Life in Ethiopia certainly does seem to be a never ending round of ups and downs ! – unfortunately at the moment we seem to be on a little bit of a down since I have now decided that there is no alternative but to leave my paid job in Addis Ababa ! I have been unhappy there for a long time, with the school going in one direction and me going in the other, but it seems to have now peaked with the school not only having no holidays all year but now taking away the grade classroom assistants since they think that they do nothing ! In addition, there seem to be weekly arguments where the owner just lets loose with all his thoughts and accuses and insults me ! – It really is too much to take and I was coming home almost everyday in tears !
The decision to leave is a great one on a personal level but has meant HUGE problems relating to finances ! – Dawit has a small income coming in with the shop and I am making a little bit doing writing but even combined it is not enough !!! As a result, we cannot afford to send the children to a decent enough school and thus will attempt to home school them !!! – could be fun or could be nightmare ?! – Who knows ? – I suppose we wont know until we try !!
With English Alive to support as well it is problematic to say the least !!! We have thus decided to attempt to fundraise as much as possible so that the school is financially secure and then we can sort out ourselves out somehow !! – thus have sent the following to as many people as we can in the hope that if everyone just gives the price of a cup of coffee - two pounds or so and there are a hundred people reading it then we can raise two hundred pounds ! – Which will keep the school staggering along for a bit longer !!??
Thus, anyone reading this blog please try to best to encourage people to give at this festive season and rather than buying a cup of coffee to keep themselves warm for five minutes, they can give and feel the never ending warmth of doing the right thing !
Fed up with the commercialism of Christmas ? Feel that you are spending out and not really getting much of the good spirit back ? Then help is at hand ! – take a little bit of time and energy during this Christmas period to help others.
As the band aid song from the 1980’s goes,
“ There won’t be snow in Africa this Christmas time,
The greatest gift they’ll ever have is life. “
Although this song referred directly to life and death, you can also take it as quality of life. At ENGLISH ALIVE ACADEMYwe are giving pupils the opportunity of a life that without us will be a consistent struggle. Without an education, our pupils would be left with the prospect of sustenance farming, working as a maid or begging in the streets.
So take the time this Christmas to think of pupils at ENGLISH ALIVE ACADEMY and remember what the spirit of Christmas is all about.
HOW TO HELP.
There are many ways that you can help.
The following are suggestions only to get you started:
1/. Give a present to the school – a cash donation
2/. Do something to raise funds – e.g. have a dinner party where everyone makes a cash donation to attend / go carol singing / sell your unwanted Christmas presents on eBay / have a movie night where everyone makes a donation to attend etc.
3/. Sponsor a child ( please contact stephanddawit@yahoo.co.uk for further details )
4/. Approach your work organisation for workplace sponsors.
Since we will shortly be a registered charity, then this donation is TAX FREE – your employers take the money from your wage packet each month. Since it is tax free then you are e.g. giving £5 to ENGLISH ALIVE ACADEMY but in fact you are only charged £3.50 – so everyone wins !!
Funds can be paid in in various ways :
1/. Directly into the English Alive Account ( located in the UK )
HSBC bank
Account name :
Sort code : 402503
Account no : 21484613
2/. Payment made to the founders of English Alive to be passed on to the school :
PayPal account name : stephanddawit@yahoo.co.uk
MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!!!!!!!
************ Please forward this email to as many people as you can – if everyone you know donates just £ 1 then that will be more than enough – when you have nothing every little bit counts !! ************
Don’t forget to keep up to date with the goings on at the school on the BlogSpot :
http://englishaliveacademy.blogspot.com
or on our website :
http://www.englishaliveacademy.org
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