Wow! 4:00 am came early for us all. We had to leave our Addis hotel at 4:45 for a 6:30 boarding of our flight to Gondar. The process of departure at the Addis airport is another life lesson in patience. Don’t every complain about the TSA screening in the US….at the Addis airport you get to do it twice, once upon entering the terminal and once upon entering the gate area. The sleepy travelers arrived safely and on time in Gondar about 9:30. We go immediately to the Goha Hotel for a quick breakfast and several cups of coffee before heading to the field. The Goha Hotel has a magnificent view from three sides overlooking the town of Gondar. The hotel is located on the highest point in the immediate area around Gondar.
Our itinerary originally called for this day to be dedicated to a trip to Robit, a community of about 6-7,000 located about 2 hours from Gondar. The W2T team visited the community in June of this year, finding them in desperate need of clean water. Our partner, Glimmer of Hope, plans an integrated development program (water, sanitation, schools, health post) and W2T plans to sponsor a deep borehole project (similar to the one visited yesterday at Gedamba) with 7-8 water points to serve the major parts of the community for clean water, including the school and health post. Unfortunately, the trip had to be cancelled because of difficulty in reaching the community caused by recent rains. Glimmer had recently travel to Robit with another group, and it took them over six hours to reach the community, using a combination of car, boat and donkey.
We adjusted our schedule to visit Glimmer’s Burbax Integrated Development project, just recently completed for a community of about 5,600. Like the one planned in Robit for 2011, this project included water, sanitation, schools and health posts. We had a chance to visit all elements of the project, but of special note was our time spent at the Mugechit Primary School (grades 1-4).
This has been a year of great blessings for the school. Last year, the teachers were using the shade of a tree as their school room…..they had no building. The new school block now includes 4 classrooms and a small office for the principal and two teachers. The three teachers are great examples of commitment and compassion for their students. They each live some distance from the school, walking each day for about two hours each way to be at the school from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. The principal has 4 years of experience and the two teachers, more than 7 years each. Since opening the new school block, the average attendance has jumped from 50-60 per day to over 250! The students expressed their joy and gratitude by singing songs and reciting poems for us.
Teacher with her 1 year old child
After visiting several more parts of the project, including the health post, we headed back to Gondar, just in time to take a tour of the Castles of Gondar. Gondar served as the capital of Ethiopia for several hundred years and a succession of kings, starting with King Fasils in 1632 built castles near the center of Gondar.
Tomorrow we will be visiting 10 W2T completed projects in the Degola Chinchya area. We will also take the time to visit some prospective communities that need water. W2T is planning on implementing 10-12 additional projects in the Degola Chinchya area for 2011.
Dick Moeller
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