Awassa


On the road to Addis


Gondar

To misquote Arthur C. Clarke, if working in the UK is like swimming in the sea then working in Ethiopia is like thrashing through treacle. Starting a new job in the UK will seem easy in future. At least you usually have a job description and your boss might have some clear and detailed (if not always correct!) ideas about what you should be doing. Here the bosses have general ideas about what should be done and take the view that you are a ferenji, i.e. an “expert” from a mystical world where everything is perfect, and will just know what to do and will get on and do it. Meanwhile most of my Ethiopian colleagues seem quite happy for the ferenji to tell them what should be done and to accept this without question. I haven’t met many Ethiopians who have the confidence to question, digest and debate while believing that some of their own ideas and experiences are valid and better. There seems to be a big muddle amongst my colleagues about what our roles are. On the one hand we are all equal but they will tend to defer to any thoughts I might have. This is tricky to deal with. My central role is to help build my colleagues confidence and self-belief so they run the show, not me. However, some of my knowledge and ideas are better than theirs, but I don’t want to fall into the role of “wise” foreigner telling “ignorant” locals what to do.

Meleshew, one of my colleagues, took Gill and I to visit the Gondar Town Woreda office. A Woreda is a bit like a Local Education Authority at home. We thought the plan was to meet the Woreda officials and the supervisors of the ten school clusters in Gondar Town Woreda in a getting-to-know-you social visit. What actually happened was that they all wanted Gill and I to discuss the action plan for this year! Fortunately a productive meeting ensued, with each supervisor selecting a “key teacher” for maths and science from each 2^nd cycle school to attend a meeting next week at the college, where we can work with them on a detailed needs analysis. After the Woreda office we visited two primary schools and met the Directors (Headteachers). Visiting a school here is like being slapped in the face by Ethiopia’s problems: drab, dirty, run-down, chronically under-resourced with class sizes of over 70. The cheerfulness of the kids seems unjustified given their surroundings.

Another school visit in the afternoon didn’t happen so Gill and I spent some time brainstorming and sometimes arguing about what the hell we are supposed to do. In the end, I think we have arrived at some ideas on how to approach the key people to explore what our roles should be. This placement will raise some interesting challenges for us personally. In Awassa we had identical roles, shared an office, etc which had its good points but is also not good when you also live together (during our June UK visit, the wife of a good friend of mine exploded with “how BORING!” when I explained that we worked together!). One of the attractions of these Gondar placements was that our roles would be separate with a small overlap. I am supposed to co-ordinate/lead/support/advise (depending on which piece of paper or person I consult) the School Cluster Unit, while Gill is supposed to develop Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for college teacher educators and extend the GEM project (Gondar English-teaching Methodology), which was started by two VSOs last year, into Maths. In reality our roles overlap a lot. This is where ground rules become important. To stop us sliding towards mutual boredom, relationship self-destruction and becoming social outcasts there will be no “shop talk” at home. At least we have separate offices!

As if working here isn’t frustrating enough there’s the thorny issue of computers. Not surprisingly, there aren’t too many up to date PCs here. Luckily I have an up to date PC which was installed, brand new, in June. It’s a Pentium 4 running Windows XP Professional. Very nice. The problem is the antivirus software (Norton) is TWO YEARS out of date. The PC is a standalone so there’s no chance of updates over the internet. It’s also infected by viruses which so far have prevented me from printing and do other annoying things e.g. opening the Command Prompt window causes the machine to shutdown. Not so long ago I had a certain admiration for the ingenuity of virus writers. Now I hate people who write viruses. The damage they cause to people in countries with limited resources is despicable. I’m getting a free up-to-date antivirus from the Dutch VSO IT vol here this week. An original version of Norton antivirus costs over 1000 birr, but you can buy a “cracked” version (an illegal copy) for 100 birr. As for virus writers – absolute scumbags.

Debub Ethiopia College in Awassa


The frerenji Higher Diploma Leaders in traditional Amhara Region dress: a gift from Debub Ethiopia College before we left to work in Gondar, Amhara Region.


Some of our very happy HDP candidates during HDP graduation


Awassa



On the road to Addis Ababa


Gondar: our new home

A busy, satisfying and thought-provoking week. My colleagues have been very patient, welcoming and helpful as I’ve fumbled about trying to get up to speed with what has happened so far and what I can contribute. My job title is “Cluster In-Service Trainer” or “Co-ordinator” depending on which paperwork I look at. Throughout Amhara and Tigray Regions primary schools have been organized into clusters which share ideas and resources under the supervision of a “supervisor” whose job it is to help the teachers in the cluster school implement better ways of teaching. The government teacher training colleges have a cluster unit which organizes of the college to provide training to the teachers in cluster schools and sets up a model classroom in the college as a showcase of teaching ideas and how to use resources. The Gondar CTE cluster unit has two full-time co-ordinators: Meleshew, a strong, driven woman who is almost in charge of the unit by sheer force of character and work ethic; and Mulugeta, a quiet man with lots of experience of designing and making teaching resources from local materials. One of the teacher educators in the college, Alemayehu, has responsibility for co-ordinating the work of the unit. Then there is me. I thought my role might be to lead and manage the unit, but after only a couple of days it has become clear to me that the unit is more than 90% of the way to being self-supporting. They certainly do not need me to “lead”. I see my role as providing support and advice from the background, and most importantly, helping to boost the confidence and status of Meleshew and Mulugeta so they run the unit entirely themselves. I’ve spent this week getting to grips with the action plan and sorting out the cluster unit’s new PC which is already infested with viruses. The PC has antivirus software but it’s two years out of date.

I’m continuing to enjoy the Gondar climate and to get to know the city. Gill and I today walked up to a hotel on a hillside that overlooks the city and were finally able to appreciate its size. We’ve met Gemma and Steve, two non-VSO volunteers here, and had drinks on Friday night with the other VSOs here: there are two Dutch physiotherapists and a Dutch IT consultant at the hospital and Lucy, who was in our intake, who is at Gondar University as an advisor.

We’ve come a long way in a week!

So here we are in Gondar, at last! This time last Wednesday we were frantically packing our stuff with the added burden of having to take the pots, dishes, water filter, etc with us. The college hired a minibus and driver to take us to Addis Ababa where we stayed on Thursday and Friday nights. Addis meant the familiar pleasure of staying at the Yonas Hotel: a second home for all VSO vols. There’s something really nice and touching about walking into a hotel lobby/bar area and all of the staff immediately greeting you by name with smiling faces. The highlights of our visit to Addis included a haircut, visiting the dentist (easily the BEST dentist I’ve ever seen), fish kebab at the Yonas, bumping into Trevor from our intake (he’s been in Assosa near the border with Sudan since February and is now based in Addis) and going to an Indian restaurant on the Bole Road (a road full of Ferenji restaurants and hotels).

Saturday brought another first for us in Ethiopia: flying to Gondar on Ethiopian Airlines. Ethiopian is regarded as the best airline in Africa and I was very impressed. Their aircraft are modern and the service is good. Our flight was via Bahir Dar (55 mins) and then a 15 min hop to Gondar, on 55 seater twin-prop plane. Gondar airport, although small, is the nicest looking airport I think I’ve been to. Gondar is on the tourist trail for foreign visitors and you can tell from the Ferenji-friendly design of the airport.

Seraye, the Dean of Gondar CTE (College of Teacher Education), picked us up and took us to the Red Fox Hotel where we stayed for two nights before moving into our house on Monday. Gondar is very old (an ancient capital of Ethiopia for a few hundred years) and hilly, and most importantly the climate is perfect. It’s sunny all the time, with the odd cloud, warm, slightly breezy and cool. At night it is actually cool enough to justify wearing a fleece when outside. The climate, “feel” of the air, colour of the sky and just general atmosphere is very much of the mountains, which we are: Awassa was on the floor of the Rift Valley at 1800m and Gondar is in the Highlands at 2300ish m. Perfect!

We started work at the college on Tuesday afternoon. My initial impression is positive and there seems to be a lot to do. More tomorrow hopefully.

Our last night in Awassa. The last week has been a bit like working at home, with plenty of stress and adrenalin. After working flat out for over week we have finally finished our work at Debub Ethiopia College. There were moments when we didn't think we could do it, but by trimming a few corners and doing lots of pushing of our colleagues we have achieved the near-impossible. The Moderators from the Ministry of Education spent today at the college checking everything we have done and now it's all over. We've said our goodbyes and are now in the process of packing our stuff before leaving tomorrow morning.

I feel very proud and satisfied with what we have achieved. In just over seven months I've lead 56 two-hour training sessions, conducted 96 one-hour lesson observations, about 70 half-hour professional interviews and many many hours of informal discussions, assessment, meetings, planning an preparation. In that time the 26 teacher educators in my HDP group have developed from talking at their students in a pure lecture style to using student-centred active methods. Some have progressed more than others, but all are now better teachers. There have been many many ups and downs along the way, including mistakes made by me, but I feel a profound sense of achievement. We really have been part of making a real difference to some peoples lives and our own tiny difference to the education system of Ethiopia. Along the way I have learned a lot and really do feel like I've changed a a person.

The staff at the college have been fantastic with us. saying goodbye has been moving. The college held an HDP graduation ceremony on Saturday morning and then took all the candidates and us to Lake Langano for the day on Sunday. What a fabulaous day! We spent most of the day swimming in the lake and then brewed up coffee in the Ethiopian way by the lakeside. After the heat and dust of Awassa splashing about and swimming in a Rift Valley lake all day was magical.

So, after learning to love Awassa with its beautiful lake and relaxed, friendly people we are now uprooting and have to start all over again in a new town. I actually feel quite excited although also a wee bit anxious about starting work on Monday!

The pressure builds. I ran my last HDP session yesterday which had the same feelings around it for me as when you teach your last lesson with a class before leaving the school. Today has seen four lesson observations (two very impressive, one quite good and one disappointingly poor) and fighting to stay on top of sorting out my candidates portfolios of evidence. My temper and tolerance have been pushed at times as a succession of people have submitted portfolios which are missing certain pages, despite my repeated reminders and explanations of how to put it all together. I'm caught in the classic situation of stressing over portfolios which the candidates are responsible for and should be stressing about themselves. They all seem fairly relaxed about it all in a very Ethiopian way while I'm stressing and fussing on their behalf. Yohannes, my art teacher colleague, tried to submit his portfolio even though it was a jumbled mess. I had to grab Mesfin and get him to translate while we sorted it out for him. So, another day of marking and sorting out portfolios beckons tomorrow, and then its HDP graduation on Saturday.

I had a beer last night with some of the other VSOs (our usual Wednesday night get together). As much as I like some of them I feel like I'm detaching from them and Awassa already. Moving on feels "right" even though we're leaving a lot of good stuff behind.

As for "stuff", VSO have told us that we will need to take the cooking equipment, water filter, etc with us to Gondar. We arrived in this country prepared for two years with a rucksack each and one kit bag. At this rate we'll need a truck to move to Gondar.

Blogger is being soooo slow and difficult at the moment.

Another run this morning: up and over Tabor Hill by the light of a full moon.

At last, we have confirmation about our immediate future: we are going to Gondar! We received an email from the VSO country director on Monday night that we will start work at Gondar College of Teacher Education (CTE) on Monday 20^th November i.e. in less than two weeks time. So the plan looks like this: we will continue to work flat out until the end of this week (we are working in the evenings as well at the moment; it’s just like being back home!) to finish the HDP; HDP graduation over the weekend; sort out our stuff at work and pack up our stuff at home on Monday and Tuesday; spend Wednesday with the Ministry of Education HDP team who will be here to moderate our work; leave Awassa and travel to Addis on Thursday; fly to Gondar on Saturday; unpack and settle in on Sunday; and then start work on the Monday. I feel tired already. Actually, I also feel excited. There are many good aspects to life here in Awassa, yet moving on feels right. We will get to live and work in a different part of the country, have new colleagues and get to know a new town which is very different from Awassa. Awassa is known for its setting and relaxed pace of life. Gondar is known for its history (it was the capital of Ethiopia for several centuries) and is very much on the tourist circuit.

After all the stress and anxiety of the last week or so finally finding out was a bit of an anticlimax. We were always happy with the idea of moving to Gondar not least because it’s 400 to 500 m higher than Awassa and therefore cooler. The rainy season has properly ended and the weather has settled into a new pattern: almost-cold overnight, cool in the morning, absolutely baking hot all afternoon and then cool in the evening. The lack of rain means the dust in the air is permanent, and I can taste and feel it in my mouth. The next rain is due in March!

Before we leave though there’s a lot to do. We have a mountain of paperwork and assessment to complete, lesson observations to do and a graduation ceremony to sort out, all by Saturday. Tomorrow is my last HDP session which I am looking forward to but will also feel sad about. The lesson observations I’ve done this week have ranged from encouraging to truly inspirational. Despite the hassles, difficulties, cultural barriers, low morale and my inexperience all of my HDP candidates have changed and developed their teaching.

Much has been going on for the last week or so. Blogger has been slow or inaccessible and there has been continuing uncertainty about our future, which has coloured a lot of my recent experiences here. I had emailed our programme manager and her boss several times to raise the issue of being sent home if VSO cannot find placements. The emails we received in response didn’t address this issue which left us with increasing anxiety, frustration and anger. Eventually I phoned the VSO Country Director in Addis and spilled out our frustration to her. She phoned back a few hours later with some reassurances that if Gondar College does withdraw our placements there will be others VSO can offer. It’s not a cast iron guarantee but simply having our concerns acknowledged, even thoug there was nothing of substance, helped a lot. So, now we are still waiting for news with two weeks left to go before we finish our current placements.

Our working lives have become a blizzard, dust storm would be more appropriate, of paperwork and marking. I have two HDP sessions left to deliver but a pile of assessment to do. The new semester at the college has eventually started more than two weeks after it officially started. I also have about twenty lesson observations to fit in, hopefully by next Friday when our candidates will graduate from the course. In my final individual meetings with them, all of my candidates have gushed appreciation for what we have done for them, and some of them really have developed their practice and, more importantly, their attitudes. At the same time, a lot of the good teacher educators are planning to leave to join government universities, where they will get better working conditions and the chance of funding for a Masters degree. Some aspects of how the college is run remain as crap and inefficient as ever, but at least we have added something to the individuals we have worked with.

We heard on the radio last week reminders about the clocks changing in the UK. We get Virgin Radio on our World Space satellite receiver radio, which means we get to hear the traffic reports for the M1! The announcements made me realize that it must be well and truly autumn in the UK and we now have more daylight hours here than at home. Our sunrise and sunset times are the same as always at approx 0630 and 1830, it’s always sunny but it has been cooler in the mornings and there’s often a fresh breeze in the afternoon. In short, the weather is beautiful at the moment.

We finally made it to the cinema last night. Yes, there’s a cinema in Awassa. When I say “cinema” I’m not talking of some multiplex with popcorn and comfortable padded seats. I’m talking about the main “hall” which is used for graduations and public meetings. It has several hundred hard, squeaky and broken seats. EVERY seat has something wrong with it and throughout the film there were odd squeaks and scraping sounds as people moved in their seats. As a cinema it was not bad: a large screen, fairly decent speakers and a digital projector connected to a DVD player. Every Friday night an English-language movie is shown for a cost of 2 birr (13p!), with English subtitles to help the Ethiopian audience. The movie was some Hollywood crappy straight-to-video effort called “Elizabethtown” starring the guy who played Legolas in the Lord of the Rings movies (what is his name? I waited to see it in the final credits but somebody shutdown the projector!). No matter, watching an American movie with lots of scenes of smalltown America was a mesmerizing experience, as we sat in a wrecked improvised cinema in Ethiopia. I’d love to know what the Ethiopians who watched it made of it all.

Our running has picked up again with 50 min runs starting at 5am every second day, probably as much to do with responding to stress as to needing exercise.

The prospect of being sent home soon (however unlikely that might be) has certainly concentrated my thinking about the idea. We are in some kind of transition state where we don’t want to be here forever, and we do miss lots of things about home, but we are in no rush to move home. What would we do when we finally return home for good? I don’t want to go back to my former life but I’m not sure what I do want to return to.