Didimtuu

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Welcome home Change Your World Team!

Heading Home

The Change Your World team are headed back to Canada! Having encountered some challenges with the internet not all the video blogs could be posted from Ethiopia. Watch for them in the coming days!

More news from Ethiopia

Today has been quite the busy day for the Change Your World Team. In the morning we had the opportunity to tour SSCM; a vocational training centre for youth ages sixteen to twenty-five. This program enables young people to develop skills in woodworking, metalworking, and hairdressing through in class instruction and internships. At the end of the program there is nearly one hundred percent placement in the workforce. This program is incredibly empowering for the youth by allowing them to become self-sufficient young adults. In the afternoon we fought our way through the rain to the Canadian`` home-away-from-home`` in Ethiopia; the Canadian Embassy. We met with Stuart Lane from CIDA to learn a little more about International Development and the challenges and successes in Ethiopia. I think it’s fair to say that we could have spent all day talking with him because there was just so much to learn, and we returned to the Guest House with many questions we just didn’t have time to ask in our two hour discussion. For dinner we had the privilege of dinning in the home of Dr. Mesfin from Rainbow for the Future who is involved in the project we visited yesterday in Didimintu. This was our first visit to an Ethiopian home, and what the experience this was! The food was definitely better than any restaurant we`ve been to, and the company even better! With only a few more days to go we`re all really looking forward to experiencing everything we can here in Ethiopia, and maybe fitting in a little sleep if we can find the time.

Cheers from Addis,

The Change Your World team

Day Four in Ethiopia

Today we drove 3 hours south of Addis Ababa to the kebele of Didimtuu in the Adama district. We were visiting a community development project funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the Provincial Government of Alberta, and the Rotary Club. The project was created in partnership with an Alberta-based organization called Rainbow for the Future and the community. While we were there we visited a school which was very different from the other schools we have visited so far. It was large, bright and had sufficient room for the number of students studying there. The entire project was founded by one woman with a dream, a dream to give back to her community and make a difference in the lives of women and children living in Didimtuu. The woman was Mrs. Bekelech. Mrs. Bekelech envisioned the entire project, including starting the school, building the teacher’s residences, building a store and a grinding mill for the community to grind tef, wheat, corn and berebere a local spice).

We got to learn about the history of the project from the beginning where the children were taught with basic carved letteres and animals they created to now where there are 6 classrooms teaching 200 students from kindergarten to grade 4. With the help of Rainbow for the Future, the project is expanding. One person shared an Ethiopian proverb with us that summed up this project:

Bit by bit the egg will walk.

Day Three in Ethiopia!

What a great day it was. Today we went to YTH Guellele and visited a group of youth that were older than the previous YTH group. The youth at this centre have lost either one or both of their parents and are at high risk for ending up on the streets. Despite the challenges these youth face they are some of the most energetic and determined people we have ever met. Their lives have been so damaged but they are adamant at creating a better future for themselves. The centre helps tutor the children, supply a hot lunch and provide additional support ranging from learning English to emotional support. We presented information about ourselves and Canada. The youth had many questions for us. The day ended with us singing songs and playing games that had lots of participation from the youth, the teachers and the other volunteers. Once again, their hospitality has amazed us and we are looking forward to tomorrow.