Time passes
on My VSO Ethiopian Adventures (Ethiopia), 08/Dec/2010 09:37, 34 days ago
The season turns and we need a blanket on our beds at night now! The weather is lovely right now with cool, fresh evenings and mornings but temperatures up in the mid to high 20’s during the day. This is the cool, dry season and much of the vegetation does resemble autumn at home, with leaves falling off the trees and great seed pods of acacias and mimosa families hanging brown and pendulous. Our grapevine is definitely turning brown. Birds are less in number and varietyand the ground is dry and very dusty. As a result our water supply is becoming more erratic and also the electricity. Last night we had neither from6pm! They are linked as our water is pumped from underground supplies. We have a water tank, but well, it seems to be empty when there is no running water? The neighbourhood knows us well now and the multiple of young kids (high birth rates!) have quite a game with us. They know my name is Jacqui and I seem to be the focus of their attention and games when I’m around and all want to come to shake hands, be picked up and swung around (yes, ‘fraid I started that one!) and now they are taking to kissing the back of my hand and clinging onto my arms – quite embarrassing, especially if the mothers are around. Difficult to steer a balance between beingfriendly but not encouraging all this tactile attention. The echo of kids’ cries of ‘Jacqui, Jacqui’ down the neighbourhood pathways when I appear, followed by the stampede of small bodies careering my way, is flattering, but a little difficult.Work is busy now I am in the swing of teaching, by myself, 50 staff on the Higher Diploma Programme. As ever, I try to put my very best effort into it and worry every day about how well I’m prepared, whether they liked the class and how successful the teaching and learning was and how many mistakes I might have made. I’m marking reflective activities, holding ‘surgery’ sessions to help them on a1-2-1basis, preparing new material for forthcoming classes and continuing to battle with the frustrations of lack of photocopying facilities, lack of management decisions and lack of resources that should have been in place etc. Oh well!However, its better to be busy and to be into the swing of things. I have met so many staff now and am beginning to feel more part of the place. The staff continue to be a pleasure to work with and I feel for them needing to fit this course of study into their busy teaching schedules, the like of which staff at UK universities know nothing!I was asked to participate last weekend, on a Sunday afternoon to take a session at one of the local primary schools, in fact the oldest in Dire Dawa. School teachers and university staff are happy to spend a weekend running and attending a workshop to help the teaching of mathematics at school level with no reward, compensation or even refreshments! No-one complained about their time and they were happily participating at5pmon a Sunday afternoon! By the way, at the same time there was a class of small children, all in their school uniforms being taught over the other side of the courtyard. People work hard, long hours and at times that we would consider an invasion of our personal free time. The attitude is entirely different. They manage by taking everything in their stride, not getting overwrought, operating at a slower pace and just accepting and retaining a positive attitude. No-one moans here.The school was interesting to see, somewhat Dickensian with very basic rooms, letting in little light, desperately needing a coat of paint, each with an old blackboard and old fashioned bench furniture. No doubt the children are happy, motivated and interested to learn!There are changes at our neighbouringuniversityofHaramayaas we are losing 2 of our colleagues up there as their VSO placements come to an end. This will reduce our opportunities for a social life at weekends and expatriate colleagues who are remaining are mainly young males whose interests at weekends are likely to be different to ours.We are planning to get together with those colleagues at Haramaya who may be around over the Christmas weekend, otherwise it will be a non-event this year!I would like to take a holiday at the end of the first Semester which is towards the end of February, so if any friends would be interested to join me hiking in theSimienMountainsand visiting nearby historical places, please let me know. Meet you inAddis Ababa. The more people we can get the cheaper it would be.