Revolutionary Thinking

This week I did a lesson drawing comparisons between the country information of both Ethiopia and Great Britain. The number one controversy arose from the breakdown of Britain’s different religious beliefs – “how could so many people have no religion at all”?! This seemed like a completely crazy idea to my class, all of which seem to be affiliated to a particular religious group. The next controversy was comparing the economies and human development indexes of the two countries. Many of the students had no idea that Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world (ranked 169 out of 179 countries), and were surprised at how they were even one of the poorest countries in Africa. We looked at the difference in doctors’ salaries, and how a British doctor would often earn more than thirty times the salary of an Ethiopian doctor. The British minimum wage also shocked many of the children – how could the bare minimum a British person earns in an hour be six times more than a waiter in Mekele earns in an entire day (about $1)?

I was really surprised at just how unaware the students were of their economic poverty. Whilst it was not a pleasure to inform the students of just how poor they are in comparison to the economically developed world, many of them seemed to leave the lesson determined to push for Ethiopia’s development. They mostly agreed that leaving Ethiopia to seek higher paid jobs in the West was a bad thing to do – the consensus was that they should all work hard to help Ethiopia have a better future. Anyway, fingers crossed they’ll use their new found awareness in positive ways...

Trip to a local swimming pool - After all of this heavy stuff, it was good to spend our final day together doing something a bit more fun. The school organised a day trip out to a swimming pool on the outskirts of the city, and we all had a good time. I spent most of the morning on the nearby field trying to copy the acrobatic skills of the students, and also joining in with the boys’ favourite past time of wrestling (although most of the time was spent trying to react the wrestling poses of their favourite American wrestlers!). After a very enjoyable day we all returned back to school. I then spent the remainder of the afternoon clearing out my classroom and desk in preparation for...

The Goodbye Ceremony – On Thursday it was finally time to say our goodbyes and finish our work at the school. In true Ethiopian style a big ceremony was laid on for us “guests”, and so Ged and I were treated to songs, dances and poetry readings (and of courses copious amounts of lovely coffee). There was even time for a report from the local “newsdesk” on how our time at the school had gone. We closed off the proceedings with our goodbye speeches, and then made an emotional farewell to the project and the fantastic students. I will miss them all in different ways, and just hope that they will have good futures. With the help and opportunities that the project gives them, they have every chance to go on and be successful.

Cultural Observations of Ethiopia – One thing that has both confused and interested me during my stay in Ethiopia is the different time and date system that is used here. Perhaps most immediately striking is the time difference – Ethiopians start timing the day from sunrise, and so our 06:00 hours is actually 00:00 Ethiopian time. This system seems to make a lot of sense, with sunset occurring around 12 o’clock local time (6pm our time). However, confusion is obviously bound to arise when English-speaking Ethiopians suggest to meet at a particular hour – is Gabreselasie being sensitive to the foreigners’ understanding of time, or is he seriously suggesting to meet at 4am in the morning?!

Another complication is the differences in dates. Not only do Ethiopians start their year at a different time (Ethiopian New Year will take place on the 11th of September), but they also have 13 months! Each of the first 12 months are exactly 30 days long, so another month with 5 extra days is tagged on at the end. Difference number three is that the Ethiopians are 8 years behind the Gregorian Calendar we use. This is the result of a dispute on when exactly Angel Gabriel informed Mary that she would give birth to Jesus. Thus, the current date in Ethiopia is 11/12/01. For a much better explanation of all of this, please check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_calendar

The result of the Ethiopian Calendar is that my journey back to the UK should take 8 years! On that note, I now have to pack my bags and prepare to say a sad farewell to this very interesting country. I’ll write more when I’m back home, but for now lots of love and take care,

Robert