The Opening of Debra Zeit

It’s magic time again. We take a dead shell of a building, and within weeks we make it a school. And nothing breathes more life and vitality than a functioning school.

It’s an amazing transformation – especially in the short week or two it takes in Ethiopia, when all is going well.

This is the school in Debre Zeit, due to open in the first week of October. Malaku is our magician, the man who oversees the work on our facilities. He’s the one who made the Mojo school ready for business last year.

You’ll notice how beautiful our yard is. Sadly, this will have to be trimmed back from its wild beauty. We’ll try to keep the morning glories.

Back to Ethiopia

Kindergarteners getting some guidance from Haregwa, their teacher. Look at those big smiles!


Simenyesh in first grade practices her cursive writing.

8/14: I’m back in Ethiopia, and I visit the Tsegereda School in Shiro Meda right away. This is the best part of any trip, the best part of my work. It gives me hope. The kids are so bright-eyed and cheerful.

Visiting the school in summer is strange. It’s rainy season, so it’s cold and gloomy. Everyone is in layers. Kids and teachers gather together for warmth.

Summer school is half-day. The first-graders are preparing for second grade. Today they’re studying their multiplication tables and cursive writing in our alphabet. The kindergarteners are working on simple words that begin with various letters in their own alphabet. As usual, my entrance after an absence sparks chaos. ‘Kuch balu, kuch balu,’ I have to say. ‘Sit down!’ Everyone wants a hug. The teachers are so patient with the kids, and with me.

Dana

Visit to Siembra School, Minneapolis, USA

Dana’s visit provided an opportunity to learn more about Ethiopian culture and traditions as well as strengthened the partnership between Siembra and Tsegereda. Latinos and Ethiopians shared art, stories and of course coffee. Listening to Dana women’s eyes filled with tears. The challenges these children and their families face are daunting and familiar. Latino women know how hard it is to accommodate your family in a one-room house. How it feels to have a child sick and not being able to afford a doctor or medicine. How frustrating it is not sending your child to school because you cannot pay the registration fee, get a uniform or spare the time to deal with the system. Yet, watery eyes were mixed with smiles. Dana shared photos of the children and staff. Tsegereda children are smiling. Their spirit is strong and there is hope. We know these children will be the first in their families to graduate from high school and college. We know when these children start working their first salary will go towards helping their younger brothers and sisters make it through school. They will help aunts, uncles, cousins and nieces. Latino women have done it for and with their families. The empathy in the room was palpable; their desire to support these children tangible. - By Roxana Linares

US Tesfa Events

Click to get a large version. Thanks!

Visiting a Sister School

We went to Widcombe Infant School in Bath today. Widcombe is one of the sister schools to our school Tsegereda in Shiro Meda. I delivered pen-pal letters from the Ethiopian children. We were lucky to get a half-hour with the kids at the end of the school day. Fifty children crowded into the classroom, and these are not shy souls. It was very fun. “Did you just come from Ethiopia?” “How long did it take?” How long do you think?, I asked them. “Ten hours.” “A hundred hours.” “A thousand hours.” We practiced a guest’s entrance Ethiopian-style. They stood up as I came in. I said, “Indamin nachu, lijjoch?” (How are you, children?) And they replied with some version of the proper response: “Dehna, igzabiher yemusgin!” They thought all this hilarious.

I took a few of their names and showed them what it looked like in Amharic script. I wanted to demonstrate how many names in Ethiopia mean something, but didn’t get very far. I asked them, “Who remembers their pen-pal’s name?” Many hands went up. “Um, it starts with an S.” “Mine starts with an R.” All rightie. But they remembered very well how old their pen-pals were and bits about the school. They found mud walls an irresistable concept. “Do they fall down?” one girl asked. No, not yet, though they do wobble a bit.

-- Dana Roskey

Tesfa Foundation Introduction

We are a very, very small organisation who provides early childhood education to some children in Ethiopia, who otherwise would not get a chance to go to school and get a strong foundation for their studies. You can see our website for the UK here and the website for the US group here. You can also listen to a podcast interview about us at Fusionview to hear more about us.

We want to have a blog to show how we are working in a myriad of small ways to bring this all together. I think it will give us some distance and perspective about our work as well.

Most of all, we hope for some feedback. Or to find some other people out there with experience. Or for you to spread the word of our existence. We want you to know that there are real people putting real projects together, and our struggles to make it happen.

If you have worked, volunteered or raised funds for the Tesfa Foundation - send me (the editor) a photo and a paragraph, and I will post it. The email for this blog is tesfa.uk@googlemail.com.

igzabiher yistillin

-- P. Colborne