Posts from my first trip to Ethiopia: Oct/Nov 2008

The Learning Village Jewelry Project

Sunday, October 19
I arrived in Addis Ababa Sunday, October 12, grateful to see Dr. Fekede Gemechu's face among those in the greeting line outside the airport, and to meet his sister Hareg and her son Yared. I came hauling a suitcase full of jewelry-making supplies purchased back in California from Fire Mountain Gems: safety pins, wire, tools, beads beads galore, and other supplies.

The Learning Village is a very pleasant place, situated in a still rural area just outside of Addis, on a hill called Kalaa'la. The population of Addis encroaches upon its own borders day by day, and every time Dr. Fekede comes home to Ethiopia, the development gets closer and closer to the school. As of yet there is no paved road going directly to the school, and Abebe, our driver, navigates the turbulent path, hewed rough by the rainy season (which just ended) with as much grace as possible.

The classrooms--first through eighth grade--serve students from Kalaa'la and the surrounding villages. Some of the students walk up to an hour and a half each day to get to school. Tuition, for those who can afford it, is a very small amount; currently much of the school's funding is from abroad, but the school is investing in micro-industry projects to help it obtain self-sufficiency. Currently, the property grows food, and is home to cows, dogs, birds, bees. Employees take the property's products--milk, honey, vegetables, dung--to a nearby market to sell. In the works are a medical clinic being constructed on site, a sewing enterprise (the women have begun sewing hospital patient gowns and scrubs embellished with Ethiopian embroidery strips), and a vocational school. The jewelry project is another facet of the attempt to create industries that not only sustain the school, but also generate reliable sources of income for those in the surrounding community.

The Learning Village was born of a tragedy--the death of Hareg's first husband and Dr. Fekede's life-long friend, Bekele Heye. Since they were young, Dr. Heye had spoken with Dr. Fekede of starting a school here, for his community; after his death his family requested that Dr. Fekede help fulfill the project in memory of him. Twelve years ago, no one anticipated as grand an endeavor as the school has turned out to be, but as need persists, Dr. Fekede's and Hareg's plans become more and more ambitious, even in the face of the many obstacles presented by government bureaucracy and impending urban development.

Teeyad, the company started by Dr. Fekede, Hareg and family to run the school, is a for-profit business with a social mission. While the designation of "non-profit" is not advantageous for a company in Ethiopia as it is in the States, the profit generated by the school and the property's micro-industries is directed either into the community--via employee wages, for example--or into development for the school and related projects, like the clinic that is currently under construction. Teeyad's primary objectives are to provide education, health services, and career development in keeping with its basic mission to help the community.

Besides offering employment for 45 full-time workers and teachers, affordable education for some 440 students, and healthcare pending completion of the clinic, The Learning Village offers members of the community an even barer necessity--water. The property has a well which grants more than enough water for the property's needs; each morning and evening, women come to collect water from a designated area, each filling two bright blue plastic containers to take home for their family's use.

Ten women have already had two months of beading classes with Yohanna, a former volunteer. The other day, Hareg brought all of their supplies and finished pieces for me to see. They have had a lot of experience stringing and have done some wire-wrapping and crimping too. I have been making samples all week for our classes which begin on Monday and will meet four days a week for three hours. Tomorrow we will make safety pin bracelets, building the tool-handling skills it takes to squeeze closed each safety pin and to crimp the bracelets closed. Soon we will also make bottle-cap pendants, paper beads out of colorful Addis Tea packaging and make necklaces and earrings to match the safety pin bracelets. We plan to use these projects to practice wire-wrapping and hammering wire, as well as more basic things like squeezing and using jumprings. I am looking forward to meeting the women tomorrow, and creating beautiful things with them.

Thursday, October 23

We began classes this week with a group that turned out to be seven women who met Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning. We started with the safety pin bracelet, teaching the women how to squeeze the pins closed in two directions, string them onto the stretchy cord in the correct pattern, and (the most challenging part) to crimp the bracelets closed with a crimp bead. This takes a special tool that first "scores" the crimp bead into two halves, one end of the cord in each half, and then neatly folds the crimp bead. It takes good vision, dexterity, and practice, practice, practice. They have had plenty of practice stringing beads with Yohanna, but are still getting accustomed to working with tools. By the second day, our group was doing pretty well, and there were fewer interruptions and corrections.

On Wednesday, after three days of classes with seven ladies, a group of women came to the school to talk to Dr. Fekede. They had also started jewelry classes with Yohanna. But when the rainy season started and classes moved from the school to Hareg's house, they were unable to continue with the classes. They were upset that they had not been informed of the classes this time around, and we decided to include them. So today we started with a fresh new group of six women who will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays while the others meet on Mondays and Wednesdays. We meet in the mornings from 9a to 11:30 or 12p.

Communication is a bit of a problem, as none of the women speak English, except for one of the women in the second group, who knows a bit. Dr. Fekede was helping me translate through most of the classes this week, to start me off, and when everything was going smoothly he would slip out and we would resort to demonstration and gesticulation to articulate. Fortunately, this is kinesthetic training that is feasible without verbal communication. Still, you would be surprised how helpful it is to be able to describe the details that one needs to be mindful of when going through the process. All in all, though, we are getting by well.

The women are diverse in age, some being parents of students at the school. A few seem very young--fourteen or fifteen--although I may be misjudging their age. We are hoping that a few emerge as natural choices to be teachers who continue directing the group after my departure. When I direct them, some catch on very quickly; for others, it takes a few tries. However, I know I should be careful to make judgments because there may be impediments I'm unaware of--poor vision and the lack of glasses, for instance. Today, one nervous young girl seemed particularly challenged at following directions; I did not learn until later that she does not speak Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia, and the language Dr. Fekede was using to communicate. She speaks Oromo, the language of a different ethnic group in Ethiopia.

After a few repetitions, everyone is doing very well, and we have produced some gorgeous bracelets this week.

Wednesday, November 5

We've sped through two and a half weeks of classes. Having two groups to work with every week cuts our number of meetings in half, slowing everything down, and I've had to cut some of the projects I originally intended. We had a day cutting and rolling paper beads and have now had some wire-wrapping classes too. Today the first group started designing their own necklaces to wire-wrap. Since each class only has two more meetings after tomorrow, I'm trying hard to think of some helpful guidance and projects to leave them with, and how to keep them organized after I leave. I think we need one more project like the safety pin bracelets (inspiration courtesy of Dr. Larry Thomas), something rather simple to make but still unique in design, sufficiently "Ethiopian-looking" (we use red, yellow & green--the national colors, and some very African-looking striped seed beads. Walking through the national museum last week, I saw an ethnographic exhibit of traditional jewelry, and one necklace utilized beads that looked just liked the striped seed beads we use.), inexpensive to make, and marketable. Unfortunately all the things I had in mind--the bottlecap medallions, for example--we just don't have the time to master. So I'm searching for inspiration...

I have also been having a blast in music lessons with a fun group of twelve kids of mixed ages--11 thru 17. They seem to be enjoying themselves, and it's contagious. The other day after class, an eighth-grader, Lomi, asked if she could sing a song with her friend Merebet for the next class. So we begun class yesterday with two lovely young voices singing a beautiful Ethiopian song. I asked them to stay after class to sing again so I could record them, and when I played it back to them, Lomi couldn't help but sing along with the recording, her whole face lit up and smiling sweetly! The class learned the main phrase of "Jitter BAG," a simple song with three notes, but when we played along with Dan's jazzy accompaniment, it came alive and we danced a kind of bob/tap while we played. Maybe it sounds cliche, but it is so nice to see the joy and energy that music can bring!

Besides material & educational benefits, the Learning Village has increased the community's social capital. The school is known locally as the Shibu Ejersa school, named after the first common ancestor of all those living in the scattered villages in the region; the fact that these splintered groups of villagers now send their children to the same institution has bounded the community. A case in point: last week a sort of "town hall forum" met in the school courtyard. Classes were cancelled and an astounding some 320 parents, plus students, congregated to discuss issues commonly affecting young females in the community like the girls who attend the school: abduction, child marriage, and genital mutilation.

The meeting was sparked by a recent abduction. Traditionally, abductions are a common recourse for a man who seeks a wife and is turned down by a girl's parents. Now they are illegal, but often, little can be done for a girl, especially once the "marriage" has been consummated. Last year, a promising 14 year-old girl at the top of her class was abducted and became pregnant. She was too embarrassed to return to school, even after the principal came to her parents' home looking for the girl to offer her a full scholarship if she would just come back to school. Instead, she took her child and ran away into the city to become a servant in a rich person's home. The female students are particularly vulnerable as many of them walk the 90+ minutes through the fields to school each day. This time, a fourth-grader was taken.

The meeting was a resounding success; the police commissioner from Addis spoke, and government officials from all levels were present, including the local officer for women's affairs, who clarified laws banning abduction, child marriage, and female gender mutilation. The community agreed that they must all join together to protect their girls and hold abductors accountable.

A few days later, as we rode along the rocky road leading from the school into civilization, we saw the police commissioner followed by a group of officers making their way along the path. Seeing the opportunity to maintain an important relationship, Dr. Fekede asked Abebe to stop and greeted the men, who asked for a ride towards the villages. The commissioner got in the back seat next to me, and the rest--about seven handsome young men--climbed in the back to sit on the bench seats that line the sides of the trunk. We learned from them that the little fourth-grade girl had been sent home and that her abductor had been thrown in prison.

FWD: My first email:

My Family & Friends:

I have been in Ethiopia for 11 days or so now (hard to believe it's been so long already). Most of you already know I am volunteering at a school that was begun by Fekede & Azeb Gemechu and Dr. Fekede's family here in Ethiopia. The Gemechus have been family friends for a very long time, and Dr. Fekede worked at Kaiser with my dad. They were at my dad's 60th birthday party back in March when Dr. Fekede told me that they wanted to train some women at the school in jewelry production. I showed him some things that I had made and put it in the back of my mind that at some point, this could be a fun thing to do. I guess he put it in the back of his head too because he called my house one evening a few months ago to ask if I would be available to teach for a little while. Since I finished school in May and have not started working yet, the timing could not have been better.

It's been providential in other ways too. The experiences and knowledge I am gaining here have dovetailed amazingly well with interests that have developed for me just within the last year or so. In Berkeley, my roommate Sarah and I had many conversations about our desires to start some sort of social enterprise, and my dreams to either start some sort of "fair trade" marketplace or be a buyer of international artisanal goods. Sarah also taught a class I took last semester on microfinance, which although it isn't directly related to what I'm doing here, it is certainly relevant because what we're trying to do is establish some sort of micro-industry for a group of women, it being proven time and time again all around the world that putting income in the hands of women is a good way to sustain families and a community...

"The Learning Village," where I am teaching, is more than a school. There are classrooms here--grades 1 through 8--but the school functions on the property in conjunction with agriculture, animal husbandry and other micro-industries (sewing, and soon, jewelry) that create jobs for community members and generate income for the school. The goal is that the school be a sustainable business, despite very low (often-waived) tuition fees. Besides education, The Learning Village also hopes to provide health services, and a clinic is under construction. All of these elements work together to help raise the quality of life for those in the community.

I should also say that it's lovely, in a rural area just outside of Addis (though not for long), with rolling green fields and mud huts with thatched roofs yawning out in three directions, and the city of Addis Ababa sprawling into the distance in another. The weather has been perfect--in the 70's everyday--and in the guest house, I have my own room, walk-in closet, desk and bathroom.

So the first week I was here, I just prepared for classes, sitting at my desk designing and producing jewelry, our driver Abebe taking us into town in the afternoons, when we would usually make sure to stop at the Imperial Hotel, which provides free wireless internet access. During free time I write, upload pictures to my computer, listen to This American Life on Ernie's ipod, read (Dreams From my Father, by Barack Obama, in which [coincidentally], he visits Kenya, Ethiopia's neighbor), or walk around the campus, often finding kids to play with and photograph. Sigue, our cook and cleaning lady, makes us three meals a day and afternoon tea. Her food is phenomenal, and she makes fresh coffee for us every morning and noon-time. After lunch there's often time for a coffee ceremony, when she roasts the beans in front of us, grinds them, and boils the coffee right there on the spot. You've never had coffee like this, you can literally taste the fire in the beans, it's so dark and fragrant and wonderful that for the first time in my life I am drinking my coffee black. Sigue doesn't speak English, but she greets me every morning and afternoon with a warm, wide smile and a lift of one eyebrow, an endearingly dubious look that makes me feel we share some unspoken inside joke. Even the skiddish yellow dog that lazes around the guest house entrance all day and barks his ears off all night loves Sigue. She feeds him leftovers and in return, he keeps a close watch out over her as she leaves the guest house at night to go to the servants' quarters where she stays.

This week we started classes. We are starting with a "safety pin bracelet" project (see attached pic.). I tend to be detail-oriented, wanting them to do the project "just so," and I think a few students were frustrated the first day of classes; but the learning curve was steep and the class fared much better on Tuesday, the second day of classes. Fortunately Dr. Fekede was there to translate until they got the hang of it. Many of the women have a hard time handling the tools, but that is true of all beginners and it is just a matter of time before it becomes second nature. The ladies are nice; some of them have children who attend the school, but a few of them seem very young, still teenagers. In general, the younger girls seem to be more nervous and anxious to prove themselves. The older ladies are a little more patient and gentler on themselves, and as a result they seem to listen to instructions better. Some of them, it seems, need glasses. After a bit of practice, I am sure that we can be making some really beautiful things by the end of my time here (4 more weeks of classes), in fact, the bracelets they made this week turned out gorgeous.

On Wednesday, after three days of classes with seven ladies, a group of women came to the school to talk to Dr. Fekede. They had also started jewelry classes with Yohanna, another volunteer who came to teach a few months ago. But when the rainy season started and classes moved from the school to Fekede's sister's house, they were unable to continue with the classes. They were upset that they had not been informed of the classes this time around, so we decided to include them. So today we started with a fresh new group that will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays while the others meet on Mondays and Wednesdays. We meet in the mornings from 9a to 11:30 or 12p.

We found a big bag of recorders (the musical instrument) that my uncle Dan donated to the school, and a wonderful workbook and CD that he used when he taught his third graders how to play the recorder. Dr. Fekede has been anxious to get some music classes going around here, so I am going to teach a group of kids starting tomorrow. I am planning to teach them how to read music too, and I think some of the teachers are going to sit in and see what they can learn too. This should really be a lot of fun. Also, there has been talk of getting me into the classrooms to read some of the English children's books that Iris Landa sent. Right now, my afternoons are pretty much free so I'm looking forward to getting into the classrooms.

Well that is pretty much how my days go around here. It feels wonderful to be learning so much and contributing, and I am so excited to be here. I will send out a link as soon as my blog is posted, and you'll be able to see some more pictures there.

With a hug from Addis,

Danielle