Title: Gareth and Dhamayanthi (Ethiopia)

Status: Active

URL: http://ethiopianadventures.wordpress.com/

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Ethio-Pictures–Photographic Exhibition - 21/Apr/2012 19:25 - 4611 days ago
We have a photo exhibition at Blackhall Library now on. It runs from 16th to 30th April. It’s in the lobby as you enter th...
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Ethio-Pictures–Photographic Exhibition - 21/Apr/2012 19:25 - 4611 days ago
We have a photo exhibition at Blackhall Library now on. It runs from 16th to 30th April. It’s in the lobby as you enter th...
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VSO Campaign Continues! - 21/Apr/2012 19:14 - 4611 days ago
I was interviewed recently for the lastest VSO campaign. Here are some videos which talk about the whole VSO experience. One foc...
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VSO Campaign Continues! - 21/Apr/2012 19:14 - 4611 days ago
I was interviewed recently for the lastest VSO campaign. Here are some videos which talk about the whole VSO experience. One foc...
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VSO Edinburgh–Returned Volunteers Talk - 15/Jan/2012 20:42 - 4708 days ago
On Friday night we gave a talk about our experiences to the VSO Edinburgh Group. It was a great evening – lots of discussi...
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VSO Edinburgh–Returned Volunteers Talk - 15/Jan/2012 20:42 - 4708 days ago
On Friday night we gave a talk about our experiences to the VSO Edinburgh Group. It was a great evening – lots of discussi...
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Article In Highland Life! - 20/Dec/2011 19:55 - 4734 days ago
We have now had an article published in the December issue of Highland Life. I might be popping up in other articles soon as par...
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Article In Highland Life! - 20/Dec/2011 19:55 - 4734 days ago
We have now had an article published in the December issue of Highland Life. I might be popping up in other articles soon as par...
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RV Conference - 01/Nov/2011 15:00 - 4783 days ago
In October it was the Returned Volunteers Conference in Harborne Hall in Birmingham. It was very nostalgic to be back in the pla...
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RV Conference - 01/Nov/2011 15:00 - 4783 days ago
In October it was the Returned Volunteers Conference in Harborne Hall in Birmingham. It was very nostalgic to be back in the pla...
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Food! - 16/Oct/2011 12:00 - 4799 days ago
Today is Blog Action Day, so we have decided to write a little bit about this year’s topic – food! Since coming back...
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Food! - 16/Oct/2011 12:00 - 4799 days ago
Today is Blog Action Day, so we have decided to write a little bit about this year’s topic – food! Since coming back...
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Meet VSO - 15/Oct/2011 12:00 - 4800 days ago
On Monday and Wednesday of this week we made presentations at the ‘Meet VSO’ events in Edinburgh. This is a chance f...
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Meet VSO - 15/Oct/2011 12:00 - 4800 days ago
On Monday and Wednesday of this week we made presentations at the ‘Meet VSO’ events in Edinburgh. This is a chance f...
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Scottish Learning Festival - 22/Sep/2011 10:30 - 4823 days ago
Here I am at yesterday’s Scottish Learning Festival in Glasgow working on both the Developing Global Citizens stall and th...
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Scottish Learning Festival - 22/Sep/2011 10:30 - 4823 days ago
Here I am at yesterday’s Scottish Learning Festival in Glasgow working on both the Developing Global Citizens stall and th...
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Another Media Mention - 30/Aug/2011 12:30 - 4846 days ago
Here’s another media mention, this time on the STV website. Click here to go to the article: Here’s my quote: “I w...
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Another Media Mention - 30/Aug/2011 12:30 - 4846 days ago
Here’s another media mention, this time on the STV website. Click here to go to the article: Here’s my quote: “I w...
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Meeting VSO Friends - 29/Aug/2011 20:50 - 4847 days ago
It’s been great to meet up with some folks from VSO days. We met Martin from Mekele and Crissy (a previous Abi Adi VSO vol...
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Meeting VSO Friends - 29/Aug/2011 20:50 - 4847 days ago
It’s been great to meet up with some folks from VSO days. We met Martin from Mekele and Crissy (a previous Abi Adi VSO vol...
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VSO Board - 20/Aug/2011 23:00 - 4856 days ago
Now I’ve returned to my primary school in Edinburgh I am delighted to find that the school have been following my Ethiopia...
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Media Mention! - 11/Aug/2011 22:16 - 4865 days ago
Last week I was asked for a quote about my experiences on VSO for a national newspaper, The Guardian. Here is a link to the arti...
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Awris Dancing - 22/Jul/2011 02:11 - 4885 days ago
Awris is a type of dance originating from Abi Adi and the surrounding Tembien region. It has been described as imitating the mov...
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Driving Into Town - 15/Jul/2011 19:32 - 4892 days ago
Here’s a video of our journey into town. We would do this every few days, often going into town on the college service bus...
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Camels - 14/Jul/2011 19:53 - 4893 days ago
I love camels! Living in Ethiopia has given me the chance to see these animals up close and they really are fascinating creature...
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Goodbye to Ethiopia - 13/Jul/2011 14:10 - 4894 days ago
After leaving Abi Adi we took the plane from Mekele down to Addis Ababa and the next day was spent doing paperwork for VSO to pr...
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Dust Devils in Abi Adi - 13/Jul/2011 13:04 - 4894 days ago
Occasionally we would see mini whirlwinds in Abi Adi. These are called “dust devils” and are quite spectacular as th...
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Farewell Party - 10/Jul/2011 16:59 - 4897 days ago
The day after the graduation ceremony was our last day in Abi Adi. It was a busy Sunday, packing our bags and cleaning up the ho...
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Obama Fans - 05/Jul/2011 08:11 - 4902 days ago
President Obama is popular with the young people in Ethiopia, and you can often see his name and face on T-Shirts and other thin...
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Graduation Day - 04/Jul/2011 10:37 - 4903 days ago
Saturday 25th June was Graduation Day in the college. After three years of study and hard work the students enjoyed this final d...
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Meet The Staff #10 - 04/Jul/2011 10:31 - 4903 days ago
This is Aregawi who works on the main gate as a guard. He is always impressed by our attempts at Tigrigna, and often says “Dah...
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Birds of Ethiopia - 03/Jul/2011 08:33 - 4904 days ago
The birds of Ethiopia are plentiful, colourful and quite spectacular. Here are some of the birds we’ve seen around Ethiopi...
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Meet The Staff #9 - 26/Jun/2011 13:33 - 4911 days ago
This year I have worked closely with Kibreab, the Special Needs instructor at the College. He has been lots of fun and I think w...
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Peace Corps Come To Abi Adi - 22/Jun/2011 18:05 - 4915 days ago
Yesterday we had two visitors, Thor and Ally who are new Peace Corps volunteers from America. They will be teaching English at A...
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Creepy Crawlies - 20/Jun/2011 18:23 - 4917 days ago
We have seen our share of creepy crawlies in the last 10 months. Ants are everywhere, big and small. Sometimes at night we would...
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New Suits - 17/Jun/2011 16:16 - 4920 days ago
It’s one week to Graduation Day and the final year students have been getting ready for the big occasion. This week some t...
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Eskista - 15/Jun/2011 17:48 - 4922 days ago
Ethiopian dancing is spectacular! The dancing style, known as ‘eskista’, involves a lot of vigorous head jerking and...
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Meet The Staff #8 - 15/Jun/2011 09:12 - 4922 days ago
Here is Mr. Negusa. He works in student support and also does lots of odd jobs around the campus; watering the plants, setting u...
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Water Filter - 13/Jun/2011 07:58 - 4924 days ago
Here we are using our water filter. We put water from the tap in a pan and boil it for about three minutes, which kills any bugs...
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Tizita - 12/Jun/2011 15:12 - 4925 days ago
A popular type of song in Ethiopia and Eritrea is “tizita”. According to wikipedia; Tizita (Amharic: ትዝታ,̶...
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More Gymnastics - 12/Jun/2011 13:34 - 4925 days ago
The students in the Aesthetics Department are very active in the college. They will be music, art and PE teachers in the future ...
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Exam Week - 10/Jun/2011 06:28 - 4927 days ago
It is now the week of final exams in the college for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year students, who have all been working hard all year...
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Making Marvellous Manuals - 06/Jun/2011 07:47 - 4931 days ago
On Friday Gareth and I worked together to deliver an afternoon of training for the college lecturers. The subject was how to mak...
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Meet The Staff #7 - 06/Jun/2011 07:41 - 4931 days ago
This is Molla, the Head of the Language Department and my line manager in the college. He is an English teacher with a lot of ex...
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The Home of Coffee - 05/Jun/2011 16:44 - 4932 days ago
Ethiopia is proud to claim to be the home of coffee. Indeed the coffee ceremony is a major part of daily culture and the coffee ...
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VSO Final Visit - 03/Jun/2011 06:38 - 4934 days ago
This week, Ayele, our VSO programme manager came to visit us from Addis. As well as checking up on how Bob and Pam were settling...
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Traditional Tootbrushes - 03/Jun/2011 06:31 - 4934 days ago
As an ex-dentist, this is an interesting photo. This is the man who sells local style toothbrushes in the town. They are basical...
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Third Year English Training - 30/May/2011 19:50 - 4938 days ago
The last three weeks have been very busy – we have been working on an intensive English training course for all third year lan...
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Abi Adi Annual National Research Conference - 30/May/2011 19:22 - 4938 days ago
The internet has been a bit unreliable in the last two or three weeks as the rainy season has arrived and there have been more p...
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20th Anniversary Celebrations - 28/May/2011 15:29 - 4940 days ago
Happy Downfall of the Derg Day! Today is another public holiday in Ethiopia and this one is extra special as it is the 20th anni...
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Changing Seasons - 22/May/2011 06:21 - 4946 days ago
When we arrived in Abi Adi on 22nd September the landscape was green and lush and the teff was growing in the fields. Eight mont...
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Meet The Staff #? - 19/May/2011 15:39 - 4949 days ago
This is Furkado, the Chief Driver of the college vehicles and Head of the Social Committee. The photo below was taken at the rec...
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Meet The Staff #6 - 19/May/2011 15:39 - 4949 days ago
This is Furkado, the Chief Driver of the college vehicles and Head of the Social Committee. The photo below was taken at the rec...
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Queues - 17/May/2011 18:24 - 4951 days ago
Back in January the government brought in a number of price caps for certain foods and drinks, in an effort to control inflation...
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Farewell Lounge! - 13/May/2011 05:16 - 4955 days ago
The college is undergoing a period of change – so-called BPR – Business Process Reengineering. In reality, this mean...
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Ginbot Mariam - 12/May/2011 05:07 - 4956 days ago
Monday was the Virgin Mary’s birthday (‘Ginbot Mariam’) according to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. So what be...
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Farewell Martin! - 11/May/2011 17:04 - 4957 days ago
Last weekend we said goodbye to Martin, our nearest VSO volunteer in Mekelle. He’s been a great support to us and it’...
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Special Needs and Inclusion Training - 11/May/2011 16:48 - 4957 days ago
Last week I ran a training day for the college instructors in Special Needs and Inclusion. We talked about the definition of Spe...
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DS House - 04/May/2011 18:19 - 4964 days ago
Up and down the country you can find DS houses in every town, where on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon you’ll find large cr...
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Easter In Ethiopia - 28/Apr/2011 19:41 - 4970 days ago
Sunday was a big day here. Easter, or Fasika, is the biggest Christian festival of the year. People visit their families in thei...
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Pictures In The Kitchen - 25/Apr/2011 19:34 - 4973 days ago
Here’s a photo of our kitchen wall decorated with pictures from the students of P2B at Blackhall Primary School. They real...
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English Training–Part Two - 25/Apr/2011 19:30 - 4973 days ago
Last week was the second English language training weekend -  the first one was back in November and the same participants came...
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Happy Easter! - 24/Apr/2011 19:17 - 4974 days ago
Hello Everyone! We hope everybody had a lovely Easter weekend. We would like to thank you all for the support and encouragement ...
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Easter Rings - 23/Apr/2011 05:40 - 4975 days ago
Everybody is now gearing up for Easter Sunday, the biggest holiday of the year for Ethiopian Christians. A lot of the teachers a...
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Easter Rings And Headbands - 23/Apr/2011 05:40 - 4975 days ago
Everybody is now gearing up for Easter Sunday, the biggest holiday of the year for Ethiopian Christians. A lot of the teachers a...
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Millennium Dam - 19/Apr/2011 19:18 - 4979 days ago
Everybody’s talking about the dam! Once upon a time we had the Millennium Dome, but Ethiopia has just started construction...
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Buying a Habasha Dress - 18/Apr/2011 19:14 - 4980 days ago
Next Sunday is Easter (or ‘Fasika’ in the local language), the biggest celebration for Ethiopian Orthodox Christians...
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Making Tef Flour - 18/Apr/2011 19:04 - 4980 days ago
Around the town are a number of milling houses where people can bring the tef they have harvested or bought to get it ground up ...
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Quiz of the Week #5–Mystery Tree - 14/Apr/2011 19:04 - 4984 days ago
In the last couple of weeks a lot of trees on the campus have started to bear a large, balloon-like green fruit. The fruit is ho...
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The Little Folk of Abi Adi! - 13/Apr/2011 18:42 - 4985 days ago
In the little town of Abi Adi we see many little children wandering around town. They can be as young as two years old, just pla...
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New Volunteers! - 13/Apr/2011 18:22 - 4985 days ago
Welcome to Bob and Pam, two new VSO volunteers from England who will be working at Abi Adi College over the next two years. We h...
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Helen Berhe–“Lebe” - 10/Apr/2011 07:14 - 4988 days ago
This is our favourite song in Ethiopia so far. It’s quite modern and very different from most other songs we hear around. ...
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Jazz, Vans and Logos - 03/Apr/2011 18:55 - 4995 days ago
Last weekend I went down to Addis again to enjoy the 2nd annual Acacia Jazz Festival. It was good to see some live music –...
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Strange Fruit - 02/Apr/2011 19:41 - 4996 days ago
We see many interesting fruit in the market and in the last few weeks there has been some new additions to what is available. Ma...
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Meeting Dr. Bak - 31/Mar/2011 22:40 - 4998 days ago
It turns out that we are not the only foreigners living in Abi Adi. There are two doctors working in the hospital here from̷...
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Fantastic Female Teachers - 31/Mar/2011 20:32 - 4998 days ago
A couple of Saturdays back, I did my first ‘Fantastic Female Teachers’ class. This was open to all the female studen...
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Travels–Maychew - 22/Mar/2011 08:05 - 5007 days ago
After Woldia, it was on to Maychew the next day. The journey was rather long and frustrating as we had to wait a long time for b...
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Visiting Abbiyi Addi Elementary School - 22/Mar/2011 06:03 - 5007 days ago
Last week we visited Abbiyi Addi Elementary School to help out in some English lessons with Gebrekidane, one of the English teac...
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Travels–Woldia - 21/Mar/2011 20:16 - 5008 days ago
On our way back from Lalibela, we stopped off at two interesting towns where we were able to meet up with some volunteer friends...
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Annual Partnership Review - 17/Mar/2011 18:06 - 5012 days ago
On Tuesday, some visitors from VSO in Addis and a short term volunteer from Canada, Jean, visited the college to conduct the Ann...
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Female Students Celebration - 13/Mar/2011 19:51 - 5016 days ago
To coincide with International Womens Day on March 8th, the female affairs office organised a celebration and awareness raising ...
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Visiting the Kindergarten - 10/Mar/2011 06:21 - 5019 days ago
Today I popped in to see some of the children who attend Selam’s kindergarten in the town. I was delighted that they remem...
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Travels–Lalibela - 08/Mar/2011 22:06 - 5021 days ago
Gareth and I visited Lalibela after the end of In-Country Training and were joined by Martin, our friend from Mekele. Lalibela i...
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Travels–Tepi - 05/Mar/2011 15:11 - 5024 days ago
After a few days in Jimma it was onto the far south-west of the country to visit another volunteer. Martin is working on IT at t...
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College Tour - 03/Mar/2011 20:59 - 5026 days ago
We are working at Abbiyi Addi College of Teacher Education (CTE) in the north of Ethiopia. CTEs are for the training of primary ...
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Travels–Jimma - 02/Mar/2011 20:10 - 5027 days ago
Jimma is the largest city in the south-west of the country. I was shown around by a couple of volunteers who work at the univers...
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Travels–Addis Ababa - 01/Mar/2011 18:29 - 5028 days ago
On this visit to Addis I was able to become a bit more familiar with the city, as on the previous visit back in September we wer...
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In Country Training (ICT) - 26/Feb/2011 19:00 - 5031 days ago
We are now back in Abi Adi and I am able to update properly on the In Country Training that took place in February. The organise...
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Travels–Awasa - 25/Feb/2011 06:35 - 5032 days ago
Shashemene is the home to a small Rastafarian community living on land donated by Emperor Haile Selassie in 1948, but other than...
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In-Country Training–Now in video! - 17/Feb/2011 18:25 - 5040 days ago
In-Country Training is now over and the volunteers are off to start their placements. Here is a short video made by one of the n...
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Travels–Robe - 15/Feb/2011 07:48 - 5042 days ago
It’s been a few weeks since the last post. The college is now on semester break so I have taken the opportunity to visit s...
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Preparing In-Country Training - 03/Feb/2011 18:52 - 5054 days ago
Here we are, the In Country Training team. Martin, Paul and I have been spending the week in the VSO Ethiopia office in Addis Ab...
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End of Semester - 27/Jan/2011 20:24 - 5061 days ago
The semester has now ended and the students have gone home. It’s very quiet on the campus now, with just the instructors a...
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Timkat Celebrations in Axum - 21/Jan/2011 17:55 - 5067 days ago
Earlier this week Gareth and I went to Axum, one of Ethiopia’s most famous towns and home of the Axumite civilisation. We ...
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Yawe Way - 21/Jan/2011 08:20 - 5067 days ago
Here’s another music video we see a lot on the television – Yawe Way by Mewded Kebru. What makes it unusual is the a...
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Price Caps - 17/Jan/2011 18:46 - 5071 days ago
In town this evening a small crowd had gathered around the notice wall. Often we can see posters, information and job advertisem...
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Meet The Staff #5 - 14/Jan/2011 17:05 - 5074 days ago
This is Abrahat and Mammeet, who work in the staff lounge, serving coffee, tea and egg sandwiches to the college lecturers all d...
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Abi Adi High School - 12/Jan/2011 20:06 - 5076 days ago
This morning I visited Abi Adi High School, on the outskirts of the town. This school is for Grade 9 and 10 (who attend the afte...
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Zumbara - 12/Jan/2011 04:53 - 5076 days ago
We hear a lot of Ethiopian music all around us – on the TV in the staff lounge, coming from the bars and shops in town and...
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Monkeys and Mylomin - 10/Jan/2011 18:16 - 5078 days ago
Yesterday Gareth and I went to the Mylomin area of town for a little exploring. We have been there before for drinking tej but h...
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Ethiopian Christmas - 08/Jan/2011 09:55 - 5080 days ago
Yesterday, 7th January, was Christmas Day in Ethiopia. “Melkam Ledet!” (That’s Happy Christmas in Tigrigna) We...
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Gymnastics Club - 06/Jan/2011 16:13 - 5082 days ago
Every day at 5.30 to 6.30 in the evening a group of students come to practise gymnastics on some exercise bars near the college ...
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Honey - 05/Jan/2011 18:16 - 5083 days ago
Honey from this region – Tigray honey – is highly regarded, so we decided to buy some from the honey sellers who com...
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Meet the Staff #4 - 04/Jan/2011 17:22 - 5084 days ago
This is Addisalem, who works in the cluster office. Their job is to support the surrounding schools by providing training from t...
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A Golden Opportunity - 03/Jan/2011 18:53 - 5085 days ago
Tonight we were invited to an after-school English language class for high school students in the town. We were surprised to see...
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Quiz of the Week #4 - 02/Jan/2011 09:01 - 5086 days ago
Here’s another mystery drink, Time for you to stop and think, If you know what it is, Leave a comment in this quiz!...
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Happy New Year (for some!) - 01/Jan/2011 19:50 - 5087 days ago
Happy New Year! We had a quiet celebration at home this year. In fact, it is not New Year here at all. The year yesterday was 20...
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Christmas in Mekele - 29/Dec/2010 18:34 - 5090 days ago
Gareth and I spent a long Christmas weekend in Mekele, the nearest city to us yet a three and a half hour bus ride away from Abi...
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100 Days in Ethiopia - 20/Dec/2010 10:56 - 5099 days ago
Today is Day 100 for us in Ethiopia! We have had some amazing experiences so far, some challenges and one or two successes! Ever...
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Hopscotch - 20/Dec/2010 10:53 - 5099 days ago
On Friday I taught two little girls how to play hopscotch! The two children are often found in the staff lounge and I think they...
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Beer and Inflation - 20/Dec/2010 07:32 - 5099 days ago
Prices fluctuate quite easily here. Last week a meal out (injera and tibs – goat meat) was 12 birr (48 pence). This week i...
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Government Housing Scheme - 19/Dec/2010 22:31 - 5100 days ago
On the western edge of Abi Adi there is quite a large development of colourful apartment blocks. In a town where most houses are...
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Threshing and Winnowing Tef - 15/Dec/2010 08:22 - 5104 days ago
Once the tef has been harvested the next stage is to separate the grain from the rest of the plant. We can see this happening al...
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Special Needs Training - 13/Dec/2010 18:02 - 5106 days ago
This weekend, Kibreab and I worked together on two days of Special Needs training for about 60 school teachers from the surround...
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