To go home or to not go home, this has been the issue for us over the last week. We both need a break and want to visit the UK. We have to go to Addis Ababa in mid-May for a VSO workshop so had thought we would go home from there. However, after lots of discussion and thought we’ve decided that it’s better for our colleagues and the work we are trying to do to stay until the end of the academic year at the end of June. On one level waiting feels right, but I’m also a bit daunted at another two months.

The week started badly with a rapid plunge in spirit and energy, improved on Friday morning and then threatened to plunge again. I sat with my two Ethiopian colleagues and had a pretty honest conversation with them about what has worked well this year and what hasn’t. There have been many successes and I was pleased that we could also identify several things that could have been better. What I need to do is work towards supporting them to take more initiative instead of waiting for me to issue instructions all the time.