The Village of Kasso Manso lies in the Bale Mountains south of Addis Ababa (in the opposite direction from our recent spring project sites in Wollo). The Kasso Manso school has no floors, doors, windows, desks, a library or latrines.The 1,065 students who attend the school are split between a morning and afternoon shift and taught by 21 teachers.

This program will be a continuation of the Spring Protection work that EBA & Partners did in the Woredo (province) of North Wollo in 2006 except this time it will be in the south-central part of the country near Kasso Manso. Young women often carry 20 kg water jugs on their backs 5 to 10 km several times a day to obtain water of marginal quality from natural seeps and puddles that are shared with domestic cattle and wild animals.

No doubt, many of you have been waiting for an update on how your generous donations have been used in the Kasso Manso project. I will be traveling to Ethiopia in February 2008 with Partners' representatives to join in the official opening ceremonies for the school and will be sure to bring back photos of smiling faces in their new surroundings.

For the three of us who have been fortunate enough to travel to Ethiopia from EBA, it is hard to argue that they are behind the times. In fact, they are seven years, eight months and 11 days behind the rest of the world. On September 11, 2007, Ethiopians around the world celebrated their Millennium New Year 2000 and the hope for a better future, thanks to people who care, such as those of us at EBA.