Busy Month

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. 

The Team: Haileyesus (my colleague and fellow ELQIP advisor),
our driver Bazabe, and myself. 

The terrain

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. 

The scenery 

The hard working women of Ethiopia

The schools

The Learning box delivery. 

The traffic

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. 

ELIC Panorama episode 12

There are a couple of blank spots in this episode because two of the songs we used came into contact with some YouTube copyright laws. However, you can skip ahead to at least hear the conversation. This episode is a special on Dr. Martin Luther King. The last song "I have a Dream" is still there though. Hopefully this won't happen in the future.  

ELIC Panorama episode 8 - Christmas Special

Box Delivery

We managed to get more of the Learning Boxes delivered which was great. We still have a lot more work to do, but I think that will have to wait until after Genna (Ethiopian Christmas) which is on January 7, 2014. We are happy that at least some of the schools are now ready to do their Cascade Training and open up their English Language Improvement Centre's. The difficulty in delivering the boxes is more related to there not being a car available to take us out in the field. Cars are in short supply at the Education Bureau.

I also went to Addis Ababa for a training and got to see a bunch of other volunteer friends that live and work in Addis Ababa while I was there. However, before leaving Hawassa, Tesfahun and I thought a meat feast was in order - delicious!

ELIC Panorama episode 7 - Mandela special

Friends/Work/Radio

The internet has been down for the last few days so I haven't been able to post anything - connection just came back on. The last week was a lot of fun. A group of VSO volunteers came to Hawassa for the weekend and stayed at the Haile Resort which gave me a reason to go there. We had a great time catching up, playing mini-golf and eating fish by the lake. They are all really fantastic people and I am glad to know them.

Photo: The VSO crew at the Haile Resort

My friend Michael Silver was in town for the weekend from Adola as well and I coerced him into being a guest host on the radio program. The link for episode 6 is below this post and if you are interested, you can check out Michael's blog at: http://www.mjsilver.co.uk 

Photo: Michael, Tesfahun, Habtamu and I planning the show

As a result of the success of the radio show, we have been getting invites to schools that have English language clubs, usually to observe their English days. The students below (see the pictures and video) put on a great show for us. What I love about the direction English language learning is headed in Ethiopia is that the course content is being adapted to be relevant to the context in which the students live. I breath a sigh of relief knowing that the western perspective literature and learning materials that dominated the classrooms for years are being pushed aside to make room for Ethiopian stories and Ethiopian perspective English learning materials. 

Photo: A presentation in English about traditional clothes worn by
some tribes in Ethiopia. 

 Video: "Ethiopia" song sung in English.

Photo: To top it off, we had a traditional coffee ceremony - delicious. 
This was accompanied with a full English explanation
of the ceremony. 

The bread on the ground beside the seenee (coffee cups) is called Diffo Dabo (Traditional Bread) and it is absolutely delicious. It is the perfect accompaniment for buna (coffee) and before it is cut into pieces, it looks like the picture below.

Photo: Diffo Dabo before it is cut up for serving. 

Lastly, as I sat without internet perusing the photos that I took last week during the trips to and from the Yergalum training, I saw some decent - out the window of a speeding car- shots and a good photo of road conditions when you get off the highway. It looks like I will be heading out this week to begin the delivery of the Learning Boxes that each of the Yergalum trained teachers' schools get and that will prove to be a very interesting and fun experience I think. 

Photo: My colleague and friend Haileyesus checking out the roadway
that could use a bit of work.

ELIC Panorama episode 6