Meki

June 12, Meki (Hamle 5, 2003 of the Ethiopia Calendar)

We slept in a bit, with breakfast at 9:30. There is no electricity, so consequently no water. Once the generator pumps water to the tank we can at least wash-up a bit. The kids are staying in the girl’s hostel, six to a room. The boys lucked out since they have more space. The teachers get a double and a single, I am staying across the compound with the Brothers.

The Girls Hostel is a self-contained part of the larger walled compound. It has it own guard and “Madame”, who is the house mother. Girls from the program are here to help with the cooking and cleaning. The girls in the program are “at risk”, meaning their families want to marry them off for the dowery they would receive before they finish their education.

This morning Brother Belaynah welcomed us and gave us a tour of the ever changing compound. He was very candid about the lack of water…a fact of life here in Ethiopia, as in much of Africa. The completion of the damn on the Nile will help both water and electricity issues. We saw a PowerPoint by one of the students, introducing us to the history of the school. After a lunch of fried potatoes, rice with beef, cole slaw and bread, we started work in the library. Meki has just received a huge shipment of books from the U.S. We are were oriented to the Intel system, which they are calling a miracle. The teachers are so excited, as are the students.

The school has only 24 classrooms and 1757 students: do the math. You got it right 60-70 students per classroom! But as Brother Belaynah explained, these students want to learn so badly, this number doesn’t matter so much to them. The kids are excited about summer school. They will come on Saturday and Sunday if we want them to. Education here is a ladder for advancement…and they know that from a very, very young age. The little girls, especially, are anxious to speak what English they know to us and ask us for photos. I think the Holy Family kids will fall in love with them.