An Early Start

We were up at 5.00am on Saturday to go to the Aksum stadium.  By the time we arrived things were in full swing. We were there at the invitation of the University athletics squad. There are some very talented runners not least Berihu the current Ethiopian Universities 800m champion. We watched a very impressive training session on a track that could so easily have caused injury; athletes were required to negotiate some serious looking ruts that had been created during the rainy season. Alongside the University squad were local athletes including a blind runner preparing for the Ethiopian paralympic championships. In the centre of the stadium some junior football squads assembled and by 6.30am their coaching sessions were underway; all this before sunrise!

It was a terrific and rather humbling sight to see so many groups showing real dedication. Facilities were, as you might expect, rudimentary and the equipment basic. In many cases, footwear was no more than plastic sandals and there was only one football per group. I couldn’t help thinking that the addition of some footballs, training bibs and cones would have made the coach’s job so much easier. However, despite these shortcomings, the enthusiasm was impressive. There was no shortage of talent either.

A Day Trip to Adwa

After 7 weeks Viv finally persuaded me to stop my ‘planning and preparation’ for what turned out to be an eventful day trip to Adwa. Adwa has huge significance in Ethiopia as it was in the surrounding hills that Menelik II inflicted the biggest ever defeat on a colonial army in Africa (Italian troups) and saved Ethiopia from colonisation. 

At first sight, Adwa is an uninspiring town that is under heavy construction both in the development of new roads and commercial buildings. It’s fair to say that much of it resembles a building site.

After a gentle stroll where the highlight was watching birds enjoying a small but gently flowing stream we were ready to return to Aksum. However, as we were enjoying a cooling drink we became more and more aware of people walking past us laden with goods from a nearby market. What a contrast Old Adwa turned out to be. Like Aksum, it was an incredibly colourful and vibrant scene set against a backdrop of towering hills. Much of the produce was similar to the Aksum markets until Viv came upon a woman selling cherry tomatoes; what a treat is in store for us! I have added some photographs of some characters we met at the market.

However, the most memorable moment of the day? Getting my wallet lifted during the journey from Aksum. Crammed into a mini-bus with 20 others the guy to my right was able to take my wallet from a deep, zipped pocket. Genius! All rather embarrassing really particularly as I have always felt that I take all the necessary precautions to avoid such an incident. He was able to get away with 200birr in cash and 50birr’s worth of phone cards but thankfully nothing of greater significance. Thanks to a reminder from the VSO office in Addis, Viv had photocopied our VSO ID cards and our Residency Permits the day before so all he was left with was two photocopied mugshots of myself. I hope he enjoys spending the money but feels deeply ashamed to have robbed a habisha volunteer. Somehow, I doubt it. All in all, a sharp reminder about the care we need to take with our belongings.

University Reflections

Founded in 2006, Aksum University is one of a number of new Universities throughout Ethiopia.  Built 5k to the south of the town centre, the site houses 5 faculties and close to 10,000 students and bears testimony to the Ethiopian government’s commitment to Higher Education.  It has been an immense project of which senior mangers within the University are justifiably proud.  However, the rapid growth hasn’t come without some difficulties.  Much of the campus resembles a building site, while new trenches for threading cables of all sorts emerge daily.  Health and safety officers would be in their element here although, to my knowledge, no one has fallen down any of the holes yet!!  It seems to me that the rapid rate of building has exceeded the University’s capacity to provide essential resources.  Thus, some courses run without the advantages of purpose built facilities.  For example, there are no practical facilities for the current Sports Science students although a new gymnasium is currently being constructed, and purpose built sports performance labs still seem a long way off.

Internal communications also present challenges as there is no email system to speed up the exchange of messages.  This is left to the hand delivery of messages/letters that often involves long hikes across campus to locate your recipient.  However, progress on the IT front is being made under the leadership of Mike Hulme, another VSO volunteer.  He really is making a difference and only last week was able to celebrate the installation of a broadband connection.  There is still much to be done but progress is being made.  Developments are in good hands even if it will be a little while before access is available to all.

After what seems a very long period of preparation, I’m delighted to say that work on the Higher Diploma Programme has started.  At last, I am beginning to feel like a fully-fledged volunteer.  I am supported by Dr. Mariama Ross and Desalegn Alemu.  Mariama is an American teacher educator who has worked in a number of US universities before volunteering with IFESH (International Foundation for Education and Self Help).  For the last 5 years, she has been working at a University in Ghana but has come to Aksum to support the development of university wide Quality Assurance systems.  She has become a reassuring and calming influence as I wrestle with the ‘Ethiopian Way’ of doing things.  Desalegn is a member of the Psychology Department here at the University and has been seconded to work on the HDP for the year.  I have found his help and advice invaluable.  He is a charming man who like many others in Aksum is a long distance supporter of Manchester Utd.  He was very quiet when we attended the screening of the Manchester derby in the local cinema!!  During some of the earlier sessions with the candidates he would interject to merely repeat, almost word for word, what I had said.  It seemed unusual to say the least until he pointed out that he was translating my instructions from English to Amharic English; it seems to work!  I guess he’s lucky I’m not from Glasgow.  Its early days but I am optimistic of creating a hard working and responsive group; there are certainly some extremely capable candidates with very impressive CVs.

I’ve now been at the University for four weeks and it must be said that I have been met with considerable courtesy and a real desire to help me settle in. If an institution is to be judged by its people alone, this University has a promising future.  It is an aspirational institution that recognises the scale of the job in front of it.  The senior managers are keen to initiate change but appreciate that they are trying to make sweeping cultural changes with all the challenges that attend such a process.  The next two years will be critical as the completion of some key resources and facilities materialise.  And what is expected from me?  I hope I can make some sort of contribution to the strategic developments around teaching, learning and assessment.  I guess only time will tell.