"Cold" mornings set in

Well last night, according to my thermometer, the temperature here in Gilgel went below 10°C for the first time since last winter. The days are now “only” 11h30 long near the shortest day on Dec 21^st. The sun rises at around 06:45 and sets at 18:15. In the day, the temperature still goes above 30°C.

More hold-ups with my counterpart, who we “hired” about two months ago. A letter came, at last, from the regional education bureau permitting him to work with me for 3 days a week and I foolishly became optimistic that next week, starting Wednesday, I would have someone to work with and share my skills with, who could carry on the work when I leave. Yesterday, however, the next level down, the woreda department refused to let him go due to funding (and maybe still something to do with the fact that we didn’t choose the wife of one of the woreda officials – although this is just speculation.) We are talking about a payment of £28.00 per month here (3/5 of his salary) and I’m almost tempted to pay it myself, but that would give the wrong idea. In general, I’ve found that here in Ethiopia, from what others have experienced, that just giving money to people always causes more problems than solutions and perpetuates the “white people are rich” myth making life more difficult for others who follow.

When I came back to Ethiopia this year, I had been promised two fulltime counterparts who I thought would be in-place when I arrived. I had to advertise for, plan the interview/assessment, speak to officials and generally organise my own counterpart, who gradually got knocked down from fulltime to 3 days a week and at the moment, not at all. This has all taken three months! On top of that, I am trying to start the CPD programme in more of the cluster schools, but the car is broken, so not a lot is going on here at the moment. At least my recorder lessons are something I am in control of and happen twice a week regularly. The first group can now sight-read B,A,G,E,D and I may have a line on two teachers who would like to learn so they can continue teaching when I leave.