A Dream Realised: as seen through the eyes of Kate Rutherford
Gendit School, Ethiopia: A Dream Realised. As seen through the eyes of Kate Rutherford - Trustee
13 and 14 February 2020
A picture is worth a thousand words, but seeing first hand through your own eyes is a thousand times better. How to describe what I witnessed with my eyes? You are reading this, not seeing directly, but perhaps through words and a couple of photos, I can give you an approximate sense of my experience.
I travel the dusty road thronged with lorries toiling up hills, laden with wooden stakes, sacks of foodstuffs and a variety of other goods; tuk-tuks with their human cargoes; horses and carts; blue and white minibuses; straying donkeys and goats; the occasional car, all swerving and honking towards their several destinations.
How I admire our driver!
We reach a rural landscape, very different from Gondar town and the settlements strung out on the main road, and seemingly in a different era. As we come to a halt on the school field, a surge of young children eagerly greet us. Five minutes later I have shaken every outstretched hand. Such small, beautiful hands touching mine in that universal gesture of welcoming friendship.
But I must control the emotion and move on to the business of the day: meeting the teachers and carrying out some lesson observations. I enter the gleaming classrooms, newly built, furnished and equipped thanks to Sue Eland the chief executive of Building Futures Ethiopia who is the school’s key sponsor.
First impressions: well behaved, responsive children in all classes, keen to demonstrate existing knowledge and skills and to learn more; teachers perhaps a little nervous of my presence but nevertheless welcoming and, I think, happy to be observed.
The students enjoy playtime. They love skipping!
(original classrooms in the background)
Armed with some knowledge of the context, I return the next day to work with the teachers, introducing new resources for teaching mathematics and English. I work in partnership with Zemene, the Project Manager for Link Ethiopia in Gondar, who acts as interpreter. I speak no Amharic, the first language of the teachers. The teachers have some, though limited, English. So Zemene ensures that the ‘messages’ of the training sessions are clarified and understood.
As with their students, I find the teachers responsive to new ideas and materials. These have been designed to stimulate more interactive ways of teaching and learning.
It is difficult for me to gauge the immediate success of the training, but the teachers have been fully engaged and during the course of the morning smile frequently. They promise to implement at least one new strategy in the coming week.
I would like to be able to see for myself the longer-term impact, but I must return to the UK next week and leave the judgment of this in the very capable and experienced hands of the Link Ethiopia staff, and Sue, the key sponsor of Gendit School when she returns in June.
Sue’s dream was to rebuild the existing school, and through improved standards of education to extend opportunities for the students: to build their futures. My dream was simply to see the school for myself and support its development in whatever way I could. My dream has now been realised.
With my grateful thanks to the staff at Link Ethiopia in Gondar, especially the Regional Manager Elsa Kebede for facilitating my experience, and to the Director, teachers and students of Gendit School.
Thanks are also due to the clergy and parishioners of St Robert’s Church, Harrogate and my own family and friends who have so generously given financial support to Gendit School.
Kate Rutherford - Trustee
15.02.2020