Well, I was lucky enough to get back to Canada for Christmas and it was fantastic. It was also lucky because I broke a tooth about 10 days before flying back and it gave me time to see the dentist. My good friend Tesfahun had someone that he knows make some "data" for me to take back as gifts for people. Data is a delicious and spicy hot sauce that you use to dip cooked meat in. It turned into this:
I was also lucky enough to get a day of skiing in at whistler over New Years. My Friends Matt and Shelly's 6 year old son Tannen was my ski guide for the day. He is a really good skier - already skiing black diamond runs and he knows the mountain like he knows his own backyard. Well, I guess in a way it is his own backyard.
As soon as I returned to Ethiopia, it was right back into work. We had to go to the south of south region to deliver some learning boxes to schools and go through the expectation of the Learn English Audio Program (LEAP) with the trained teachers and school administrators. Jinka is only about 400 kms from Hawassa, where I live, but the roads are slow and sometimes arduous and it takes a couple of days to get there. The trip was very successful and I know the program and the materials provided will have a significant impact on English language learning.
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The Team: Haileyesus (my colleague and fellow ELQIP advisor),
our driver Bazabe, and myself. |
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| The terrain |
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The cows continually blocking our path and slowing us down. In Ethiopia, if
you kill an animal, you buy the owner a new one and that can be very expensive. |
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| The scenery |
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| The hard working women of Ethiopia |
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| The schools |
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| The Learning box delivery. |
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| The traffic |
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| The 40-60 birr hotels ($2-$3 Canadian) |
It was a great road trip and we accomplished a lot of work along the way.
ELIC Panorama Episode 12 is below.
