Ethiopia fifty-third day - 17/11/13 otherwise known as 09/03/2006 in Ethiopia!

Lots has been happening since I last posted, we've had big piles of stones dropped onto the road to make it flatter (causing chaos for buses, cars and walkers) which luckily were flattened the next day by a big truck - obviously because of much complaining!

 My little buddy Abraham has now got a "sister" looking after him which means he is bringing food at least every other day. he now says a few words to me at the water tap and gives me big smiles even though he is painfully shy in both Amharic and English. He also really enjoys computer lessons and when I take Grade 2 for English lessons especially handwriting.
My nephew has celebrated his 2nd birthday which I was really sad to miss (especially when everyone was eating yummy cake on skype in front of me) but overjoyed when I called and skyped to see how much he's grown and his speaking has improved. He even gave me a little crazy shake at the table!
This week I was at the central grade school the whole time and between teaching and assisting I have been typing all the library books into a spreadsheet (you know how that goes Lyn). Monday was the only day which was a little different as Dawit came into school before lunch and asked me to come with him to a local school to try to identify/assess a young man believed to be autistic. We duely went around the corner and I got to see what the other schools look like and meet another very exceptional young man. His teacher was complaining because of his behaviour towards other children and objects in the classroom and described him as being unable to hold a pencil and a very
naughty boy. When he came out it was immediately clear that he has Down's Syndrome, which the school had never heard of. Dawit and myself interacted with him - me as much as possible because of the language barrier, he mainly played with my bracelet and asked me lots of questions which I couldn't understand in Amharic! - Dawit tried to provoke a response to see if what the teacher said was true about his behaviour, he handled his arms and tickled his stomach and the boy just played and talked back. We observed him for about 20 minutes unable to stand still but not harming anyone, whilst Dawit tried to explain to the school what Down's Syndrome is and that he would need a one-to-one teacher and specialised curriculum. The school was not really interested and said that the parent would have to pay for an extra teacher if she wished for him to stay there. Dawit asked about the class size and they told us that he was in a nursery class of 45 children and he was hitting others and throwing lunches around regularly. At this point the small boy tried to play with the teachers little girl who was standing next to her and was told "Don't touch him, he's going to hit you" to which he responded by hitting her! The next day the parent contacted Dawit to ask if she could send her son to EAA as he had been thrown out of the school. Dawit and Stephanie are desperately looking for a child sponsorship (£140) and a one-to-one teacher sponsorship (£420) so that they can accept him as an EAA student. I hope that this happens before I leave as I would hate to think of him being at home because he's been kicked out of other local schools. Stephanie and Dawit have been in this situation before, a 5 year old Chloe came to them a number of years back after being kicked out of three local schools. They hired a one-to-one teacher and she completed 5 years of schooling with them. Apparently she hid in the corner at the beginning, due to her ill treatment at other schools and by the end was participating fully in class with the other students and helping out with the nursery and KG children. Let's hope that they get to do this again for the little soldier I saw on Monday!

Yet again I went around to Helena's (grade 3 teacher) for lunch this week and enjoyed lovely Ethiopian fruit and coffee. Her little 4 month old Fickr was also pleased to see me and got very upset when I walked out the door!

I'm busy planning my 10 day trip up North now to visit Ethiopia's most historical sites and take a million pictures - bring on the 10 hour bus journeys and strange food and drink - Axum and Lalibela here I come!

Ethiopia forty-fifth day - 09/11/13 otherwise known as 01/03/2006 in Ethiopia!

After my week off from sickness, I've been back in the grade school most of the week. I've had a little guy on my radar since I got here but this week, he moved to the next level. His name is Abraham and I’m sponsoring him to go to English Alive Academy because I can’t believe how much of a superstar he is. Last year his ancient grandma walked miles with him to EAA to ask if he could have a place. She explained that he had lost both of his parents and was living with her. Stephanie and Dawit immediately accepted him as one of their ‘free’ places as his story was so touching. He has been attending school ever since but recently his grandma has been very ill and has had to be taken to the clinic – sometimes in the middle of the night. This, you may think, is standard practice for an older person, but it’s Abraham’s situation that is not normal. He was left at home alone (he’s six years old) every time his gran had to go, never-the-less, he managed to get up, dressed and walk miles to school each day without complaint or tears. This week I saw him sitting under the tree at break time, while all the other children were eating. I asked one of the teachers what was wrong and she said he had no food. I immediately gave him my biscuits, only to find out that he had had no breakfast and brought no lunch. Since that day we have been taking him a little lunch box and snack from the house to make sure he is fed and looked after at school. He obviously sees it as his safe place because no matter what, he shows up on time everyday.He only has one set of clothes and one set of uniform and he's not a smelly child, which means he's washing his clothes each week. His gran is apparently on death's door and currently at a hospital in the next town, so he's been home alone for a while. I can't imagine being in this situation at six and still coming to school with a smile on my face, for me he is a legend! (he's the boy in white below)

On an even sadder note, a teacher at the KG school lost her husband yesterday, they were heading for the hospital because he was in a bad way and he never made it. So ICT training was cancelled yesterday afternoon and all the staff went to pay their respects at the teachers house. I went to the grade 3 teachers house for lunch and coffee and to meet her four month old baby Fikr. She is a beautiful baby and even though I don't drink coffee, Ethiopian coffee, prepared home style was actually really good! I think I was buzzing all afternoon from it!

Ethiopia Thirty-Eighth day - 02/11/13 otherwise known as 24/02/2006 in Ethiopia!

Well after a three and a half day Internet blackout over Ethiopia (or maybe just my guest house - who knows!!) I'm back to keep you up to date with the latest about my travels.
The children were loving the computers last week and I did a couple of hours staff training on Friday before heading back to the house to watch Despicable Me with the children - good times! I woke up in the middle of the night with a choking feeling and dry horrible throat - bad times!
So I just spent a week in bed after suffering from a horrible bout of Tonsilitis, here's how it went: Saturday my fever went from bad to worse but I just drank lots of water, took paracetamol and stayed in bed all day. I repeated this on Sunday but had the added joy of running to the toilet a lot which is always nice when you feel rough anyway! Stephanie and Dawit came to see me at tea time with some food and decided I  looked awful, so Dawit whisked me off to hospital to get checked out at about 7.30pm - by 8pm I was on an IV drip with my temperature showing 38.6 degrees and so I was told to spend a week in bed and take lovely antibiotics and pain killers until I could use my throat properly again. Unfortunately the side effect to the botics was sickness and diarrhoea so Monday and Tuesday were not much fun at all while my body fought the worst of the infection. By Wednesday I was feeling a lot better but still coughing up blood (very in tune with Halloween!) so on Thursday Dawit took me back to the hospital for a check-up where they took all my vitals and I found out I weigh 66kg! The doctor said that the blood letting is normal as my manky throat skin re-builds itself so I headed home for a celebratory glass of water and some teddy bear cookies!
It's Saturday today and despite not leaving the guest house for a week, I feel soooo much better. Stephanie and Dawit have been excellent, bringing me food and cups of tea three times a day and checking my progress. The guest house manager Solomon has also been very helpful and concerned, bringing me lots of bottles of water! Total cost of two trips to the hospital, with tests, IV, antibiotics etc. = about £35 Well done Ethiopia, you have a great health care system and you are lovely to foreigners!
No pictures I'm afraid - didn't want to give anyone nightmares with my nasty throat!
Happy belated Independence Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Happy belated Halloween for those who celebrate it and Happy Bonfire night (just in case we lose Internet again before Tuesday!)