First Saturday class

Today the students (and I) had the first full Saturday class. They arrived at 9:00 a.m. (we'll usually start at 9:30) for a campus tour; the parents had an orientation and tour as well, led by Ellen (the ILEA Executive Director). We had class until 2:30 p.m., with an hour break for lunch. One of the most common comments I got leading up to this trip was, "Oh, I love Ethiopian food; you're going to eat so well." Today's school lunch was my first "Ethiopian" meal, and it did not disappoint. For all of 20 birr apiece (roughly $1.10), we all at a delicious meal - specially prepared by the woman who runs the college cafeteria.

The 20 students are all 8th graders, but they come from four different schools. They are eager and focused - and decreasingly shy with each passing hour. The classes are focused on developing English fluency in reading, writing, and speaking. Even though it is not the home language for any of them, their regular classes are taught in English starting in 5th grade, and the national exams (coming in 10th and 12th grades) are administered in English. We are also working on leadership skills, critical thinking, and community building.

It was a long and exhausting day (I blame jet lag and altitude), but it was also terrific to get the program off to such a spirited and productive start!

The day ended with a celebratory dinner out with some NWS alum parents who are living and working in Addis.

Eating in the Hope University College cafeteria.

The girls relax after lunch...

while the boys try their hands at tossing the disc.

Ma vie en plastique

Okay, so I have been reduced to drinking bottled water, and the irony is not lost on me that I am now living a reluctant and uncharacteristic plastic-laden lifestyle mere months after hosting anti-plastic activist Beth Terry (author of Plastic-Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too and of the blog "My Plastic-free Life") at school. (Here's my write-up of that visit for the NWS blog.) The shop stalls of Addis Ababa are awash with plastic goods (pictures coming). They're wonderfully inexpensive and convenient, but cheaply-made and awful for the environment. While short-lifespan plastic products are a lousy use of resources under any circumstances, it seems worse here where there is no infrastructure for disposing of them. Much waste festers on the roadside or in vacant lots. Some gets burned - either on the street or at the dump, and there is no recycling to speak of - except for refillable glass bottles and lots of re-use/re-purposing out of both resourcefulness and necessity.

An instructive graphic from the UNDP's Human Development Report showing that nearly all of the countries with a sustainable current lifestyles are among the planet's poorest and least developed, such as Ethiopia. 

As car-choked and polluted as this sprawling city is, the average Ethiopian's environmental impact is still far below the average citizen of a developed country (even if our cities are cleaner and more organized). According to Louise Carver of the Population and Sustainability Network in a 2009 publication, "The average American emits about two hundred times more carbon dioxide than the average Ethiopian" and "For every 1,000 people in Ethiopia, there are only two motorized vehicles (compared to 787 motorized vehicles per 1,000 Americans)." I'm guessing that since 80-85% of Ethiopia's population is reportedly still rural farmers, the overwhelming majority of the country's carbon emissions come from the capital city - and they're taking a toll on my poor lungs!

Class begins!



The fancy sign that Hope University put up for us.

Yesterday was a big day for ILAE. Ellen and her Board have been working up to this day for more than 5 years. It was an honor to be part of welcoming the first ILAE students. The class time went by fast; we only had 90 minutes, and there were a lot of introductions and logistics to cover.

The students seemed a bit nervous at first, but they opened up quickly. This is going to be fun! 

Our hand-made welcome sign.

Ellen welcomes the students.



Our first students!

Welcome to Addis Ababa!

Addis street market.

Wow! If one word describes this city, it is dynamic. From what I've seen in my 2 days here, Addis Ababa is a sprawling, chaotic mass of humanity that is in the midst of breakneck growth and development. It's a bit overwhelming! It's one thing to study a place from afar and to look at statistics - population of 87 million (Africa's second largest, to Nigeria), a per capita GNI PPP of $930, a fertility rate (TFR) of 4.8 (double the world average and way over the replacement rate of 2.06), 78% of the polulation living on less than $2 per day, etc.; it's an entirely different thing to find oneself living in the midst of the chaos (and charm) of a developing country's BIG capital. One source says 4.25 million people live in the capital; another estimates 5 million. (Someone told me it was closer to 8 million.)  

Our classroom building. We have two rooms on the 3rd floor.

In any case, where I get to live and work is in an area on a rapidly developing edge of the city. I'm being hosted by Hope University College, a newly built campus in its second year of operation and with a student population of nearly 400. The campus was built to accommodate 2,000 students, so they are letting ILAE use some of the surplus classroom space. We (Ellen, the ILAE Executive Director and former Head of NWS, and I) are living in on-campus faculty apartments, and we even get an office. 

The faculty apartment block.

The green-roofed library.

The view behind campus.

Cows graze just outside the campus gate.

The "sports green" just outside the campus gate.

 

Dubai

Well, I'm glad I decided to fly to Ethiopia on Emirates air. The route starts with a 14 and a half hour flight to Dubai, over Iceland and Turkey. Once in Dubai, the airline provides a free hotel room and meals for layovers of over 6 hours. Mine was almost 15 hours, so I had enough time to take advantage of these amenities. I arrived after 7 pm and didn't expect to do or see much, but a vendor in the hotel offered a two-hour van tour of the city. (I would have needed to be there during daylight for the desert camel tours!) Not knowing when or if I might ever be back, I decided to sign up.

Dubai, one of the seven United Arab Emirates, is a glitzy, booming, and very modern city in the middle of what was, according to our tour guide, largely desert only 25 years ago. He described how the economy is fueled by tourism and shopping (other Emirates, he said, have most of the oil). With a massive foreign workforce (interestingly not eligible for citizen rights), the city was buzzing with activity and development. Dubai has become a destination for the world's wealthy; one can, for example, have a new, private island built to spec in the harbor.

I was impressed by the modernity: the glittering towers (including the world's tallest skyscaper), the elaborate hotels and resorts (including a twin of the Atlantis in the Bahamas - aquarium and all), and the world-class infrastructure (tunnels under the bay, fancy shops and cars, etc.), but I couldn't help wondering at how energy-intensive it must be to have all those fancy buildings, and air conditioned bus stops. Dubai relies on desalination plants for 80% of its water I also knew that there would be a dramatic contrast between Dubai's wealth and what awaited me in the capital of Ethiopia.

The morning flight to Addis Ababa only took four hours. The best part was flying over Djibouti and recognizing the Gulf of Tadjoura and Lake Assal (the lowest point on the continent of Africa!); they look just like they do in the atlas! Once landing at Addis Ababa's Bole Airport, I knew my adventure would begin...  

Heading to Ethiopia!

The former Head of the Northwest School is very involved in the founding of a high school in Addis Ababa: the International Leadership Academy of Ethiopia. ILAE's ultimate goal is to attract top students from all over the country, from all backgrounds, and offer them a world class education. I've been invited to teach a spring and summer prep program to 8th graders, potential members of ILAE's first 9th grade!

Even though it's hard to leave home, family and friends, and the great Northwest School community - especially an awesome 8th grade class, it's very exciting to have a chance to see another part of Africa - and especially one that I have studied and taught about. Exciting, and more than a little intimidating.

I'll try to post updates, stories, pictures, and observations regularly.

More newspaper headlines

In browsing the archives of Cape Argus front pages, I've come across some startling images and stories (like the whale leaping onto the yacht, which I've discovered has been quite widely covered and circulated). Many have been entertaining in an "only in South Africa" kind of way, such as the latest episodes of scandal ("Zuma nephew in R71 000 booze row") and a story (also picked up by some North American media) on how some communities across the country, such as of Constantia in the Cape Town area, are "being held hostage" by a marauding troop of rowdy baboons (not to down play the very real danger posed by these primates...).

On a more serious note is coverage of the spike in xenophobic attacks, "Foreigners under attack" and of the on-going high rates of crime. On the crime front, I found particularly disturbing a story on hikers being accosted on Table Mountain's network of trails, "Mountain mugging alert." The article reports on a spate of attacks in some of the most wonderful hiking territory I've ever been in - territory where friends and I hiked while I was in Cape Town (at the same time as some of these attacks happened) and where South Africans I know are certainly still hiking, or perhaps not since a whole list of trails have been declared "'no-go zones' after muggers, brandishing broken bottles and knives, attacked hikers and residents in at least 10 incidents since May."

I had a chance to discuss life in South Africa at a recent dinner party when I was seated across from an American married to a man from Durban. Since the late 90's, they have gone back every other year for an extended visit. She acknowledged the risks and challenges of life there, but also said that, like anywhere, one just needs to pay attention and have some "street smarts." While I agree that I certainly felt "awake" during my stay (an exhilarating but exhausting way to live!), I consider myself lucky to have avoided being a victim of crime. She also mirrored the contradictory feelings that I've been having when she commented that she'd love to live in South Africa, but wouldn't necessarily recommend it to others as a travel destination. I'm eager to talk to people who went to the World Cup about their experiences.