An Ethiopian Welcome

We have been welcomed with open arms by the sisters and are already starting to feel like St Vincent's is our home. Yesterday I woke to the sound of birds outside my window. After a breakfast of coffee, bread and honey we were driven to the Abba Gebremichael Streetchildren Project, where we will be working for the duration of our stay.

We will be teaching English at the Rainy Season Summer School, in order to give the children the skills they need to stay in education. Although government school is free, after a certain grade all of the lessons change from being in the local language , Tigrinaya, to being entirely in English. This means that when children miss school, which street children are more likely to, they fall behind in their English and are unable to continue at school.

It is important for schools to have input from native English speakers like us, and walking through the school gates we all began to realise just how important. All the children were arranged in two lines, chanting 'welcome, welcome'. Three young girls in traditional dress greeted us with handshakes, flowers and shy smiles, and we were escorted to the assembly hall where a traditional coffee ceremony took place.

While the coffee beans were roasting a group of children got up and started dancing. I'm not sure if it was impromptu but I think they enjoyed it as much as we did. The kids seem to love performing and showing off. Some of the boys looked to be right cheeky characters!

After coffee, bread and introductions we were shown around the new school, which was only completed in February. The facilities are really excellent, a vast improvement on the old school. The building now includes dormitories for the most at-risk children.

We also met Nigus, the Project Officer, and we were given our timetables. I'll be teaching the two advanced classes, and sharing two others; one intermediate and one beginner.

On our way back to St Vincent’s we encountered a traffic jam - Ethiopian-style - and were caught up behind more than a dozen camels on their way to market. I'm definitely not in Glasgow any more!