COFFEE and MORE
Coffee and talking PS78Teachers! That sums up our Monday through Wednesday! The first coffee–talk was with MINTS–Ethiopia director Solomon. It is one thing to talk about a partnership; it is quite another to work through all the details. Thankfully, we had a long, free afternoon on Monday to sit down and take Solomon on a tour of our website (see sample pictures below) and work through many of the questions about who does what and how. We are thankful for the progress made. And yes, that coffee is STRONG!
Coffee and talking PS78Teachers with Deborah and Absalat (pictured in front of Carla above) on Wednesday was a tremendous blessing. We mentioned these two girls in the last blog post, but on Wednesday, we had the opportunity, at their request, to talk in detail about our program. To find such accomplished young women (both already have master’s degrees) who want more and are willing to make the commitment to study with us is encouraging. We took them on a tour of the website and were excited with how quickly and easily they learned to navigate the site. Both share a deep passion for helping improve the education system in their country.
Next up was coffee and dinner and talking PS78Teachers with Yonatan and Hereg Tekie from an organization called Edify. We’ve mentioned them several times and their work with schools and teachers in various central African countries. This was the first time we had the chance to talk in-depth about their work and ours with PS78Teachers. There were similarities and differences, the greatest of which is our program involves long-term committment, working directly with teachers, whereas they work more in personal and short-term training of school leaders. Can there be some form of partnership in the future? Wisdom is needed for that decision. (We were so involved in the conversation that no one took a picture!)
Coffee and a School Visit: Deborah and Absalat teach at a unique school called MALD — Multiple Approaches to Learning Differences. For various reasons, during our tour of the school on Tuesday, we were not permitted to take photos of the children—some were children of foreign diplomats—but we had fun with the students and good talks with several teachers. Pray some of the teachers will join Deborah and Absalat in their studies with us!
Recognize the medicine here? Both Quentin and I came back from Hawassa with a bad cold/flu thing. Solomon escaped getting sick but brought it home to his wife. We were able to get on meds quickly, and we are hoping to be able to teach an afternoon workshop on Thursday and an all-day workshop in Ambo on Friday before flying out late Friday night. We had a workshop scheduled for Wednesday, but it fell through. We are not sure why, but Carla sure is glad because she sounds like a frog! Tonight, for dinner, they gave us the cure: ginger tea with lemon and honey. So good! Please pray God would use the medicines and tea to clear this up soon!!