Beauty, School, Drop Out

Hello Friends, Family, and Far Away Loved Ones,

Spring is rolling nicely into summer for many of you, and I hope
everything is coming up roses. The summer season here in Ethiopia is
actually known as the “Big Rainy Season,” so we have a lot more mud
and desperate attempts to ford giant waterways that form in the
construction site that is our compound. Since the rain really hasn’t
stopped all year (unusual), no one knows what to expect from this
season. I hope it means less rain, but that may mean trouble for
farmers and food production for a country that is the poster child for
food aid.
We had elections in this country a few weeks ago, all went very
peacefully, and we are happy to celebrate another 5 years with the
current government with hardly a change in any area. After 19 years
of ruling, why change now?
My work has been steadily changing away from teaching as my Grade 10
and Grade 12 classes have been freed from regular lessons to study and
take their national exams. In Ethiopia, the system is much more akin
to most of Europe where students have to prove sufficient knowledge in
Grade 10 to move onto preparatory school, or they will go onto
vocational school. In Grade 12 they must get high scores to get into
the university education program they want because almost all the
universities are free government universities and they’re all
competing for top spots. As a student explained to me 1 million
students take the Grade 10 exam and only 100,000 pass onto preparatory
school. Then of those students, only 75,000 places are available in
universities. More students drop out after their first semester of
university because the exams are too difficult, so about 50,000
students a year continue a university education in Ethiopia. In a
country of 80 million people where more than half are under the age of
18, it proves to be some staggering numbers.
As Ive stepped away more from teaching, Ive started to be more of a
mentor/ counsellor. I have groups of teens that I do different
activities with, and concentrating on the girls, we talk about
different issues that are important to them (religion, family, boys,
etc). Im using my awesomeness to try to lead them to some better
ideas about women, relationships and how to be strong. We also have
some pretty interesting discussions on religion, homosexuality, and
race, most of which would be utterly horrifying to the average
American listener. But as is most things, its cultural.
Unfortunately, for a country that most of us would see as pretty
homogenous, there is a damaging racist mentality.
Speaking of which, a few weeks ago there was a carnival held by the
Grade 12 students in which we had a beauty contest. The girls from
mostly grades 9 and 10 took both Western and traditional clothing and
strutted up and down a stage to waiting boys with their cell phones
out ready to take pictures from a more than exposed angle. The
dresses were short, the comments from the crowd were derogatory, and
basically it was something you wouldn’t even expect to see in an
American high school (or be allowed to). I was pretty disappointed
with the students and one student in particular I was shocked with.
It gave me an opportunity to talk to her about her, um, performance,
and many other things. Shes unique in the school as her parents are
descendants from Turks and Pakistanis respectively and shes very light
skinned. Daily she has to deal with being called a firengi
(foreigner) and most people wont talk to her because she looks
different, and even more because shes Musulim. No wonder shes trying
to get out.
Im looking forward to a trip to the West and North this summer to
visit some more historic Ethiopian cities and ruins. Hopefully I’ll
have more interesting stories after those experiences and maybe I wont
lose my camera this time so you all can see pictures. It may be a
while before I see most of you again, but you all are in my thoughts
and prayers.

Cheers,
Virginia/Van/Va