Fendika....What a Day......

The last few days have been interesting. Our students had exams last week and vacation this week before they start second semester. Liz and I have had quite a bit of free time. We toured Axum and Lalibela last week, which was amazing.  Really great pictures. Personally, I thought that Axum was just ok but Lalibela was really wonderful.

Something really interesting happened to us today. Liz and I are going to Addis until Sunday to relax a bit and get some stuff for the house. Yesterday when we woke up, Liz was looking out of our balcony window and commented that it looked like a snowstorm. It was a complete white out. We couldn’t see any of the surrounding landscape outside of our neighborhood - very weird. So today we went to the airport for our flight. As usual it was delayed, but the reasoning behind this delay was unique. It is dust that is covering the sky and really everything around us. Dust from Sudan is blowing into Ethiopia and causing airports to shut down. One of our coworkers told us that it could sometimes take up to two days for the dust to clear. I was really looking forward to going to Addis but we had to put that plan on hold for another day. Hopefully, we will be able to get out of here tomorrow morning.

For the last couple of days a group has been in town from New York. We got a chance to hang out with and meet some great people. These trips are really fun for us and are a nice change from our normal schedule. This one though was particularly special. One of the participants in this trip was a woman, who together with her son, raised and donated money to build a schoolhouse and well in a rural area outside of Gondar. The school is called Fendika. I had the pleasure of visiting this school with the University of Maryland trip and interacting with the students two weeks ago.

The history of this school is great. Three years ago our program director visited the area and found a first and second grade class. First grade was learning under a tree that is now directly behind the new building and second grade was a bit further away under another group of trees. These students and teachers now have classrooms, desks, benches and chalkboards. They also have a clean water source about 50 yards from the building. Really a remarkable story.

Now back to yesterday – it’s even more remarkable that one of the donors traveled from America to Ethiopia to see it. Although students are on vacation now about 50 students showed up to welcome her. A makeshift plaque was hung on the wall and uncovered to show this donor’s family name. The children were singing, “Welcome, welcome, welcome!!” when we arrived. It was really powerful. As if this wasn’t enough she brought soccer balls, volley balls, jump ropes and arts and crafts for the students. The chairman of the village had us in his home for some injera with milk and berbere (a first for me and absolutely delicious although, yes, it sounds gross). The whole experience couldn’t have been better. We all had a lot of fun. We finished up with a traditional coffee ceremony before we left.

As often happens in these situations, specifically when you come to rural areas bearing gifts/donations, the kids start to get a little riled up and it can get chaotic. A lot of the kids started asking for money, which can get really annoying really fast. When we started to leave the kids followed us. It was a crowd of about 30-40 kids at this point. I lagged behind a bit to talk to a few of the kids as we walked. As we were walking along I felt something hit my backpack. I thought nothing of it. Then I saw something fly over my head and break on the ground a few feet in front of me. Then something hit me in the shoulder. I turned back to see a bunch of kids throwing rocks and clumps of dirt at me. This made me angry. This was one of the few times here that I was fuming mad. We just spent two hours dedicating a school and giving out fun stuff for the students and this is how they react? Throwing rocks at us, at me, as we leave? I was shocked. Who would act like that? How did the mood degenerate so much as to make some young kids think it was ok to throw rocks at people visiting their school and their village – one of these visitors being the person that made that school and well possible? It took me a few hours to get over this and I had to literally tell myself over and over again to not let the end of our visit cloud the great experience that we all just had.

This is a microcosm of how life is here. You have incredible highs and unbelievable lows. You have to take the good with the bad. It’s difficult to keep your cool sometimes but you have to no matter the circumstance. This place is different. People here act differently. I have to understand and accept that. I also realize that every day isn’t going to be a cakewalk. My patience is tested often and it keeps me grounded. So what do I choose to remember about that day? I remember someone traveling from America to see the results of her donation to a tiny village in Gondar, Ethiopia. I remember the look on this amazing woman’s face when we arrived and the children were clapping and singing. I remember the exact words that the chairman of the village said to this woman and how caring they were. I remember having a wonderful experience….and that’s all I remember.  

Give Me Five Birr??

After being on vacation for so long we’ve transferred back into work perfectly. The only thing that’s been difficult at school is getting used to lower attendance. Just like in the States when work slows down between Christmas and New Years, students tend to stop showing up between Genna (Ethiopian Orthodox Christmas) and Timket (Epiphany). Many people leave town to visit their families or their families are making the journey to Gondar. Whatever the case, work and school seem to be on the back burner even as we approach final exams for the first semester. During the last two weeks, we regularly find about 15-20 students in our final classes of the afternoon session, a far cry from the 65-70 students that should be there. This being the case the students that do show up have been incredibly well mannered and as eager as always. Final exams are the Monday following Timket, which is in 9 days. Most of our classes haven’t completed Unit 6 yet (the final Unit before finals) and we still need time to prepare for finals. I smell a time crunch coming….

This week we dove into the chapter in our exercise books about HIV/AIDS. I find this material interesting, not simply for the educational value for the students, but because I like learning what the students know and don’t know about HIV. We’ve regularly had students in different sections contend that you can get HIV by drinking after someone with HIV or getting your hair cut by a barber who has previously cut the hair of someone who has HIV. It’s shocking to me that some students know so little about HIV but it’s all around them. We haven’t asked the question yet but I’m sure some of these young people know or knew someone with HIV. It’s also very possible that HIV in one way or another has directly affected a lot of our students. It’s such an important issue that it’s in their English textbook. Throughout all my years of school I never had one specific lesson in any class devoted solely to the topic of HIV. I chose to write a term paper about HIV/AIDS for an African history class. When my family was in South Africa years ago we visited an AIDS clinic and I was stunned. There were babies, toddlers, young adults and elderly people there. HIV affects people young and old; age has no bearing. It’s important that we talk about this subject with these young people.

After finishing a great day on Wednesday I was walking out of school over to our car. I felt good about the day. The lesson plan was great and the students took to it brilliantly. Classes were lively. As I strolled down the sidewalk one of my students came jogging after me yelling, “Max, Max!”. I stopped and greeted her. She stood there for a half second before asking me, “give me five birr?”. I’m your teacher. You’re my student. No student would dare ask any other teacher at Fasiledes for money. It’s something that is just inescapable here. We’ve been teaching here for over four months and some of our students still look at us as rich Westerners who are willing and able to hand out money. I really thought I was safe from all of that at my place of work. It turns out I’m not. It was really disheartening but something that you have to deal with here. Here, I am always going to be the rich Westerner and as much as I think I’ve assimilated someone is always willing to bring me back down to Earth.

I Homesick You

Coming back from vacation is tough, especially to Gondar. I got used to life here and the transition for me was relatively seamless. I was in a great groove with work and what you could call a social life. But going away and experiencing a place like South Africa and coming back to Gondar is difficult. Life in general here is difficult and it takes hard work to find any kind of normalcy.

That being said I am happy to be back home. To get back into that groove of working at school and on some fun projects is wonderful. I feel rejuvenated and motivated.

Our trip to South Africa could not have been better. We went on safari. spent a lot of time exploring Cape Town and the coast (wine tour, lounging on the beach at Camp's Bay, V&A Waterfront, Long Street, Cape Point, Boulders Beach and lots more). We ate a ton of good food and enjoyed the nightlife. We met some amazing people. Like I said, couldn’t have been better.

We came back to school on Wednesday and the students and teachers were happy to see us. Everyone came up to us and said, “Welcome!” as if we’d never been there. What they meant was welcome back, which we’ve been suggesting. One of our fellow teachers said “I homesick you”….to which I responded flatly “what?”. What he meant was that he missed us and we both had a good laugh. The teachers are genuine and they enjoy having us around. They enjoy conversing with us, learning about America and teaching us about Ethiopia.

The students were great this week. Every class was excited to have us back and really well behaved. I am equally as excited to see the kids and get back to work. They are making good progress in their exercise books and will soon be gearing up for final exams.

Monday is Genna, Ethiopian Christmas. We don’t have class and everything shuts down. Everyone spends this holiday with his or her families and most Ethiopians attend church. I was told that there’s a big meal as well, which hopefully one of our friends will invite us to attend because lord knows I love to eat!

It’s funny, some of the teachers here have been telling Elizabeth and I that we look “fat”. Now, I’ve never eaten more food in my life than I did in South Africa so they may be saying this literally. However, it’s a common saying here that when someone looks healthy people will say that you look “fat”. I prefer this meaning but honestly who knows…..

Happy New Year to everyone. I hope this year brings new challenges, adventures and successes. 

A few pictures from our travels:

In the cage

Jaws........cage diving with Great White Sharks at Dyer Island

Liz and I on Table Mountain

Some of the 12 Apostles over Camp's Bay

Clouds coming over Table Mountain w Cape Town below

A Pride

Sleepy Lion

Giraffes

White Rhino

Beautiful sunset over Camp's Bay

In Franschhoek on a wine tour

With some friends after we hiked up Lion's Head to watch sunset

Back To Joburg

Safari was amazing. We saw all of the Big Five, eventually spotting a leopard on our last night safari. The food couldn't have been better - I haven't been hungry in four days. The company was wonderful, we met a Swedish couple who live in Cape Town that we will meet up with in a few days. Most importantly, I had an amazing time hanging out with Liz as her birthday approaches. For our final dinner at the lodge, the staff set us up in the wine cellar and we had a very romantic dinner just the two of us. It's a shame that Merv and Shirley couldn't join us but they had a romantic dinner of their own in their room. They are an adorable older couple from Pretoria.

I can't believe it's already December. Time is flying. We came back to Johannesburg early this afternoon and are staying at a really beautiful hotel. We got a taxi from the airport and the driver ended up being our tour guide for the day. He took us to Soweto, the Apartheid Museum and Nelson Mandela's house. The city is different and beautiful in it's own way. I'm pretty tired from our schedule the last couple of days but we're powering through. South Africa, and Johannesburg in particular, has a very unique history. I actually took a class on South African history in college but sadly I don't remember much. I am picking up bits and pieces from people that we interact with.

Democracy is a fairly new concept here. Nelson Mandela was released from Robben Island only a little more than 20 years ago. This city went through a monumental change in a short amount of time. From the Apartheid government to democracy in a few years. Soweto was the scene of a grisly confrontation between school children and police that left 29 young people dead in 1976. There are deep seeded racial issues here. Everyone that we've talked to discusses them. I find it fascinating. America was there 50 years ago. Things don't change overnight. There's a rich culture here and the people are incredibly friendly. That being said.....I can't wait to get to Cape Town!!


Liz and I have some great stuff planned for the next few days and thanks to our friends on safari we have about 10 more restaurants to visit and places to go. I can't wait to have a drink on the beach with my shoes off and my feet in the sand. The thought alone puts a smile on my face. We are diving with great white sharks in a couple of days, we have a wine tour planned in Franschhoek and then tons of time to kill doing whatever we want.

A few more pictures from the last few days:

Cape Buffalo skull 

Hyena

Playing Scrabble 

There's a storm coming

Pretty bird

The Lodge 

First Day of Safari

Yesterday was unbelievable. Liz and I got to Johannesburg on Friday afternoon. We stayed at a nice hotel that literally had everything you could ever imagine: casino, theater, movie theater, 10 restaurants, bars; you name it they had it. Of course for our eating pleasure we chose Hooters.....I haven't had chicken wings in too long....

The following morning we left for safari. When we stepped off of the plane it was really hot and humid. This is weather that we are now completely unaccustomed to. I haven't stopped sweating for about 24 hours. It makes me not miss the weather in DC at all. That being said, we had a fantastic lunch and hung out by the pool and lounged around in the sun for a couple of hours before going out on our first ride.

When we did leave the lodge the weather was much more beautiful. The sun started to set about an hour into our ride. It was warm but the breeze in the jeep was great. We saw some small animals like Impala, that were ok, but nothing spectacular. Then out of nowhere CRUNCH!! Liz spotted a baby elephant tearing apart a big bush. We cruised over right next to it. It was a young male and as soon as we pulled up it faced us and flared it's ears. Thank you for the photo op young elephant. We ended up seeing a mother, a one month old baby and two young males with her. As we continued to drive we came upon a pack of about 25-30 elephants....a tide if you will.....all walking together through the woods. It was unreal. There were babies, huge males and females and young ones too. It was a sight:

 Next we stopped to enjoy the sunset, which was surreal. We planned this trip a while ago and it was so nice to finally be here. It was so much better sharing this experience with Liz. We had a drink as the sun went down. The colors were magnificent. I don't drink gin and tonics but I had one then; it seemed appropriate.

With an hour left in our first safari ride we happened upon a pride of 20 lions. There was one full grown male with a beautiful mane and one young male. All the rest were females. It was now dusk and the pride was walking in single file beginning their hunt. The sky got dark very quickly.

For about the last 2 hours of our ride you could see lightening everywhere and dark clouds. You couldn't help but notice it all around us but we were pretty preoccupied with the animals. As we followed this pride of lions around the lightening closed in. Soon it was literally encircling us and very close. Our ranger decided to head back. As soon as we started driving the skies just opened up. I honestly can't remember ever seeing a storm like that. The lightening lit up the darkness like daytime. The rain slashed faces as we drove back to the lodge. We were about an hour away. They had ponchos in the jeep so we put them on but Liz and I were already soaked. We are in a group with two older couples. Liz and I kept our hoods down and just got drenched. As we were tearing down these dirt roads Liz and I were cackling and howling in the back of the jeep like a couple of seven year olds. I haven't laughed that hard in months. It was that wonderful childish laughter that you just can't stop. We were crying laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation all the way back to the lodge. Upon our return we showered up and had an amazing dinner with a good group of new friends. We are the only Americans at this particular lodge and it is interesting hearing everyone's backgrounds.

What was your Saturday like......?

Couldn't be happier to be taking a break from work and getting ready to celebrate Elizabeth's birthday on the 14th!!

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.