After selling the furniture and the car, saying goodbye to the friends, put our professional lives on stand-by, we left Reunion Island to land on the African continent! On March 10 we landed in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.
Despite difficulties in planning our interventions in schools beforehand, we were able to organize several Libellule days and meet many students in various conditions:
- A public school in Addis Ababa has opened its doors to us. There are 45 and 50 students in the classes, sometimes with large age differences.
- In the east of the country, in the private school "D'avenir School", the material conditions were similar enough to host the Libellule days. The big difference is in the number of students: an average of 15 per class.
- Two afternoons Libellule with the children of Awra Amba (a secular community based on gender equality and children's rights, located in a village north of Bahir Dar).
- Finally, some students from the French high school in Addis Ababa experimented with several Libellule workshops after offering us a demonstration of traditional dance!
Very different experiences, surprising exchanges on the environment, and children who seem to take their schooling seriously.
On our website, an article is dedicated to each of these classes. Feel free to check it out! https://www.effetlibellule.org/fr/le-projet/les-classes
Staying in this wonderful country for a month allowed us to discover a great wealth of history, architecture and traditions. All this is interspersed with legends. We had the opportunity to walk in the Simien Natural Park, which has many endemic species including the Gelada monkeys, around the buried churches of Lalibela and in the narrow and colourful streets of Harar, the city of 82 mosques.
These 4 weeks were also marked by beautiful encounters ranging from the PhD student in anthropology, the teacher of the French high school decorated for her educational work by the French Embassy, the young pilgrim with whom we exchanged on humanity or the mother of a family who offers us the coffee ceremony. In a country where ethnic conflicts are a challenge for tomorrow, we have been touched by the sincere and respectful welcome we have received.
After leaving the smell of coffee and incense, we continue our journey to the west of the continent. More in the next newsletter
How to help us
We are looking for schools, both rural and urban at our next stop in the Philippines. If any contact to share, please contact:
How to support us
https://www.donnerenligne.fr/
Lalibela
Pupils from the French school
Addis Abeba
"D'avenir School"
Dire Dawa
"Yetebaberut Memeheran" School
Addis Abeba