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 English lesson a week to a Grade 6 class (ages 10 - approx. 16). Now, lessons are going well and the students seem to have got used to my Farenji ways of teaching. It is, ... read more

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 front window. We left the College at 11.50, stopping four times before the roundabout to pick up people or luggage. Then, the cry went up… “What about lunch?” So, we stopped in Robe for an ... read more

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 hotel I have ever stayed in - working out at the equivalent of 80 pence for the room (i.e. 40 pence each!). We also managed to find a small place, no more than someone’s front ... read more

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 name in the Lonely Planet - sat in the back. Driving into Nechisar National Park, the first climb gives amazing views of the lake before dropping down onto savannah - and the first sightings of ... read more

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 could get a lift in the morning with the HDP Leaders from Arba Minch, who did have a car. The workshop was actually very good - much, much better than I thought it was going ... read more