Day 6

Thursday 9th July

This morning we woke up and had our reflection time, including an inspirational thought for the day led by Alex and Ben. After three days we acknowledged that energy levels were beginning to wane- but this was made up for by the constant encouragement and enthusiasm from everyone on the team. We had breakfast and got on the bus. On the way to our site we were stopped due to a security check. After 10 minutes or so parked midway round the roundabout we set off again. The bus dropped half of the team off at the Community site, while the other half went back to the school.

Today's work was the same on both sites- wall building. The Community site's walls were to be started and built from the ground, while the School site's walls were started yesterday, so the walls were higher. 

Both teams received an extremely warm welcome from the people at their sites as it is obvious that the locals are becoming more and more comfortable with the 'strangers' who have come to work in their areas. Stephen was made particularly welcome at the Community site by an extremely large beetle which landed on his back. (He described it as feeling like a stone had hit him.) Peter got a similar welcome to the school by a very colourful butterfly. 

We were instructed by Zee to take more breaks throughout the day so as to make sure we didn't burn out- so reluctantly we took heed. Both teams enjoyed spending time with the people at their sites, learning more about them, and enjoying the daily Coffee Ceremony. 

Despite the breaks both teams worked very well and made substantial progress before lunch. 

Wall building at School site

Mixing cement at School site

For lunch we returned to the usual hotel where the first thing we noticed was the step up in security. We were all scanned or patted down on the way in. This is undoubtably due to the UN conference running in Addis next week, when world leaders will come together to discuss Financing for Development. 

After lunch we all went back to the school site for a tour of the school. It was very interesting to find out what the children here learn. First we were shown the senior school, where pupils are studying for their leaving exams-the equivalent of our GCSEs-in a class of 65 pupils. The teacher would teach in a room smaller than the average classroom at home, from one textbook- the pupils don't have access to textbooks. We were shown the school library, which has less books in it than most classrooms at home! It was explained that they provide education for free to the local children- but this means that they do not receive government funding for resources. 

School Library

We were then shown the kindergarten section of the school. Surprisingly there were more resources here, but we were then told that these resources had either been made or bought by the teachers. We sampled some of the teaching tools including the infamous ladybird jigsaw which had been hand made by a teacher. After many failed attempts by various team members to complete the jigsaw, up stepped thee dream-team of Stuart and Ashley to show that it was in fact possible. While celebrating the victory we were told that the jigsaw was for 6 year olds and most of them could do it with their eyes closed!!

David sitting in on a teachers planning meeting (7 weeks before term starts!)

During the tour we were hit by another tropical storm, which meant that the community group were unfortunately unable to return to their site. 

During the rain we had the opportunity to teach the locals about Northern Ireland, and we also learnt some more about Ethiopia from them. Zee told us, "we are cut off from the world- not many people travel. Not many know about the outside world." He also explained that, "Ethiopians are great at marathons because they have good food- like milk and barley. They run to school 15/20km in barefoot at high altitude- so on good tracks it is no problem. We love athletics, but not as much as football- but even in football we are one of the worst in Africa!"

Alex teaching Ethiopians about Finn McCool

Due to the rain both teams had to stay at the school site after the tour. This meant there were too many people to do the work at the school so half of the team played football with some of the local children. 

Team picture with teachers

We left the site around 5.30pm to head back to the guest house for dinner and entertainment. We enjoyed a game of Empires led by Stephen and Fiona. Everyone liked the game so much (compared to the previous night's quiz!) that we wanted to play 2 or 3 times.

Post by Ashley Parks