contract will be terminated and the company will pay for your return ticket. I did not want to return home and tell my family that I do not have any job. I decided to go to England and try for a job. I had no idea that without a work visa I could not work in that country, or that entering in that country as a tourist I will need more funds and other documents to prove my job. I asked my camp manager to add London as transit-stop for my return journey to Karachi, Pakistan, and I will pay the difference in fare, if any. I do not remember if there was any difference in fare, but what happened at the London Airport is another story, that I will write in my next blog.
to official sources was natural, but some believe that the army killed him. The new government cancelled all the contracts of the oil companies doing exploration work in the country, and ordered them to leave the country within 30 days. Our company also had to close down their business. The camp manager told me that my contract will be terminated and the company will pay for your return ticket. I did not want to return home and tell my family that I do not have any job. I decided to go to England and try for a job. I had no idea that without a work visa I could not work in that country, or that entering in that country as a tourist I will need more funds and other documents to prove my job. I asked my camp manager to add London as transit-stop for my return journey to Karachi, Pakistan, and I will pay the difference in fare, if any. I do not remember if there was any difference in fare, but what happened at the London Airport is another story, that I will write in my next blog.
Rambler's Corner 