Back from the Bale Mountains and the inauguration of Kasso Manso School

Two days ago we returned to Addis Ababa from the Bale Mountains of Central Ethiopia…not far from the home of Ethiopia’s great marathon runners and one of the most beautiful parts of the country.

Bale is the place where Partners in the Horn of Africa got started with its first project 7 years ago…a simple footbridge, which allowed several thousand people to cross a swollen river to hospitals, schools and market places during the rainy season. Since then Partners has completed more than a dozen projects in the area…..libraries, micro-financing programs, water distributions systems and school classrooms. It is one of our favourite areas, nestled as it is high in the Bale Mountains. The main crop in the area is wheat and the rolling hills of Bale remind Albertans of their own Rocky Mountain foothills

Our trip this year was for a very special occasion. Last year Partners was approached by EBA Engineering Consultants Ltd., one of our strong corporate supporters in Western Canada. EBA and its employees offered to raise money for a major project in rural Ethiopia…one that would hold the attention of their entire staff and accomplish as much as possible for the people of rural Ethiopia. The small rural community of Kasso Manso and its elementary school were quickly settled upon as the site of the project.

The village of Kasso Manso is about 12 kilometres from the nearest road and can be accessed only by a trail that is used mainly by horses and donkeys. The village itself is amazing. It has an elementary school with an excellent academic record despite the fact that it is almost completely isolated from the larger community. There is (was) no electricity or water in the town and the village is about as self-sufficient as you can get. Education and the school are important to the community. The fathers of the school kids voluntarily farm a small piece of land dedicated to the school and with the proceeds from the harvest each year the community buys stationery and school supplies. Two years ago the community built three large classroom blocks from chika (mud and straw) but could afford no more than the bare walls. As such, the buildings were unusable and in time the absence of a foundation would lead to their collapse. Partners decided that the school would be a good fit with EBA.

Over the past year Partners finished the classrooms (cement foundations, floors, windows, mortar on the exterior/interior and desks for the kids). Piped water was brought to the village of Kasso Manso and distribution lines were run to the school. Latrines were also built so that kids no longer had to do their business in the nearby bushes. In the nearby town of Kasso Wara two more water distribution systems were built and in the community of Retaba construction is underway for a footbridge, which will allow some 300 kids to attend school throughout the year. In short, major changes have been wrought in the community.

EBA raised over $100,000 for this project, the lion’s share of it by fundraising from their employees. And then last week, Maureen Marsh, an EBA employee joined us for the inauguration. We left Addis Ababa for the 12 hour drive to Kasso Manso knowing that the celebration would be something special but were still astounded with what we found when we arrived at Kasso Manso.

It is hard to convey what an event the inauguration was. New school buildings are rare in this impoverished country and especially so in areas that are so far off the beaten track. Yet rural Ethiopians know that education is their best hope for a better life and a new school is a signal of a new beginning and a new chance for their children. It is an important event in the life of the community – a sign to one and all that a milestone has been reached and a success achieved by the village.

On the day of the inauguration every important education official and local official within 50 miles attended along with several hundred members of the community and, of course, the students. We managed to get our Land Cruiser right to the school site and along the way noticed women dressed in their finest clothes walking towards the school carrying large pots of gumfo and chiko, favoured local dishes which we knew would be served as part of the feast following the inauguration. Everywhere people were streaming towards Kasso Manso and you could feel the electricity in the air.

At the school grounds half a dozen large tents had been erected for the dignitaries. Food was being carried to and fro and the local television station had somehow managed to get a cameraman and camera 12 kilometres down the road to Kasso Manso. At the start of the festivities we were greeted by some 25 Ethiopian horsemen in a traditional Oromo welcome. Horses racing frantically, but in unison, up and down the school grounds coming within yards of the assembled guests. And those guys could ride! Most of the riders were dressed in traditional garb though two sported western suits and ties. Regardless of their clothing all rode with great skill and pomp…most of the horses festooned with red bunting and riding at top speed just inches from each other. This was followed by a procession of respected women from Kasso Manso all dressed in colourful traditional dresses, waving branches over their heads and chanting in unison as they greeted us.

Then came the speeches, all of them expressing gratitude and reflecting the community’s strong commitment to education. One graduate of the elementary school had gone on to great things becoming a senior official in the Ethiopian Development Bank. He had driven all night to attend the inauguration and gave a wonderful talk to an adoring community about the value of education. Maureen spoke for EBA telling the community of the empathy of her fellow Canadian employees for the people of this community so many thousands of miles away.

The community took advantage of the many relatively well-to-do visitors and held an auction to raise money for a library and laboratory for the school. This was done with an auction conducted by two very funny villagers intent on entertaining the majority of those in attendance who could not afford to bid. Every bid was treated with an anecdote about the bidder and feigned sympathy and comments for the bidder who had just been trumped. Further bids were elicited by one auctioneer removing clothes and threatening to bare all unless more bids were forthcoming. The items auctioned were a painting commemorating the inauguration, a very fat sheep and a pot full of for its next project….a school library and laboratory. The community was exhorted to drop their donations onto a large shawl laid out on the ground…and many did so. It struck us that this new project was made to order for Partners. It was a project selected by the community and one to which the community was prepared to commit its own scarce resources. So, as the donations began to flag we announced that whatever amount was in the shawl in another 15 minutes would be matched by Partners. This caused an unbelievable flurry of activity as everyone rushed to the shawl to “double their money”. We were later to discover that 241 single Birr (about ten cents) had been deposited with many more donations of larger denominations. It appears that more than 300 donations were made in the last 15 minutes and Kasso Manso got a good leg up on its next project.

It was a great feeling driving back to our rooms that night. We’d witnessed several thousand people celebrating the education of their kids and their accomplishment (as always, Partners had required the community to put up a significant portion of the costs in cash, labour and local materials) in empowering their own community. The kids in Kasso Manso were no longer going to have to take notes in class sitting on rocks, they could get a drink of water when the hot African sun made them thirsty and they could use latrines when they needed them. I had no doubt that the banker who had driven all night to get to the inauguration was going to be joined by more successful graduates of Kasso Manso in the years to come.

And good on you, EBA. You have done much to bridge the gap between our very wealthy and privileged people and those of rural Ethiopia. Your efforts have changed the lives of the Kasso Manso community.

On the Road from Bahir Dar

Bahir Dar is the capitol of Gojam, the central region of Ethiopia, and is often referred to as the 'breadbasket” of the country because of the cereal crops it produces (mainly Teff used to make injera, the bread which is eaten every day). The people in Gojam are mainly Amheric and known for their hard work. Gojam is also a very poor part of the county and one where Partners in the Horn of Africa is heavily engaged with several Ethiopian 'partner' NGOs (non- Governmental organizations...usually charities). Among our projects in Gojam is our Ophan fostering project where we have placed 200 HIV orphans with extended family members and a Group Home for teenage orphan girls attending high school. We have also built a Women's Center in, several classroom blocks, clean water wells and a school library. We like working in Gojam and there is a real need in the Region.

This trip to Gojam was to check out possible projects in Adet and Finote Selam, two villages a few hours drive from Bahir Dar. We always love visiting Bahir Dar on the shores of Lake Tana with its world famous monasteries where legend has it that the Ark of the Covenant was first hidden after its removal from Jerusalem and before its transfer to Axum in Northern Ethiopia. Emperor Haile Selassie had a palace in Bahir Dar and is said to have always wanted to transfer the capitol from Addis Ababa to this lovely city with its wide boulevards and stately palm trees. Bahir Dar is the site of Partners' annual orphan picnic when we bring the 200 kids enrolled in our fostering project to the big city for two days of partying, awards, soccer matches and sightseeing. This year's picnic is imminent and we spent some time in he city finalizing arrangements for the kids. We also visited the general hospital which is the only full service, referral hospital for 5 million (yes, 5,000,000) people in Gojam. We recently received a donation of 21 hospital beds and had to make arrangements for their delivery by container later in the spring. Then we were off to Adet for a second visit to an amazing project.

Ato (Mr.) Desta Moges is a recently retired civil servant and the head of the project we were to visit in Adet, an hour or so out of Bahir Dar. On retirement last year, Desta turned his house and compound into an orphanage and kindergarten. There are 30 street kid/orphans living in the sheds erected in his housing compound and another 63 kids attend, free of charge, the kindergarten he has started for destitute town kids. Ten of the kids in the kindergarten are also orphans who live with extended family members in the town. The kindergarten classes are held in Desta's former home which also serves as an office for the charity he has registered and who would be our 'partner' in any joint venture. The teachers in the kindergarten are retired or younger volunteers and are paid less than $20 a month. Like Desta they are all caring individuals who are making great sacrifices to assist the people in the town where they grew up.

Funding for the project to date has come entirely from Desta's savings and pension and from one of his sons who works in Addis Ababa and who has contributed approximately $10,000 to date.

It didn't take Yehalem, our Country Representative, and I long to decide that Desta's organization fit the Partners' bill. It was an indigenous charity where the community itself had taken charge and was doing good work with virtually no overhead. A committee, headed by Desta, and with representatives of the various government services in Adet makes all key decisions relating to the Project and has been able to arrange such things as free health services and waiver of school registration fees for the orphan kids and to assist in the selection of destitute street kids. The community had, in fact, taken the lead and now needed assistance to carry on. When a community commits itself...as Desta and his friends had...to support a project with their own meagre funds and labour, that is a sure sign of a real need and of the kind of continuing support which any successful project must have. Our visit to Adet also confirmed the desperate situation of the street kids. They told us that prior to the project they picked up a few cents each day acting as porters at the local bus station but relied on begging scraps from local restaurants and bars to live on. Now those kids have their own beds, are enrolled in school and, for the first time, have some hope for the future. Partners will be helping Desta.

Then it was off to Finote Selam, a thriving community south of Bahir Dar and famous for it's ability to grow almost any crop in its balmy climate. The big problem in the area is a lack of bridges...a need which requires some explanation. In Ethiopia and most of sub-Saharan Africa 85% of the population live “off road” a term used to indicate that people live neither in towns nor cities but in extended family clusters, usually miles from the nearest center. Town centers must be accessed regularly for three basic reasons: for access to open air markets one or two days a week where virtually all rural commerce is transacted: for medical centers where the sick must be attended to and, lastly, for schools. Africans, and Ethiopians in particular, are great walkers and a 4-5 kilometre hike to town presents no problems .....except in the three month rainy season, when small stream become raging torrents that make crossing impossible. When the rivers can't be crossed there is no access to markets, health care or school. And, inevitably, there are drownings when rising rivers are forded. It is common for 5,000 to 10,000 people to cross a river on a market day so that an impassable river denies basic and essential services for thousands of people for three months each year.

Partners in the Horn of Africa is getting good at building footbridges. (There is no need for vehicle bridges in rural areas for villagers who can't begin to think of buying a car and Ethiopia's per capita income is less than $150 per year). We build bridges in 6 meter sections prefabricated in an urban area and then transferred to the stream side where they are welded together. The bridges are 1.5 metres in width, wide enough for a fully loaded donkey but just narrow enough to make sure vehicles, which require far greater support, are not tempted to cross) Local residents provide rocks for the concrete foundations used as anchors on either side of the river and eucalyptus for scaffolding when the bridge is being erected.

I have attached a picture of the crossing of a proposed bridge site near Finote Selam. This picture was taken when the river was at its lowest level. Two months before this picture was taken the waters level would have been over waist level and moving quickly.. The picture of the elderly lady crossing the stream was taken after the water levels had largely receded and yet we were nervous for her with each step she took. at a site where many have been swept downriver to their deaths. Residents told us of walking for a full day to arrive at the river when it was too high to ford and showed us the tree under which they slept for days waiting for the water level to drop. An inconvenience when you're going to market; a matter of life and death if you are transporting a child with malaria to the local Health Clinic.

We have commissioned the building of at least one bridge near Finote Selam. It will cost us somewhere in the range of $10,000 to $20,000 (competitive bids are now being sought). It will last for years and save many lives in the process. It will also allow many more kids to complete their education. Interestingly, one of the main proponents of the bridge we are building is an opthomologist who was able to complete his studies only because he had an aunt “on the other side of the river” where his parents sent him to attend school. Imagine if Canadian kids had to move to a relative's home to attend school or risk their lives getting there each day and knowing that, even if they could get their some days, they would still miss a month or two of school each year.

The bridge near Finote Selam will save lives and improve education for many, many children. This will be Partners' 8th bridge. It won't be our last.

My next report will be from the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia's central region. We are going there to inaugurate a new school, check on the progress of another bridge and 10 sets of school latrines and commence a project fabricating and distributing washable sanitary pads to 4,000 school girls.