• Even though Ethiopia is only 6^o north of the Equator, the weather is not as hot as you might think. Temperatures during the winter (November to March) are between 5^oC at night and 28^oC during the day. Much of the country where our projects are situated is at an elevation of 2500 meters, or higher.
  
  
• The precipitation amounts in Ethiopia are highly variable between seasons, and from year to year. The rainy season occurs between June and September, and it rains almost everyday. The dry season occurs between November and April, and many months go by without any rain at all.

E-mail Update from John Baigent, February 2007

Dave and I are doing just fine. Mind you, Dave did contact typhoid but it is easily treated when caught early and he is just fine.

I am glad to hear that everyone is excited about Kasso Manso. It really is a cool project. The school is 12 kilometres off the road (down a track that a vehicle can barely negotiate) in a very remote area. It is a good school where the community farms a dedicated piece of land with harvest proceeds going to support the school. The community started three large classroom blocks...each with 4 classrooms and about 28 metres long. But the village couldn't afford to finish them so that they have mud floors, not desks, no windows, doors etc. The EBA project will put in foundations, cement floors, doors windows and desks...which will make a tremendous difference. At the same tim we are going to dig a well at the school so the kids have drinking water, install latrines (African girls are very modest and unlike the boys, hesitate to "do their business" in the nearby fields). In the result, school attendance can be difficult for girls. On the water side of the equation we are also going to protect springs which serve the town of Kasso Manso (about 3,000 people) and also in the nearby (2 kilometres away) town of Kasso Warsa. And, as part of the EBA project we intend to build a bridge about 10 miles away so that kids can access another school during the rainy season.(IIf the funds raised by the employees of EBA are not sufficient to cover this extra cost, Partners will fund it from our general revenues) That school is called Rataba and is also an excellent school. But about 200 kids miss 2-3 months of school each year because those 200 cannot cross a swollen river in the rainy season. There is a dreadful, makeshift bridge in place now but it is dangerous to cross (dirt packed over logs... dirt that turns to greasy mud in the rainy season) and people and donkeys have fallen from it to their deaths. And to make matters worse, the entranceway to the bridge is regularly breached in high water. Lillian visited the site and has some good pictures of the site.People in Canada have a hard time comprehending just how vital these bridges are. In the rainy seasons people on the wrong side of the bridge have no access to health services, schools and markets....all of which are located in towns on the higways while 85% of Ethiopians live in rural areas and have to walk to the towns. It is particularly tragic for the school kids who, because they know how important school is, often try to ford the river when it is dangerous. Often school kids drown trying to cross...and, not surprisingly, the kids who drown are the ambitious bright ones that love to go to school.

And yes, you are quite right. It is a privilege for all of us to do this work. It costs us so little in time and money and transforms lives in a way that is hard to imagine. The only long term hope for Ethiopia and oither sub-Saharan countries lies in the education of their children and projects like the EBA one make a real difference. For example, two years ago a donor in Edmonton gave us $5,000 to renovate and supply books to a high school near Kasso Manso (in fact, the only high school for miles around). This year the school achieved for the first time 100% success in students' university entrance exams. I saw the teachers from that schook last month and they had no doubt that the library (and new desks for the school) had determined the issue. Before the books arrived the kids had no reference books whatever and without desks were sitting on the floors. The teacher told us how the "learning environment" had been completely changed with the new additions....and I know they were right. The same thing will happen at Kasso Manso. The entire community will suddenly get a strong message that the most important thng in the community...the only thing to attract new buildings and construction...is the education of their children....and the academic results will surely follow. You have every reason to be proud of EBA and its employees.

Lillian was a treat to have with us. She arrived with a smattering of Amheric and had read up on the country. She impressed those that met her and we miss her good company.
Cheers,
John