February 23, 2009

I always wonder why I can’t seem to get more done when I am here. Just to remind me, it just took more than 45 minutes to open my email and send two letters. I think I have the pace again.

I arrived last Thursday night and spent the whole night organizing my little house and putting away my clothes. I finally fell asleep about 7 in the morning and then slept the entire day.

I did amaze myself that somehow I have ended up in Ethiopia to help the poor with 22 different colours of nail polish. How did I do it????

I never left the house on Friday and then on Saturday about two I realized it was time to venture out of my little space. Honestly, I felt dread to step back into it all again. I no more than opened the gate to get the usual comments (I do sometimes wonder if these men really think they are going to get a date with someone by screaming something like “hey baby”).

Just about a block down the hill out of my gate there is a place where taxis wait. I walked towards the cars and the taxi drivers greeted me by name and asked me where I had been. Not such a bad entrance after all. I met my friends Anna and Pedro for a yummy dinner and I have been out every night since with friends.

Things are going so well at the Trampled Rose. We did have one employee resign after Kassa developed a stricter system as some things seemed to be missing and the food bill was just a bit more than we expected. We now have a Loss Control Officer and even I had to sign to take a suit case off the property. I appreciate and understood the purpose now of lots of this red tape.

I’ve been worried about our “young” girls. We have had one with us for almost four years. I remember when she arrived she was the cutest little thing missing her front teeth. We had our first confrontation about two hours later. We had a few bumps at the beginning because she had never even been trained how to eat, how to wash herself, how to sleep in a bed, etc. Now she may be the cutest little thing ever. She is just a bit taller than me and an excellent dancer. She is polite and sweet and is wearing her new purple nail polish with pride.

I had been worried because they are both very far behind their grade level in school. My friend Anna met with the school while I was gone to see if they could be promoted early. They have a tutor every day and they both always have 100% on all their assignments. I tried to make an appointment with the principal but he sent a message back to me to just “come anytime.” Marcia Peterson was in Ethiopia that day and with her experience in education I wanted her to come with me. When we arrived I asked if I could just walk by their school room to see how they were seated, etc. He arrogantly said “no.” That was the answer to my question. I knew the girls need a school where we can all work together to get the best education possible.

So… the next day they were out of that school and I began my search. I can’t tell you how happy I am with their new school. The building is new and the classes are smaller. Every class is taught in English. Although they also learn to read and write in Amharic, the first language is English. Even the very little ones can speak conversational English. They also have a pledge each morning when the students rotate the microphone to learn leadership skills. Their pledge promises to love their country, respect their teachers, obey their parents, work hard, etc.

You may wonder how I know it so well? I am now the Thursday morning parent volunteer and I am roping all my friends in too. This morning I stopped by to check on something and the small children started chanting, “Miss Becky, Miss Becky!” I loved it.

Well enough about my spare time. I have been diligently working on financial reports, permission from the government, redesigning programs, catching up with new programs designed by Kassa, meeting our new ladies, in general staying busy always. Tomorrow I am beginning 180 degree employee evaluations. Whew!