Ending our First Week of Orientation

By Mark C. Hale

It's been an exhausting and exciting first week of orientation at HMA! The overall theme for our first week together was, "All About Me." And, we've come to the weekend filled with important information about the mission and educational practices at HMA and our roles in the continuing its development as a world class educational institution for Ethiopian students. We've also learned about the history Ethiopia and gained a deeper understanding of the importance of sustainability practices, the processes of Design Thinking and Restorative Justice Practices, and how to engage with our students so that they are owning their own learning. 

(Claudia Presents on Sustainability)

(Marc presents on Restorative Practices)




(An introduction to Design Thinking by Thomas.)
Working in the Design Thinking Lab







Our First Trip into Debre Birhan for groceries and supplies. Going into Debre involves walking for 20-30 minutes on the muddy road from the school (see previous post) in order to pick up our van at a more developed road and ride into town. Once in the van, it's only another 5-10 minutes into town.

The main road through town is in good shape, but turning off onto side streets becomes a bit problematic with pot holes, animals, and folks walking in the street. There is nothing that one could consider a supermarket. Most everything is sold from stalls bordering the streets. In the first picture, unless we had known that the bar/restaurant was there, we never would have seen it. You duck through an alley and enter an unmarked door. We ended our adventure at the best hotel in town!



















Comments

Barbara said…
Wow. The adventure continues. What an experience. I remember I had a student in Beijing who traveled to Ethiopia with her parents and came back raving about the injera bread. Have you had some? Do you love it?
August 27, 2022 at 6:08 PM
The View From Here said…
Hi, Barb! Great to hear from you. Injura is made from teff flour which, to the best of my knowledge is only found in Ethiopia and Eritrea. I think that there are two types, but both are the tiniest grains found in the world. It looks a lot like grass. Using the teff flour, water, and a bit of yeast, you let it ferment for about 5 days before pouring it out like a crepe. Once it bubbles indicating that it's done, you slide it out of the pan and roll it up. Most all of the international staff are enjoying it here.... I'm taking a slow approach...
August 27, 2022 at 8:10 PM
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