Constantly amazed

OK, a little bit of catch up here. We traveled to the Simien Mountains for Max’s birthday (October 8) and it was wonderful. Amazing to be in Africa’s “grand canyon”. The views were breathtaking. We hung out with gelada baboon and walye ibex. Max and I spotted the illusive red fox on our way back to our tukel one night. The stars were incredible, I have never seen the milky way so bright. Our pictures don’t do the sunset justice, it was spectacular. We met a man from San Diego who works for the foreign service and is stationed in Afghanistan. We are constantly meeting interesting people who choose to travel to Ethiopia for leisure or on a mission but it is one of the greatest parts about traveling.  I am shocked there aren’t more extreme hikers or mountain climbers traveling to this area for the challenge and stunning views. We think a mountain outfitter should set up shop out there! No railings, danger signs or street lights… it really is raw, untouched nature. Without knowing an emergency heli-lift is even possible lends to the adventure there and makes it very different from America’s grand canyon. Overall, it was a wonderful weekend.

School is going well. I already see a difference in the comfort level of the students. We urge them to talk with us during their recess and lots of kids will come up to us to chat. More people are participating in class and I find that we’re eliciting a response from even the shy ones. Granted, some classes are a little harder to handle usually before recess or at the end of the day. I am constantly amazed at Max’s patience. He is a wonder and I admire his dedication.

We have begun site visits to JDC projects and it is absolutely my perk of this gig. On Tuesday we drove 40 km outside of Gonder to a natural spring in Azaycaw. Our journeys outside Gonder are full of great scenery. Ethiopia is stunning. As the rains ended about two weeks ago we are finally seeing the change in the color palette of our surroundings. Light brown and yellow replace the greens that have become muted. Still breathtaking, high peeks and rolling hills, terraced land and all sorts of animals paint our trips outside the city. Azaycow spring is a bit of a hike and we trekked through tall grass and yellowed corn at the end of it’s season and down to the water source. The spring was recently capped and services about 50 households in the area. A villager joined us to answer our questions and Aseffa dutifully translated for us. He said that before the construction of the spring villagers would gather water and hand pick out the worms that were visible to the eye. Inevitably worms and parasites were missed causing abdominal pain and diarrhea to those who drank the contaminated water. It was just a way of life and something they considered their cost of having water. Now that the well has been capped not one case of stomach problems has been reported! The villagers are so proud of their new fresh water source. Each household has donated 2,000ETB of their own money because they would like to hire a full time guard to protect the communities prized possession from misuse.

We hiked back up towards the road and were invited to join the villager and his family for corn. They roast their corn and pick off the large kernels one by one. Max and I made a mess trying to get the hang of it and it was delicious. We sat inside their home chatting alongside their baby goats, chickens, kittens and birds.

This Friday was a trip to visit Tantikura Elementary School. Another 40 km outside Gonder in the opposite direction, the drive was a bumpy one. Our 4WD couldn’t get down the road to the school so we gladly hopped out and walked. Large cactus led the way. I asked if they used cactus to their benefit maybe medicinally or for food and the answer was “yes, for fence”. It was a beautiful walk inland from the main road to find the school tucked away. JDC constructed a new school building to house the pre kindergarten children. Ato (Mr.) Maru, the school’s principal, answered all of our questions. There are 1,021 students (526 male, 495 female) registered but half as many come at any given time. 22 teachers, 5 of those with teacher training in their background. Children are kept at home especially during harvest time. 

They are delighted and appreciative of the new school building which serves as a spillover classroom for the larger classes when the pre kindergarten children aren’t occupying the entire building. Their next project is to work on securing a water source closer to the compound. A stream runs about a half hour walk away but otherwise there is no running water at school. The children were beautiful. They welcomed us with warm smiles and waves. I watched a student ring the school bell under a large tree in the middle of the compound to signal class was over. Every child came to the grassy area to watch the ferengi folk in the principal’s office. It was a bit of a mob scene as we left and a few walked with us the entire way back to the road and our waiting car. Overall, a great experience.

Kindergarten students of Tantikura Elementary

Great action shot, the kids came out to see the visitors. The tree behind them served as the bell to signal the end of class.

I love seeing the impact JDC has first hand on these communities. AJJDC is well known and highly respected here and I am proud to be here on their behalf. The site visits spice up our week and add a deeper meaning to our presence. Talk about a long week though, we are exhausted, a good exhausted! We got a group together to join us at the Dashen beer garden last night and that was a good time and a nice cap to the long week. Again, it is so nice to gain other’s perspectives and hear about their experiences in Ethiopia. Most mimic ours and it is nice to chat with highly intellectual and worldly people. I’m not going to share my opinions on my blog but if anyone reading this has come across similar experiences while traveling or living in a third world country I’d love to compare notes! Most of our heated debates center around the education and health systems. For instance, we were shocked to learn that 85% of the country is illiterate. Ethiopia is also the 2^nd most populous African country with 80 million and yet it is the least urbanized (definitely lends to its beauty but we’re talking about the good of the people here).   

All in all, we are enjoying making Gonder our home. Day by day we learn, see and encounter more and there is no other way to get a deeper cultural experience. Alongside the culture, the sights, the people, and the personal growth are immeasurable. I couldn’t do this without my best friend by my side, he is my rock, sharing the beauty, the understanding, the frustrations, and keeping my feet on the ground and a smile on my face. J

An Ethiopian Education

We started teaching at Fasilides Secondary School. We are teaching 9^th grade students English and focusing on speaking and listening. We coordinated a schedule and will be teaching 6 classes on Monday, 6 on Wednesday and 6 on Thursday. There are 18 sections. . Our first week of classes went very well. As they are still working out the kinks of having less class space, we taught sections that were combined and upwards of 70 students. The sections they are placed in in the beginning of the year is the same class that they remain in all year. Students stay in the classroom and teachers move from class to class. This eliminates the opportunity to separate children by their ability in a subject. Usually the classes have at least one student who is confident in his English and pretty good at it, HE will ask most of the questions and sometimes speaks for the class.  

We had a whole lesson planned out but got to class only to learn that the students have yet to receive their textbooks. We scrapped that quickly and improvised with 40 minute introductions. We introduced ourselves, called on a few students to introduce themselves and told them about Washington, DC and America. Everyone knows and loves Obama. I think it is best for us to speak so that they can hear our inflection and pronunciation. It is hard for them to understand us and our English accent so we speak slowly and usually repeat ourselves. Questions for us mostly revolved around the weather, how we like Gondar and what we thought of Prime Minister Meles’ passing. We were impressed by a few students who offered suggestions as to what they’d like to learn throughout the year (speaking, American culture). When nobody offered to stand up and introduce themselves, we quickly learned we had to call on them. Some were incredibly shy and when other students laughed they sat down immediately. Certain classes went very smoothly, people raised their hands and asked questions and the class flew by. We were shocked to learn that most everyone has a recited introduction; name, age, height, school… I asked one student his age and he responded, “I am fine, thank you”.  And when we asked what they wanted to be in the future, most commons response was “doctor”, second was “engineer” but we were happy to hear two students say journalists, something different! We were curious to learn the age range of 9^th graders. Typically from 14 to 18 years old. Students in public school learn their entire course load in English starting in 9^th grade. With this in mind, it is impressive how many students speak and understand the language. The best at the language say they learn from interacting with foreigners. I would like to suggest that they do their morning announcements in English and Amharic. Currently, every sign on the campus and every announcement is made in Amharic. If they are fostering the understanding of the language I think they should use every opportunity to speak it!

We met most of the English teachers who wanted to work with us to take classes that were convenient for them so that they wouldn’t have to show for the day. We were left to ourselves in these classrooms of 70 students, some who were left without a place to sit. One teacher, Habtamu, has taken us under his wing. We joined him after class on Wednesday to a tej bet. Tej is their honey wine, it is very sweet and yellow. We tried it first in Addis and were not impressed but it is delicious in Gondar, they say because their honey is the best. This particular tej bet was in the Jewish community and an elder man sat near us and spoke to us in Hebrew. He said he was leaving soon for Israel. It was nice to hear Habtamu speak “off the record” about education and government. He learned most of his English as a guide around Lake Tana and now has his masters degree. While not pc for the blog, I found it very fascinating to hear his points of view.

We are enjoying teaching and having our days filled with meaningful work. The school day is very long. The students come for either the morning or afternoon session. Class periods are 40 minutes long. 9^th grade English is taught every other period, therefore we have around 45-65 minutes between teaching and have been soaking up the amazing weather in the courtyard or sipping tea in the teacher’s lounge. It’s nice when BBC is on their tiny television but we bring our books to read or interact with other teachers in the down time. Two women tend the lounge and make the best coffee and a killer egg sandwich for a total 8 birr. We make a point to be outside for the kids’ recess and towards the end of the week they felt more comfortable coming up to us to chat.

The weather is wonderful. Cool in the morning, sunny all afternoon with a cool breeze and usually cloudy later in the day but no rain!