Liddeta Alternative Basic Education School


Stones for seats


Some of the farmers who support the school

Sometimes I lose sight of the scale of the problems here and also how positive people can be in a situation that looks awful. This morning I went with Meleshew, Jan (previous VSO vol) and two people from the Link Ethiopia charity in the UK, Matt and Ashley, to visit Liddeta ABE school. Link Ethiopia is a charity set up originally at Dr Challoners School to build links between UK and Ethiopian schools, and to channel donations raised in the UK to fund improvements to schools in the Gondar area. An ABE school (Alternative Basic Education) is a simple school set up in a rural area to provide a reduced-curriculum primary education to children who otherwise cannot attend a regular school, often because the children are needed to work on the family farm when they would normally be expected to go to school. ABE schools are largely funded by their local community and have no resources or facilities. Liddeta ABE school has around sixty Grade 1 students and is lucky enough to have a roof over the “classroom”. The local people want to build a second classroom and each family has already contributed 30 birr towards the cost. Hopefully now Link Ethiopia will provide more funds to build better facilities. The kids were busy engaging with a maths lesson when we arrived and were fascinated by the sight of four ferenjis coming to see their school. There was something quite moving about seeing such a stereotypical sight of children being educated in a “developing” country and realizing that this wasn’t a picture in a book but is actually how some children have any chance of an education.

After Liddeta ABE school we paid a brief visit to Andinet 1^st cycle school and set off back to college. On the way back we called in to say hello to the Director of a 1^st cycle school that Jan has established a link with her school in Cornwall. We wanted to get back to the college and managed to persuade Meleshew to tell the director that we would stay for a quick cup of tea and then would have to leave. Meleshew’s knowing smile made sense when the spread of food in the living room reminded me of the importance of Ethiopian hospitality. Our “brief cup of tea” turned into lunch followed by a coffee ceremony. Neither the Director or her husband spoke any English, and yet accepting their hospitality and honouring them by staying and eating the food they continually pushed on us clearly delighted them. We just chilled out and accepted that we were making their day. Both of them looked so happy that we had graced their home that the total lack of conversation with them seemed completely unimportant.

The afternoon was mundane in comparison. Meleshew, Mulugeta and I spent some time trying to put together a budget request from the college for next year, even though we are nowhere near being able to plan what we need to do next year. Ah well, just ask for a lot and see what we get.