CHARITY OF THE YEAR 2009-10
Link Ethiopia works with schools & young people to improve education in the northern Ethiopia highlands, a re gion where schooling has been largely overlooked for decades. In Ethiopia, an average elementary class has 65-70 pupils & attendance rates are officially 33% for boys & 28% for girls, & at secondary schools for up to an equivalent of UK GCSE level 13% & 10% respectively. Country classes may be taught with just a blackboard, some chalk, & 2 or 3 books, with the pupils sitting on tree branches laid on a mud floor, underneath branches lashed together to make a shady framework above - no building or furniture, clean drinking water or toilets. Link Ethiopia builds new classrooms, toilets & wells, & provides teacher training & library books - & computers if electricity is available. It also links pupils in the UK & Ethiopia so they learn more about each others’ cultures, & runs a successful volunteer teaching programme for UK students between school & university. SI London Mayfair are fundraising this year (2009-10) to provide for the building of a separate girls’ toilet block at Chechela school.
The pit was dug & lined with heavy stone, as the first stage of construction. The representative from Link Ethiopia has recently (May 2009) sent us a follow-up report in which he states:
“Since my visit we’ve purchased 8 ceramic ‘squat toilet floorplates/platforms’ (not quite sure what the official name for one of these is!) which are currently being installed into the cubicles & when the block is complete the school will start a toilet cleaning programme which we are currently working with the school to devise. The ceramic platforms are rarely installed in Ethiopian school toilets but, along with regular cleaning, these will really ensure the loos are in a good hygienic condition for many years to come……”
At present Link Ethiopia works primarily with schools in & around the region capital of Gondar, just west-north-west of the mountain area known for its rock-hewn churches. The Ethiopian calendar is filled with festivals & holidays, coming from both the Ethiopian Orthodox tradition & from those of Islam, & both sets seem to coexist happily & comfortably to fulfil the need of all Ethiopian people to celebrate & have fun. The Christian festivals however do not coincide with those of the Western church; Christmas is celebrated on January 6 & the more important one of Epiphany around January 19; Easter is often several weeks after the Western Easter & follows 55 days of Lenten fasting - longer than the Western 40 days! In other areas of Ethiopia, especially where the Oromo people live, Islam predominates, with colourful & elegant mosques clearly visible & often audible. Less structured belief systems, centred on the trees & animals of the countryside, are particularly common amid the many & varied tribes in the South. Food aid is currently needed to help alleviate the prospect of famine for some 4.5 million in drought-ridden areas, a situation worsened by the 300% rise in the price of some basic food stuffs. The two most productive areas of export are coffee beans, followed by oil seeds.