Blogs from Oromia Region, Ethiopia, Africa - page 10

Two of my friends in Robe have set up a private training institute for Kindergarten teachers. When they first told me about it, I was impressed by their vision and the fact that they had recognised a gap in the market and acted on it. They are using an old clinic and have refurbished the classrooms. They asked if I would help them by teaching some classes, so I spend Saturday mornings teaching three groups. I don’t get paid, but the guys occasionally invite me out for a drink or dinner, which is a great deal. The sessions are about how to teach English to kindergarten children (not an area am I particularly skilled in, but thank goodness for the Internet), which I have based mainly on a phonics programme from the UK. One of the ... read more

Day 1 (Christmas Eve) - Dinsho to Sodota We were dropped off at the Lodge in the National Park Headquarters in Dinsho and bid Elizabeth and Alex farewell - they had been staying in Robe, but were now heading to Arba Minch for the rest of their holiday. The amount of luggage we had didn’t look too bad but once the kitchen equipment provided by our Guide was added, he decided that the original estimate of 4 horses was too low and that we would need 7! Clare, Julian, Steven and Daniel headed off to Dinsho to buy the last essential provisions - 70 litres of water, injera and firewood, while Anna, Gordon and I stayed with the bags. We eventually set off at around 11am: Me (Robe based), Clare (Harar), Steven (Assosa), Julian (Debre Brehan), ... read more

On Monday, I had to deliver a letter to a village around 6 km from Robe, so it was a perfect opportunity to go by horse. Daamaa was being unusually stubborn and not far out of Robe, just stopped; no amount of encouragement would get him moving. Slightly embarrassing! Then an older man took pity on me and started to lead him. He obviously thought I was totally incompetent and when we reached the village and he had to turn off to his house, he handed the rope over to a woman who took great delight in stopping at the house of every one of her friends (and she had many) through the village to explain that she had to lead the Farenji on the horse - we even took a detour to her sister’s house. ... read more

Although it is not part of my actual VSO placement, I am privileged to have a small involvement with a vocational training project for deaf students, at Galema Elementray School, in Robe. The project was set up by Catherine, Emma and Elmy (previous volunteers in Robe) using funding that they helped the school to obtain from the International Deaf Children’s Society. Today was a celebration of the first graduation of students who have completed Year 10. There were several speeches, translated into sign language for the students by Aynalem - one of the Special Needs Teachers at the school. There were also two plays performed. The first, performed by hearing and deaf students, was the story of a couple who had a deaf child; they tried going to a priest and a doctor to get her ... read more

We arose early to try and avoid being gawped at as we got out of bed, and we just managed it. The old man was back, somewhat relieved we felt that we were all in one piece, and of course news had spread that we were there and he had brought his friends - and grandchildren. We politely greeted them all and then ignored them as we ate breakfast as the sun arose across the lake. What a lovely sight. Our audience got bored and pushed off before we departed at about 8 am, our daily target time for departure. South to Shashemane where Jeremy was able to stock up his beer supplies. Here we left the tarmac road and headed eastwards and upwards towards the Bale Mts. But the dreaded Chinese had got here before ... read more