Wednesday, June 22

Dessie is a ten hour bus ride north of Addis Ababa in a beautiful, lush mountainous region of Ethiopia. The city of 140,000 sits in a dell on a high 2,600 meter plateau. Hope School is on a hillside high above the city.

We arrived in the evening and settled into the guesthouse which houses about fourteen comfortably. The kids arrived at school early the next day while we were eating breakfast. We went outside and were greeted by ten to fifteen kids at a time with handshakes, smiles, and many a "Hello, my name is ________," and "I am in grade ________." After almost two days of traveling it was very exciting to finally meet and connect with children.

At 8 a.m. about 700 students at the school grades K-10 lined up in straight rows for the singing of the National Anthem and raising of the flag. Pastor Matthews, our Hope guide and translator, gave a Bible message, then the kids sang Christmas songs and prayed. It's an amazing feeling to hear 700 children singing in another language. We have arrived in Ethiopia!

Our team broke up and observed teachers teaching students using various methods. We actually thought they did a good job using some active learning strategies.

In the afternoon we were supposed to hold teacher training in the library where there were tables and chairs set up, but the librarian left campus with the key and we couldn't get into the building. So, we quickly carried tables and chairs into the auditorium and set up in there. We were being flexible.

For our first one and a half hour of English language training, both groups were understandably nervous. But our leader, Jeff Zwiers, made it easy to interact by using an active learning strategy, the conversation grid. Soon, we were laughing and talking with each other freely.

We took a half hour break and had refreshments for the teachers in the Tea Room, cookies, and soda. This was a relaxing, social time when we got to get to know each other better. We're finding out that teachers in Ethiopia aren't much different from us. They work hard, love the kids, and want to improve in teaching, and like vacations.

Our second one and a half hour block of training consisted of content enrichment and more active learning strategies. We held two science labs using the scientific method with hot wheel cars and paper helicopters. At first, the teachers were reluctant to participate and wanted us to tell them the solutions to the problems. But after a little coaxing, they were into the learning process wholeheartedly. It was rewarding to see how much fun they could have while learning.

All in all, it was a good, successful first day of training and interacting with the teachers at the Hope School in Dessie.

Alison Awai
2nd and 3rd Grade Special Education Teacher