28th January 2009

I've been in Lalibela for over 2 months now, and I think I've finally started to get to grips with my job. My boss has been in Ethiopia for a while, which has been an exhausting but invigorating experience. As I've said before, things work really slowly in Ethiopia and Lalibela is an extreme example of this – there are a lot of dubious working practices, inefficiency and truly inadequate infrastructure, not to mention the fact that no department speaks to one another, so you often receive contradictory orders or instructions. I'm lucky I have a very good project manager to work with, but I still sometimes feel like it must be me who's mad, as nobody else seems to think this way of working is a problem. Having S, my boss, spend time with us reminded me that actually the things I'm proposing make perfect sense, and I'm not the only one in the world who wants to cry every time someone announces a 2 day meeting (yes, two days. People sleep and the meeting still continues!).

Although S is Ethiopian, she has lived in England for a long while, and is very definitely faranji on the inside! When she's around, things get done – government departments print letters in 10 minutes that would normally take days, buildings spring up fully formed and obstacles melt away. It's a refreshing – if slightly startling – experience!

One of the really satisfying things was talking with her about the way forward with the teachers and the school. The teachers are lovely, and I was pleasantly surprised with standard of teaching compared to a lot I have seen in Addis Ababa. However, the teaching is almost entirely of the 'chalk and talk' variety, and there is very little student participation – and although I am not a traditional teacher, student participation is definitely something I can help with. So I am effectively the 'alternative education and student voice' consultant, something which I am enjoying very much.

Next week I start working with both the teachers and the students. I have no idea what kind of reception I'm going to get, but I'm looking forward to finding out!