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.
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