The schools assisted today:

United Teachers' Primary and Secondary Public School (Addis Ababa)

Public school with 1258 students and 43 teachers this year. Grades from kindergarten to tenth grade. Classrooms and furniture very rudimentary and rundown. Faulty electrical installation. Some classroom doors and windows broken or missing. The library is a room with some wooden shelves and a few hundred outdated books. There is no science laboratory. There are two old computers in the Director's office, but no internet, and no computers for the students. There was a room where a few meals were prepared on a charcoal burner. Now it is closed. Some students bring lunch from home, while others don't eat at all.

Addis Ababa: 9th grade class

Students are of different ethnies and religions. Many are orphans, living with NGO's (non-governmental organisations) or members of their families. The 8th, 9th and 10th grades are divided into three classes. Each class has between 70 and 80 students. The school day runs from 8:30 A.M. to 3:30 P.M., with an hour and a half lunch break. If a student arrives late to school, he or she is refused entrance for that day. Each class period lasts 45 minutes. Subjects such as English and Math are taught once a day. There is no physical education class. The only sports are football for the boys and jumping rope for the girls, in the dirt courtyard, when it isn't raining.

In the evening adult classes are given to some people after their day's work. (In Ethiopia a "public" school is not financed by the government. The students pay a very small monthly fee that is supposed to cover teachers' salaries, school maintenance, repair and renovation, books and other school equipment and supplies. A teacher earns between 80 and 100 Euros/month, depending on his diploma. Each school is managed separately by a committee, that makes the administrative and financial decisions. The Education Ministry is the governing body for all types of schools in Ethiopia.)

Turmi Primary School:

Turmi: a "pedagogical" school wall

Public school, opened in 1971, with 390 students and 17 teachers this year. Located 800 kilometres south of Addis Ababa in the town called Turmi. The main ethnie in the region is the Hamer people, about 30,000, who live from cattle-raising and a little farming. The school grades go from kindergarten to eighth grade, after which the students who are able to must attend secondary school in a town about one day's drive from Turmi. The school buildings are very rudimentary. There are only classrooms and a simple library; no laboratory, no sports besides the usual football and rope-jumping in the dirt courtyard. A small generator supplies electricity a few hours in the evening.

Dimeka Primary School

Dimeka: a classroom and students

Public school, opened in 1970, with 11 classes, running from first to eighth grade, after which the students must go to secondary school one day's drive away. There are 320 boy and 226 girl students and 19 teachers this year. Dimeka is situated 25 kilometres from Turmi. The Hamer people are the main ethnie. The school resembles the one in Turmi. Evening classes are given to some of the cattle herders after their day's work.