Summer Programs 2008
ETHIOPIA
A Summer Program for Tenth & Eleventh Graders
Dates: mid-July
Grades: 10, 11
Service Learning/Cultural Immersion
Contact: Kerry O'Brien, Carol Rhees
History teacher, Carol Rhees, who has spent considerable time now working in Ethiopia with Hope for Children, has agreed to arrange a trip to Ethiopia this coming summer for two to four interested Maret students and a teacher (Kerry O’Brien). This trip will be in lieu of the LearnServe trips to Ethiopia and Zambia that Maret students and teachers have participated in in the past.
Trip Concept
Like the Learn/Serve trips, this trip will combine both service and education. Before leaving for Ethiopia, the group will do some background reading on Ethiopia and development, and will meet with several individuals here who will describe different approaches to development and how their organizations evaluate different projects. Once the group reaches Ethiopia, we will visit a variety of different projects and NGO’s that focus on different issues. Our overarching educational theme will be “What makes a development project effective and successful?”
Projects We Will Visit
Although we do not have a complete itinerary yet, projects that will almost certainly be included are:
Hope for Children (HFC): HFC is a community-based Ethiopian NGO in Addis Ababa that supports more than 700 AIDS orphans and runs a variety of projects. We will spend time with the founder of the organization and volunteer at the Youth Center which offers English, computer and art classes for HFC youth. The Maret group will have plenty of opportunity to interact with and become friends with the youth at HFC.
Project Mercy: Project Mercy is a large multi-faceted development project in rural Ethiopia about 2 hours south of Addis. Its founders (an elderly Ethiopian couple who had a successful business in the US and then returned to Ethiopia) are unbelievably impressive and extremely knowledgeable about development issues. Project Mercy has a school, hospital, agricultural programs and job training programs. It is in a beautiful setting in the Great Rift Valley at the foot of the Garage mountains. Walking through the country around Project Mercy provides a good view of poverty in rural Ethiopia.
Dr. Rick Hodes: Rick Hodes is an American doctor who has been working in Ethiopia for 15-20 years. He has two clinics (one in Addis and another in Gondar) and also works at Mother Theresa’s Hospice which we can visit with him. He has a standard talk and power point presentation on medicine in Africa that is both horrifying and riveting. He also has a crazy open-house Shabbat at his home every Friday night which is always attended by a fascinating group of Ethiopians and ex-pats.
Save the Children
Several years ago Maret’s 9th grade raised funds to build a community school in southern Ethiopia through Save the Children. Although we will not be able to visit that school, we will probably visit a similar Save school project outside of Addis.
Shola Library
We will also spend some time volunteering at Shola Library, the first children’s library in Ethiopia.
Hope Enterprises
We will volunteer serving breakfast to street children in Addis.
There will be ample opportunity to get to know Ethiopian youth and to talk with Ethiopians and Americans who are invested in Ethiopia’s development. There will also be opportunities for fun – just imagine an outing with some of the Hope for Children kids to a bowling alley where boys hang upside down at the end of the alleys setting up the pins!
Trip Dates
The trip will take two weeks and will run sometime during the last three weeks of July after school as ended in Ethiopia. Once the Maret group has been identified, we can work out the most convenient dates for everyone.
Projected Cost
It is anticipated that the cost of the trip will be between $3,800 and $4,200. We will try to keep the cost below $4,000. Financial aid is available based on family need.
Application
Applications are due on January 18, 2008.