Shoes, Cows and Umbrellas

I have been reading a study, which looked at child feeding practices in a rural area of Ethiopia. 25 % of children aged 6-8 months and 52% of children aged 12-23 months in this area have stunted growth. Part of the study examined differences between families where the children did or did not have stunted growth. There were all the factors you might expect: age of parents, education of parents, the food being given to the child, maternal stature ...

New teachers and past students

If you missed the video of our new teachers on facebook you can find it here:

http://binghamacademy.net/latest-news/2014/8/21/meet-our-new-teachers-for-20142015

And to see where some of our graduates have headed to this year you can also check out this video:

http://binghamacademy.net/latest-news/2014/8/22/bingham-graduates-are-well-equipped-for-university-study

School begins for another year

Today was the first day of school, and the boys loved every minute of it by the sounds of it. I wonder how long that will last?

 Tom and Miss Burch in Grade 5 (the last year of elementary/primary school)

my £2.10 bench

I popped out to the junk shop last week. I had seen what I thought was a dolls sized cot as we drove past so I went to have a closer look. It turned out it was a tiny wooden cot about the size of a moses basket, actually for a real baby, so too big really for dolls (or keeping in Lily's bedroom!), so instead I bought a bench. One day it will be dry enough to actually sit on it.

Ideas for behind toilet storage welcome

When we returned to Bingham we found that our toilet is now no longer adjacent the wall. We're now taking suggestions as to what to do with the space behind the toilet and how to cover up the big hole! Let us know any ideas!

English cake

Cafes and shops sometimes sell 'English Cake'. The yellow cake on the left is just labelled as such whereas the cake on the right is labelled 'English Chocolate Dry Cake'. Always makes me smile as it doesn't resemble anything I would associate with English cakes as it is always very dry (as boasted by the description!) and flavourless.

I found chocolate Easter eggs...in August...

We drove some of our new Mums out to a supermarket a little further away than our usual ones as we thought it would maybe have more of the kitchen things and other bits they might be looking for. And we found chocolate Easter eggs! I've never seen anything like it here before. The ones on the top row with the mammoth are ETB119.95 which is £3.61, so not actually even that crazily priced compared to most imported things here, although I'm not sure whether that is a reduced price considering Easter was many months ago? I wonder if they'll still be there next Easter or whether people are actually buying them in August...

did we mention it's rainy season?

When it rains here you have two choices: you can enjoy watching it from the dryness of your home or you can put on your rain gear and boots and go and find some puddles! I would recommend the first option if there is a lightening storm or the worlds largest hailstones being thrown from the sky, otherwise I'd go for the puddle jumping.

Orientation begins

Almost all our new staff have arrived, and almost all our returning staff have returned, hurrah! The campus feels alive again with children playing together any moment it is not raining.

It has been a busy few days having people over for lunches, acquiring passport photos to open a bank account and to renew our residency IDs, renewing our driving licences and having a staff BBQ to get everyone together.

oh giant biting ants - we hadn't missed you

We're back, they're back. The ants come out in force at this time of year and stay until the rains end.

This is one of the school bins, which you couldn't get near enough to actually use, as the ants are not only all over the bin, which you can see (the black down the side), but also all over the ground!

Two years at Bingham

It was two years ago that we moved to Bingham Academy in Ethiopia. As we are welcoming new staff it is strange to look back and see how life has changed in the two years. It is hard to imagine those first months before Lily was even born, of trying to work out how to survive and later how to move past simply surviving.

I remember being totally overwhelmed at the thought of grocery shopping, getting lost on campus trying to make it to someones house for dinner, learning how to bleach fruit and vegetables, starting to learn Amharic (still trying with this one but can say hello at least)....

There are still very real challenges to living here, yet it is sometimes good to look back and remember how far we have come and the new friends and other blessings that God has put in our lives here for this season.

Here's to the next two years and beyond!