A Big Success!

Today was a huge day for Elizabeth and I. This is the first day that we implemented a program that we can completely call our own. I think it was a success. Honestly, it wasn’t too difficult and speaks volumes of the students here. But I digress……let’s talk about the Eye for Zion mission first.

Elizabeth and I had the privilege of spending some time with the Eye for Zion mission that is here this week. These are Israeli specialists in Ophthalmology - some specialize in cataracts, some specialize in glaucoma and one doctor specializes in plastics. All of them were captivating. This is the third year (for some) and fourth year (for some) coming to Gondar. The mission has been a huge success. JDC got involved and helped give them direction, They are not only conducting eye surgeries, but they are educating the Ophthalmologists in Gondar on new techniques and perfecting existing ones. They bring so much experience it’s really amazing.

We got to volunteer one day and help out at the Ophthalmology Clinic in Gondar with the doctors. They gave us scrubs and they let us assist with medial tasks in the operating room. I am really squeamish when it comes to surgery, blood, broken legs, etc., but this was awesome. The attention to detail was amazing. They were literally sticking these tiny utensils into peoples’ eyes and giving them sight again; come into the OR blind, come out with sight. Absolutely incredible and life changing. We took tons of pictures and the doctors liked having us there. The power went out in the clinic right before they began with the surgeries for the day……welcome to Ethiopia my friends.

Us in our scrubs

I should be paying attention to surgery

Liz with Dr. Assia

Close up.....gross I know......

Now to our success. In Ethiopia, classes aren’t separated by ability. In school the classes are separated by age and what grade the student attended last. Hence the reason why we have some students pushing 30 in ninth grade; they went to eighth grade, stopped going, and came back some years later as a ninth grade students. Some students don’t know the English alphabet. Some can’t read or write. Some are fully conversational and really bright. The one thing that all of these students have in common is their capacity to learn; some just choose not to.

About a month ago Liz and I started discussing an English Club. They have clubs at Fasiledes and plenty of them. When I asked one of our professors why there wasn’t an English club he replied because the students don’t care enough. No one would come. Wow, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Two weeks ago I asked two of our best students to meet me during break. They came as instructed. We sat down and I told them that we wanted to start an English Club. The difficult part was that I had no idea what I was doing. I told them that I didn’t know how to get the students together, how to organize it, when to meet etc. One of the two students calmly said, “This is how we’re going to do it” and rattled off instructions to me for a few minutes. I was completely blown away. These kids are really smart. He told me to take two students from each class, one boy one girl, We’d meet on Saturdays so everyone was free. Give me a list by next Monday, he said, with all of the students you want and me and my friend here will get them together and tell them what to do. I just stared at them in shock and said ok.

A week later I had a list, I secured the room at school and we had a time to meet – 12pm Western time on Saturday (TODAY). So we prepared a lesson plan. We want these students to learn to think critically, to formulate and voice their opinion articulately, to think outside of the box and be confident. We turned to poetry for this first meeting. I printed out a poem by an Ethiopian poet. It was simple and good.

To me, the material was important but it wasn’t the most important thing. I thought that no one would show. I was wrong. We got to school and ended up having twelve students, not my entire list but a great start. I asked the students how often they wanted to meet expecting they’d say once a month if ever; they said every Saturday. This means something to them. In order to get teachers to teach them in their free time the students have to pay. I learned this last weekend and it made me sick. They can have our time for free and we will be there as long as they need us to be.

While we’re here, Elizabeth and I plan on doing this every Saturday. I encouraged the students to tell their friends – from other schools, from their kebele, their family members. Hopefully this thing will catch on and grow so that we can start teaching for a few hours on Saturday.

I’ve never attempted anything like this in my entire life. I was a little nervous that no one would show and I was proven wrong. I thought they were there because I told them I’d give them some poetry. Turns out they liked the poetry but wanted to do other things as well. I am constantly amazed by the people here; sometimes good sometimes bad. I will say that some of the lows are pretty low (teachers making the students pay them to come on the weekend for an hour when the students themselves are incredibly poor), but the highs completely restore my faith. These students are smart, driven and willing to give up their free time to be in a classroom. I couldn’t have said the same thing for myself when I was 15. I am happy to be here and proud to be a teacher. It feels good to have the students reciprocate our efforts. They want to be there as much as we do and that makes all of this worthwhile.