And the winner of the Earth Data Models survey draw is.... By Gemma Nash

Asselefech Mitiku won the Kindle Fire HD,
seen here with Carl Watson,
EarthDataModels.org project coordinator

So it is our last full day in Addis Ababa (we fly home early tomorrow morning) and our time here has been very productive.

Of the 110 surveys we gave out, to gather information about what people would like us to develop next with our Earth Data Models, we've had 72 returned and it's not yet the end of the day.

The delegates indicated that they wanted geophysics and geochemistry models as their top priorities, with groundwater models coming a close third.

Luckily, we have already released a geochemistry data model, and Andrew McKenzie is confident we can  also release a groundwater model .

We asked the main organiser of the CAG 24 conference, Girma Woldetinsae from the Ethiopian Ministry of Mines, to draw the winner of a Kindle Fire HD at 10:00 today (the Kindle was an incentive to fill in the survey) and a lady from the Ethiopian Mineral Development Share Company, in the booth opposite to ours, won!

Previous days

Thursday was a big day for BGS talks; John Ludden, Tim Duffy and Carl Watson delivered their presentations and other BGS talks are during the week. Thursday's talks brought many people to our booth both to fill in the Earth Data Models survey and to find out more about BGS and OneGeology.

John Ludden presenting his plenary talk

On Friday we had a day off where many delegates went on various mid-conference excursions.

There was a city tour, and two different visits to nearby volcanoes - people kept mentioning the friendly monkeys, which I am upset I missed; there weren't enough places for us all to go along, so Carl and I went on our own mini city tour.

We visited the National Museum to see 'Lucy' (Australopithecus) and view the various galleries and artefacts  After we walked down to the piazza and then for a stroll through some shops for souvenirs.

On Saturday, like today, we were back at the booth, encouraging more interest in our projects and finding out all about the different organisations people work for. We have also established some solid collaboration possibilities; Carl may be visiting some other African countries to help with their database developments!

On Saturday night in the gardens of our hotel, it seemed that everyone who had been married earlier in the day had congregated to have their photos taken! It was a very social affair with much singing and dancing, quite different to an English wedding.

'Lucy' (Australopithecus)

Lessons learned

A key learning point for me, after attending some of the earth science education talks, was that more resources for teaching are needed.

Patrick McKeever, of UNESCO, said that translating 1Gkids into French would really help as a teaching resource for much of Africa. Therefore, I am looking for a volunteer French translator!!!

Visiting Ethiopia has been an inspiring trip. Learning about the many African cultures and the challenges faced by the people of this continent has been quite an experience, which has both awed and shocked me.

The African people we met were all very friendly and I will miss the wonderful weather here, we fear it will be snowing in Nottingham!

(Read John Luddens CAG24 Blog here)

Gemma Nash