Volunteers in Ethiopia

- by Suzanne Donnelly

My two sisters and I contacted Dana Roskey of the Tesfa Foundation by email from Ireland. Together we developed a project whereby we would work in the Tsegereda School in Addis Ababa.

Claire would be responsible for the artistic side of the programme, being an artist with over fourteen years’ experience. Gemma, a nurse with thirty years’ experience, was brought on board to develop the health programme. And I brought some thirty years’ experience as a primary teacher. I would work with the children on their English language while gently introducing new pedagogical ideas into the classroom.

Gemma, Suzanne and Claire running for Tesfa

The Tsegereda School is situated in Shiro Meda, which is a very deprived area in the capital city. In the kindergarten class, Haregwa works with thirty children between four and six years of age. They showed huge enthusiasm for painting, cutting and pasting, ‘circle time’, chanting new songs and nursery rhymes, preparing for the Christmas play, and even teeth cleaning [see below].

In Class Two, there are twenty-four children between seven and nine years of age. Wogayehu, their teacher, like Haregwa, was anxious to learn many new ideas. One of the highlights for me was doing the Noah’s Ark story with Class Two. I wrote a number of animals’ names on the blackboard while Wogayehu wrote them in Amharic. It seems the children had never written in both languages side by side.

One exercise in social, personal, and health education was particularly positive for staff and children alike. When the children were asked the things that made them happy, without hesitation they said that being in school gave them their greatest happiness.

The teacher’s assistants, Mintawab and Fellaku, were co-operative and helpful at all times, and a pleasure to work with, as were the principal, Tsehaye, and Tesfa’s academic administrator, Menna. It is certainly an experience we will never forget. Claire, Gemma, and I hope that our work in the Tsegereda School has had a positive impact on the children and teachers.

The Mural

- by Claire Halpin

As an artist volunteering at the Tsegereda School in Shiro Meda, I was very excited about designing a mural for the schoolyard wall with the children in the two classes.

A section of the children's mural, which turned out great!

The first step was spending a weekend whitewashing the wall. My sisters and I, along with Ijigu and Menna, did a fine job! Then, with the teachers’ help, we discussed with the children what images they would like on the wall. We looked for inspiration from the world immediately around the children – their friends, family, school, games, journey to school, flowers, trees, animals, etc. Both classes spent a session producing fantastic drawings, from which I selected one from each child. From these, I wove together one long composition. Each drawing was enlarged and transformed by hand onto the top section of the six-meter wall, outlines we painted and filled in. This was done over a second weekend. So the children got a great surprise when they arrived into school on Monday morning to see their drawings now immortalized on stone! They really enjoyed finding their own and each other’s drawings.

For the lower part of the wall, ten children from the second grade class stood against the wall in different poses while the others drew silhouettes around them. These silhouettes the children painted afterward. The mural was now complete and looked fantastic. The children’s enthusiastic response and creativity was crucial to the successful outcome of the mural. Also it allows the children’s very individual, imaginative and beautiful artwork to brighten the walls of their school and leave their unique mark. The mural will bring a smile to any visitor to the school.

Tooth Care

- by Gemma Halpin

One of our programmes at the Tsegereda School was about clean teeth and hygiene.

With the co-operation of the teachers and classroom assistants, we discussed with the children the benefits of eating good food and cleaning teeth. We taught them the motto, ‘Good Food, Clean Teeth = Good Teeth’. Each child was given a toothbrush and taught the correct way of brushing their teeth. This created great excitement among the children, some of whom had never seen a toothbrush.

Out to the yard we went, to the trough-like sink with sporadic brown water coming from the taps. The children brushed vigorously until their mouths exploded with toothpaste. Even rinsing their mouths with the murky water did not diminish their enjoyment.

This programme continues daily, despite some difficulties. One child came to school crying, saying that his mother had burned his toothbrush. She had said toothbrushes were bad and might transmit HIV or AIDS. I think her understanding was that all of the children used the same brush. These fears were thankfully allayed.

The supply of toothbrushes and toothpaste for this programme was sponsored from Ireland prior to our volunteering in Ethiopia.

Announcements

Tesfa Blog

Tesfa supporters have a blog now, started and edited by UK board member Pey Colborne. The Tesfa Blog – at http://tesfafoundation.blogspot.com/ – is a way to post news and events from around the world. It draws together our community of volunteers, sponsors, runners and all other individuals who have been involved in Tesfa-US, Tesfa-UK, and/or the schools in Ethiopia. If you have news or stories about a Tesfa event, if you have visited a Tesfa school, run for Tesfa, written a letter to a child in Ethiopia, please send a photo and a paragraph to the blog editor at tesfa.uk@gmail.com, and she will post as soon as possible.

Volunteers Needed

Volunteers are always needed to help us in our work to provide early childhood education in Ethiopia. If you have even a few hours per week or month, please consider helping us to organize and implement our programs. All types of work and skills are needed. Look up contact information on our web sites and email or call. Thank you!

Holiday Sponsorships

This Holiday season, give friends and family a gift that will forever change a child’s life. For $16 per month, or $192 for one year, you pay a child’s way through one of our schools. The child sponsor has an opportunity to get to know one of our children, and to understand Ethiopia and the power of education in a new way. Please visit our donation page at tesfa.org for more information.

The Tesfa Foundation wishes everyone a very safe and happy Holiday season!

Feature: Interview with one of our parents

My name is Genet. [Genet means ‘heaven’ in Amharic.] I was born in 1970 [Ethiopian Calendar, which is seven years behind most] in a town called Gojam. Eighteen years ago, I lived with my parents, who were farmers. Then my cousin insisted on taking me to Addis Ababa for education. After she convinced my parents and took me to the capital city, she changed her mind and made me her servant. I looked after her children.

Genet at the Tesfa sewing machine (notice the kites against the wall behind her)

After eight years, I got married. I have two children now. My first child, Netsanet, is eight years-old, and my second is Yared, who is six years-old. My husband is a laborer, and he makes about 300 birr per month [about $35]. And that is only if there is enough supply of cement. We live in a rented house. Rents in Addis Ababa are very expensive.

People were talking about the Tsegereda School. I applied for my second child, Yared, and they took him in. Yared is happy at school, and he always talks about his friends and teachers.

I hope that some day my children will be educated and be someone. That’s what I expect out of life.

For myself, I’m happy and grateful that the school gave me an opportunity to learn how to use the sewing machine.

What will we do on Christmas? We’ll prepare doro wot [the traditional holiday chicken sauce with egg] and invite our neighbors for coffee.

(Beginning in the spring of 2007, in partnership with another Minnesota non-profit called Kite Gang, Tesfa offered training to some parents on a sewing machine, making kites that have gone to children in the Darfur refugee camps.)