Inspirational Work in Eritrea

Writing to tell you about an amazing place I discovered just over a week ago...

A Supervisor asked if I would take him to a school on my motorbike as it's a good half days walk and there are no buses during the week. I agreed and so at 7 am (isn't that early for me!!) we set off onthe hair-raising track meandering its way down the mountainside.

We arrived at Hebo just before 8 and were met by the Director. All seemed pretty normal. At Hebo, there is a Junior and elementary school run by the Catholic Church serving four local villages. We saw a few lessons and it was the usual mix of copying notes from the board and monotonous pronunciation drilling. At about 11 things changed though- children started to gather at a small building next to the school. I asked what was happening and we went over to find out. The children were mainly elementary age and were pupils in the afternoon shift at the school. They were coming to eat. The Hebo area relies on farming and last year the rains didn't come, so the harvest failed. This year there has only been one day of rain and so there are no crops at the moment- suggesting a second year of harevst failure. The school provides lunch for the children in the vilages so that they don't come to school hungry. The meal was very simple- pasta and a little tomato silsi but it was definitely more than they would have eaten at home. The children were waiting patiently whilst a young lady dished up the pasta into row upon row of little metal dishes.

Next, we went to have lunch. We ate in the dinner hall with the teachers and the boarders. The school provides free boarding for children in the area. This means that the children have access to three good meals a day, live close to the school so don't miss lessons though walking long distances and receive tutoring with homework during the afternoons when they are not in class. When they finish Junior school, the mission pays for them to attend a secondary school in Asmara or similar in order to finish their studies. The school has the capacity for 60 girls and 60 boys and last year was full. Unfortunately, due to the economic and harvest situation they have had to vastly reduce the number of boarders- roughly 15 girls and 15 boys. The food was simple but absolutely delicious and the community atmosphere was great.

After lunch I was told I should "take rest" and so was shown to one of the spare bedrooms. This is pretty normal in Eritrea where people often sleep at lunchtime. I didn't sleep but read for an hour or so- very pleasant!

After resting I returned to the school and observed a few elementary teachers. The classrooms had been painted nicely- very rare in Eritrea and one had the texts from the curriculum painted onto the wall so that it doesn't matter that most students don't have textbooks.

Later, we went to visit the orphanage. based on the same site and run by the mission "Daughters of Charity", the orphanage takes care of babies up to three years old. The youngest child was just 10 days old on my first visit. Most of the children's mothers died during childbirth and there are no family members to take care of them- usually because fathers etc have to work. Many of the children are twins- orphaned due to the difficulty of birthing twins in more remote regions. It was distressing at first, seeing rows of cots with these tiny people, but when i got over the shock I realised what a great thing was happening. This service is provided free of charge to the families, the children have nowhere else to go and no-one to look after them. Families are expected to visit each month to maintain a relationship with the child, though many don't. This is upsetting to the women who work here. There are only a handful of workers but they work very very hard. At three, the children are rehomed, hopefully with their families- who are given support in looking after their child.

I revisted the orphanage a week later with some friends. We helped out with the feeding and playing. There was an amazing production line of feeding and changing, but at every stage the women chatted with the babies and played with them. One worker, Sister Blessed, told me how important it is for that they talk and play with the children so that they know they are loved.

After feeding, the toddlers are placed in babywalkers and set to play in the corridor. It was like baby bumpercars- hysterical! We were in charge of supervision and playing with these children and there was lots of clapping and banging of babywalker-trays! The older children played outside in the courtyard with some older girls who I think were school boarders. After play time the older children had toiletting- a long row of 2-3 year olds sitting on potties- brilliant!

I loved being there and hope to return again before I head back to the UK. I hugely admire the workers- I was there for just a few hours and needed a good sleep on my return home- they do it day-in, day-out. The times I've spent at Hebo have been some of my most inspiring in Eritrea. It's a community set against a backdrop of sadness but characterised by motivation and commitment to caring for those most in need. What a great find when all I was expecting was a scenic and slightly hairy motorbike journey!