Saturday, February 5, 2011

Ethiopia: Addis Ababa with Stephanie and Dawit

Note: Stephanie and Dawit are the founders of the English Alive Academy in Nazret (Adama), Ethiopia.

Dawit and his sister, Tigrist, picked me up in the Piazza around 3:00 p.m. We went to a razzledazzle playground where Stephanie and Daniel, Tigrist's husband, were hanging out with both families' kids. The commercial playground has a ferris wheel and a few other carnival rides, booths that sell cotton candy, popcorn ice cream, plus a cafe. This was a rare treat for Stephanie and Dawit's children, who hadn't been for about two years.



Later we went to Stephanie and Dawit's house for the night. Dawit borrowed an inflatable mattress from Tigrist and Daniel, who live down the street. I slept comfortably on same in the living room.

Stephanie

Stephanie and Dawit's two personable children, whose anonymity I'll maintain, are impossibly cute.

We adults chatted about the English Alive Academy, specifically about realistic fundraising needs and strategies, long-term planning, and goal-setting.

Dawit and his sister, Tigrist, operate a tiny "convenience" shop in a small outbuilding at the end and to the side of Stephanie and Dawit's driveway. The shop, only open for two or three months now, is the primary income source for Stephanie and Dawit.

Dawit

If the two should raise enough donations for the school, they will be able to devote full time to the administration and expansion of the school, and live in Nazret, where the school is.

Their vision is to open boarding schools in several rural areas where children live so far from the closest school, they cannot attend at all.

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