June 5, 2009
Upon arrival at Dire Dawa, one of the Brothers said the usual pattern is to either water or electricity. That has certainly been true. We started to get water again yesterday, but electricity has been sporadic. Of the two, I choose water.
It took me over an hour to post the last blog from here, so I don’t know if this will get posted before we leave Dire Dawa for Harrar later today. We are going to feed the Hyenas, stay overnight and then continue to Nazarit tomorrow.
Yesterday we toured the facilities of the Sisters of Charity. Here in Dire Dawa they care for over 1200 destitute and dying people. The facilities, like those in Addis were clean and well ordered. The street leading to the shelter was lined with people waiting to be admitted. There seem to be many homeless people here. Many of the streets are lined with them at night, sleeping against walls on pieces of cardboard.
Sr. Vincentina, met us at the women’s and children’s section. There were at least 10 newborns many of them orphans, being cared for. The cribs were all covered with netting to ward off the flies. We also visited the special needs children. When a woman brings in a sick child in this area, the bring all the rest of the children also. So immediately we had children with whom to hold hands and carry. There was also a section for mentally disturbed women, which we did not tour. Every section of the facility has a Sister in charge. Again, they were all smiling.
Down the street was the clinic and the men’s section. There were many more men than women. We visited a number of wards: geriatric, a ward where wounds needed watching and changed, HIV, those that are dying, and the undiagnosed…the Sister’s are very, very organized in their care. They also had an area of the mentally disturbed. Currently there were 400 men there. The usual number is 800, but because of construction to enlarge the facility they had to send the least violent back to their villages for the time being. Sister Deo Gracia, from Tanzania greeted us. She was full of laughter. We greeted many of the men and shook hands and then liberally applied hand sanitizer. Even here, everyone is very welcoming.
Later in the day we visited the street boys program run by the Brothers. There are 20 boys in residence in all age ranges. They go to local schools, but come to the center for meals and sleeping. Each day we enter or leave the Beserate Gabriel school compound , we are mobbed by street children, most of whom are savvy and aggressive. The Lasallian Youth from Besrate Gabriel spend their Saturday’s clothing, cleaning, feeding and teaching the kids. Brother Taddele, who is in charge of the program, then chooses the ones with the most regular attendance to become part of the program as room is available. As we go around town, we meet many alumni of the program who have successfully completed grade 10.
The oldest boys in the house are 18 and they watch after the younger ones. Zelalem, in particular, an 18 year old grade 11 night school student is articulate, kind and very good with the younger boys. He is fiercely proud of his little mattress in one of the rooms that he shares with two others. He showed us his wardrobe and his pile of school books sitting on top. He really enjoys natural sciences and hopes to study chemistry at the university. The boys live in a house that is on loan from Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity because the Brothers have been trying to obtain a piece of land to build a permanent home. We just got word that after a morning meeting today (Friday, June 5th), the Brothers received a gift of land from the government. They want to build lodging for 20 street boys and then lodging for an additional 20 rental rooms to subsidize the cost of the street boys program.
When we visited the Lasalle Boy’s Home, we gathered our chairs in a circle and had the chance to ask each other questions. Both groups were shy it seems so few questions were asked. Instead, some of the Lasalle boys performed traditional dance for us in the middle of the circle. One of the boys had an amazing voice and sang the traditional tunes as he led the dancing. Over and over again we are seeing the several dances that are unique to each tribal or regional group. Even some of the very small students at the school are proud to show us the dance moves that they know. Megan and Kylie in our group offered beautiful songs and Ryan and Jon attempted a few simple dances. But unfortunately, we have nothing to offer them by way of traditional dancing or singing. When they asked us to perform, we could think of nothing to show or, I suppose, that the students don’t know or don’t feel connected to traditional American dances like square or contra dancing.
Ethiopia is still very much a traditional culture. Cultural rituals and symbols are emphasized in the home and at school and students are very proud to show off what they know. In fact, the students know more than just the rituals of the tribal group they belong to. They are able to perform the dances and the song of the several major regional groups. Ethiopia is certainly diverse, but stresses unity in its diversity. By contrast, in some ways, in the United States unity has so trumped diversity that we are more homogenous and without strong knowledge of traditional cultural symbol and rituals. There are exceptions of course; I think of traditional Irish step dancing that many young people still learn today, but those kinds of examples are rare. I think our students are keenly aware of those cultural differences between our societies and (some at least) have expressed sadness that we don’t have those same ties to the past. It may be easier to have connections to a culture that is 3000 years old as opposed to an American culture of only 200+ years.
June 5th,
Today we visited the two primary schools that adjoin Besrate Gabriel, one run by the Conventual Franciscans and the other by the Sisters of Notre Dame. Besrate Gabriel is the only one which offers 11-12 grades. The Sisters did at one time but because of government regulations now stop at 10. The Franciscan Brothers have about 730 students. It seems to be single stream, there were three students to every bench, so even though the rooms were very small, there must have been upwards of seventy kids in every classroom. The whole school was crowded, but we were given the grand tour. The A-V room had a variety of visual aids for biology and geography…all hand painted on canvas. I think of all the maps and charts our students have access to and compare to what little is here in the terms of visuals for the students.
The Sister’s school was beautiful. It was clean, well ordered and very disciplined. In one of the rooms the little kids (maybe 1st graders) were watching a projected video which was teaching them the names of colors and body parts in English. All of the schools had computers (often old and mismatched), but seen as necessary for the total education of their students.
1 comment:
Thank you for all the posts - I'm learning a great deal, but certainly nowhere near what you all are. Blessings for the remainder of the trip!
Jerry Meyer
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