One of the other things that I was keen to do, and that has taken a while to happen (for all sorts of reasons) was to teach in a local Elementary School, mainly to demonstrate that Active Learning Methods (which I teach on the Higher Diploma Programme) can be applied in Ethiopian schools with large classes. My first lesson was a nightmare! I expected better behaviour and the Module that I was given to teach suggested quite a high level of English. Neither assumption was correct. In my second lesson, I displayed ground rules and lowered my expectations. I teach one [View Full Entry]

---

---

One of the tasks that the College asked me to do when I first arrived, was to support Mengesha, the HIV and AIDS Coordinator in running an Anti HIV and AIDS Club. We had done plenty of administrative work, e.g. writing an action plan, but all at once there was some activity. Menegsha organised for the local Health Centre to come to the College to do Voluntary Counselling and Testing. One of the activities that I was keen to do, was to run gender and assertiveness workshops for female students - partly because they tend not to contribute in lessons and [View Full Entry]

---

---

22 February - 1 March 2007 On Tuesday there was a rumour that the College was going on Tour! But nothing was confirmed. On Wednesday, I was told about the Tour and that we were leaving that afternoon! I went home to pack and phone VSO (I’m going to be away from Robe for more than 24 hours … Where are you going? … I don’t know…. How long will you be away for? … I don’t know!). We eventually left on Thursday. Everyone got on the bus at 11.45, then it was decided that we needed a sign in the [View Full Entry]

---

---

Getting the local bus to Bale Mountains National Park, at Dinsho, we called in to meet James (who works for the Wolf Conservation Programme) before heading up Dinsho Hill. Meeting James was a stroke of luck for Clare as he had family staying, who were heading to Addis (or Finfinee as it is called in Afaan Oromo) on Thursday, and kindly offered to give her a lift as she was planning to go by bus. The headquarters compound at Dinsho is such a peaceful place. We walked to the top of the hill for lunch, stopping as Mountain Nyala crossed our [View Full Entry]

---

---

Shashemene is described in the Lonely Planet Guidebook as “a strong contender for the least-attractive-town-in-Ethiopia award”. Probably an apt description! Clare and I were going to Robe, and had to stay overnight in order to get the 6.30 bus from Shashemene. We decided that we may as well stay there, instead of making extra trips to Awasa - besides which it was not somewhere we would either like to stay in alone! We found a hotel not too far from the bus station, and decided that sharing a room was preferable for economy, and for safety! It is possibly the cheapest [View Full Entry]

---

---

On Friday, Clare and I took a local bus up to Chencha, after sitting on the bus for two hours in Arba Minch, waiting for it to fill up. We decided to get off at Dorze, and walk the rest of the way to Chencha as Clare had not been to Dorze before. The huts at Dorze are different to houses found elsewhere, and look like giant beehives. The walk was pleasant, but unfortunately, accompanied by every single child we met asking for money. Some tourists must give in to their demands of “Give me one Birr!” otherwise they would not [View Full Entry]

---

---

An hour after I was supposed to have been collected, I was still sitting on a rock outside Textiles. The sunrise was impressive and birds began to sing their morning chorus. Still I waited. Eventually, the promised 4-wheel drive arrived, with not only Michael (a random German tourist Clare had met in a shop and introduced to me to share the costs of going to Nechisar National Park) but an American couple, working in Addis, an Ethiopian living in Germany and his friend from Addis, in Arba Minch on holiday. Crowded, but cheap! Our guide, Kapo - who is mentioned by [View Full Entry]

---

---

After breakfast at Teresa’s, Clare, Victoria and I headed off to Arba Minch - which means Forty Springs, stopping en route to buy pineapples. Deb and Alastair from Bale Mountains overtook us on the road from Shashemene to Sodo- what are the chances of that? We didn’t arrive in Arba Minch until after dark, so Clare and I were dropped off at Textiles (the compound where she lives) and arranged to see Victoria at work the next day. Clare’s house, and the compound, was very different to what I imagined. The compound is a large grassed area with many more houses [View Full Entry]

---

---

This was only the second time that I had been to Dilla - the first was when first leaving Addis to come to Robe - and it was much bigger than I remembered it, although, as it turned out, when we originally dropped Teresa and Lennie off, we didn’t go through the main part of the town. This time, we were there for a Higher Diploma Programme workshop and I travelled down with Getu, one of the Higher Diploma Tutors. In the end, Getu and I stayed in Awasa overnight, rather than pushing on to Dilla. It also meant that we [View Full Entry]

---

---

I knew that yesterday was a public holiday for Timkat (Epiphany) but I didn’t know what it entailed as nobody told me. Although to be fair, I didn’t make a real effort to find out. Yesterday, as the College was closed, I pottered. I had a really quiet day, enjoyed reading in bed until 9am, did some laundry - I figured it was about time I washed my dressing gown that mum and dad sent out to me. Then in the evening, I hired the DVD of The Notebook, which is based on a book by Nicholas Sparks. I have read [View Full Entry]

---

---