Why a private school?

We’ve been away far too long. Away from our blog, that is. As far as being in Ethiopia, we’re just beginning to get a semi-complete picture of what is needed here. And what’s needed adds up to an ever increasing list.

     Now is as good a time as any to answer the question we’ve been asked from time to time” Why are you teaching at a private school? It’s a complicated question to answer.
     For one thing, the Lord led us here. The timing, the arrangements, the opportunity was just too plain to see. God wanted Jane and Ted in Mekele, Ethiopia.
      Second: God has provided wonderful people to take care of us. Mussie, Teshome, Kinfe, Desta and many more who have made sure we have what we need.
     Third: We have been able to make some very positive contacts with people the Lord has put in our lives here. Right now, there are several students and their families we are building relationships with, people who need the kind word and gentle suggestion we can give.
      Fourth: A private school in Ethiopia is not like a private school in the states. Sure, the parents of our students pay a monthly tuition fee ($13.50 per student with breaks as you enroll more children) and they pay for bus transportation if they choose to have the school provide it (right now about $9.00 a month). However, without the private schools that started with the government’s encouragement, Ethiopia would have no chance of getting all elementary school age children in school by 2015 (a stated goal). Private schools are better than public schools, but there is still much progress to be made in teaching systems, etc.
     Fifth: We believe the Lord has called us here to help with revamping education here, albeit on a small scale. We know we are too old to be in Ethiopia for more than two or three years. Our hope and prayer is that we will be able to expose educators here to methods that will allow English to be taught at an earlier age, spoken with a clearer pronunciation, and comprehended more naturally. Since education above the sixth, and especially beginning in the eighth grade, is done exclusively in English, this will, we believe, make Ethiopian graduates more desirable and effective in international dealings and more competent and efficient in leading their country out of poverty to a better way of life.
      Sixth: Merha Tibeb Academy is a somewhat smaller school (600 plus students) of good reputation that is in a position to allow us to make changes. Additionally, the staff, especially Eyasu, the owner and Teshome the principal, are very much behind the changes we want to make. To have leadership’s blessing for an undertaking like this is critical.
      That’s why we’re here. We will begin shortly to turn our plans into action. We have one month of Summer School ahead and then we begin a new school year on September 11. We'll be in touch many times before then. Please stick with us. We need you all very much.