Hasta Luego Anna and Robert

I have already mentioned the lack of honesty in Ethiopia. Lying and bullshit is all part of the course. And it makes living and working here almost unbearable to me. Thank goodness for the kids and Ms Jill in the workplace. Outside of school i have loved spending time with Anna and Robert. In their mid-sixties and awfully proper English gentlefolk. Most Saturdays we have hooked up for lunch to bear our weekly burdens and frustrations about trying to get even the most basic stuff done. We have to laugh about it or we’d cry. Rob has gone overboard to help me out, whether to help me investigate the school’s ridiculous and absurd accounts, or to take a look at the car. Anna has been a stalwart supporter of all my efforts to move forward with school improvement.

Anna and Robert met in Ethiopia around 1974. Anna has worked in education whilst Robert is an accountant. They know Boss and Frank from here also, and remained friends. Last January Anna and Rob  left there comfy life-style in Cornwall and opted to volunteer their services to Boss to help her build and establish a small primary school in Bishoftu on a one year permit. Apart from accommodation, fuel and paying for the materials and resources they have been self- funding and invested not only a year of their time, but financially making up all the extras. About three months ago, Boss threw them out of her compound because they had befriended a cat that meowed.

Their year has elapsed all too fast, and it is with a very heavy heart that we say our goodbyes. Anna and Rob can’t understand where the time has gone, and berate themselves for leaving a few things left unfinished, without realizing just how much they have accomplished in very trying conditions. For a reason completely unfathomable to me, they love Ethiopia and want to come back out again as soon as possible. Not least because they face a harsh British winter.

They have been asking around for other school building projects they might be able to help out on, including projects with their church and, even more weirdly a new project Boss wants to start in Awassa. I hope they come back out soon, for i am not even confident i will be able to hang on to the end of the school year.