Monday 26th September 2011
I never thought that I’d come all the way to Africa to film a toilet. This morning I stood in a field filming two workmen putting the walls up around four pit latrines. I get all the good jobs you know.
This really was a serious business though. One of the project that Addis Kadan Baptist Church is promoting is their community health and these toilets are a big part of it. This particular one was at the school where they are also building an extra classroom. The school is currently supported by Global Care but one of it’s aims is to become a registered school and receive support from the government. To do this it must fit certain criteria such as classroom sizes and equipment.
These workmen were covering the wooden frame around the pits with mud, which they spread into the gaps in the wood. This dries almost as hard as concrete and, as there is plenty of mud, is a traditional and cost effective way of building.
We were at the school to film some of the kids at their lesson but what we hadn’t bargained on was Musqel, a festival celebration the arrival of the original cross of Christ in Ethiopia. Most of the children had decided not to turn up for school, which made our task somewhat difficult. One of the things you learn in Africa is that plans never come together in the way you think they should.
There were a few children around who were drawn to the camera like bees to treacle and I talked to Zelealem, a 13 year old boy who spoke enough English to tell me he went to government school and was hoping to be a pilot. In fact, nearly all the young boys I met want to be pilots. Zelealem appointed himself as my assistant and for the rest of the morning carried bags, held microphones and did his best to interpret for me.
With the absence of children we headed of to Lakech Achew’s house to talk with her about her micro-financed business making and selling injura. We then met Danknesh who has set up a similar business selling cabbage. These small businesses mean that these women can earn enough money to feed their families. They pay a regular small amount into the microfinance fund and borrow enough to set their business up. I’d seen this before in Bangladesh and it was good to see the same idea working here in Ethiopia.
Danknesh’s son had attended the kindergarten as well and was now in his second year of government school. He wants to be a pilot when he grows up.
By the time we had walked back to the school we had acquired a sizable group of children so we decided to do school. One of the teachers donned a white coat and the children ran excitedly into the classroom. The lesson was Amharic and involved a lot of repetition on the children’s part, calling out parrot fashion the letters of the alphabet. I felt quite confident so I had a go. I was not very good. Le, Li, Lo, La, Lu, Loo or something like that!
We headed back to the guesthouse to rest before tea and decided to do some filming of the 4×4 struggling through the mud, so I jumped out with the camera. There in the trees, just like the scene from jungle book were four huge vultures, all looking rather bored. I do love the wildlife here especially the birds with their amazing colours.
One thing that was struggling with was seeing the vision of what was happening here. The school was good, the microfinance, the pit latrines, but what difference was it making. It bothered me partly because it’s easy for people in the west to tire of giving to places like Ethiopia. I mean what happens to their money if 1 year, 5, 10 or 20 years later there’s still the appeals to tackle famine.
Kifle explained the problem. In Ethiopia there is a culture of dependency. People begin to expect the government or the world to step in and help, rather than them helping themselves. A big part of the problem is that they don’t know how to help themselves and so central to Kifle’s vision is education and training. The schools speak for themselves; the community health work is the same. Microfinance and self-help groups teach people to save and invest and help with work skills to help people become independent. It’s early days but it has already begun to change the lives of the families involved.
It’s a hard sell to get the funding, especially from the west, but this isn’t about relief aid. This is about helping families out of the cycle and mentality of poverty. Kifle says that the school doesn’t want to have to rely on funding. He wants to see the school registered by the government, which means they’ll get some central funding. For this to happen they need to meet certain criteria such as individual desks for the kids, play equipment and large enough classrooms.
Education is something that Kifle passionately believes will help people out of this dependent attitude and talking to him tonight, that passion certainly came across.
Back at the guesthouse I started packing for the journey tomorrow, glad to have been here, glad to be heading home but aware that I hadn’t really scratched the surface of what goes on her and the affect it has on the community.
