Teachers from the Farmor’s School, Link Coordinator Karen & her colleague Sarah, had been so excited to finally be able to visit their link school in the Bahir Dar region. Through making use of the Connecting Classroom’s Grant, offered by the British Council, this was to become a reality.
Despite having pre-trip nerves and being thoroughly exhausted from travelling, the group were made to feel very much at home by the students & staff at Bahir Dar Zuria Academy, their Link School in Ethiopia.
As soon as they arrived they were met by the lovely Elsa, our School Link Manager in the North, who took them under her wing. This meant attempting to learn the local language – Amharic, along with experiencing all the sights and sounds that Bahir Dar had to offer.
Their time at the school was truly overwhelming. The staff and pupils were very grateful to have them around and made them feel very welcome. They were impressed by the centralised way of running the school and in particular the choice of clubs available to the pupils.
Visiting the school and experiencing first hand their enthusiasm for improvement really excited them and brought the project to life. They were inspired by them and they are fully committed to making sure this school is a long-term fruitful project for both Farmor’s and Bahir Dar Zuria.
They are very much looking forward to welcoming the Link’s Coordinator, Ato Gibrehail and the School’s Director Ato Assefa to the Farmor’s school at the start of the following academic year.
Some of the highlights from their trip outside of school time were:
• Seeing hippos
• Travelling to and from school in a bajaj (also known as an auto-rickshaw)
• Going round the market (with Elsa in Bahir Dar and Chris in Addis)
• Meeting a famous Ethiopia singer
From the success of this trip they are now looking forward to the prospect of taking a small group of students to Ethiopia next Easter. Through the Connecting Classroom’s Grant they have been able to develop stronger and a more sustainable partnership with their link school.
Together with more funding available from these Grants and the support from Link Ethiopia they will hopefully have the chance to further enrich the education of their students by giving them a chance to visit and see first-hand Bahir Dar Zuria and the project work in action.
A big thank-you to Karen for providing such a positive account of her experience and we look forward to working with you and your students much more in the future!
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