Meeting Emaway in Ethiopia

Barbara Wood had worked with many children as a travelling nurse in Southern Africa so when she settled in the UK she decided to sponsor a child with Plan. Having sponsored with Plan since 1999, she decided this year to go, with her husband Chris, and visit her most recent sponsored child, Emaway (13), in Ethiopia.

"At 6 am the car arrived with Kiber, a Plan worker and our guide. As we drove up the floor of a valley the sun rose bathing the crags to the west of us in golden colour. Our driver impressed us as he skilfully drove up the road which got rougher and rougher."

"Soon there were people with their donkeys and cattle coming out to bring in the harvest. Some were already at work with sickles cutting the crops. Once we had to move a pile of newly cut barley from the road for us to pass!"

"At 8am, we left the car, which would return to meet us at 5pm. Some thousand feet above us we could see the top of the plateau where Emaway lived. We were warned it would be a steep climb up a mountain and were offered a mule, but declined. Kiber and the porter set a gentle, steady pace for us as we started the climb."

"Soon we were taking short rests to admire the view, catch our breath and to marvel at the agility of the locals who passed us, often with large bundles of straw or grain on their backs. We stopped to greet some and our porter was given some lentils which he showed us how to eat."

"About halfway up we met a community volunteer from the village who had come to meet us. As we neared the top the view became even more dramatic. After about three and a half hours we suddenly reached the top and could see the school buildings ahead of us."

"We met some teachers who showed us one of their classrooms. There were younger children around waiting to greet us and have their photo taken. We unpacked exercise books, pens and pencils and two footballs and a pump to inflate them."

"It was a thirty minute walk to Emaway's home across a gently rolling plain with a stream and fields all around us. We saw a health post built by Plan as we went. We found Emaway and her father had set out to meet us along a different path so a message was sent to them."

"Meanwhile, we were introduced to Emaways's mother, brothers and sister, and her grandparents invited us to sit down. The homestead consists of two thatched round houses beautifully built of stone, mud and wood. Hides and straw were put down for us to sit on."

"After a short time Emaway's friend shouted that she was coming. We watched her running over the fields to us. She greeted us excitedly and pulled me back into the hut."

"The whole family gathered there and we gave our gifts to them. By this time a small crowd of children had gathered outside. We had pencils, notebooks and balloons which we blew up and Emaway distributed."

"Back inside the hut we were served a delicious Ethiopian meal by Emaway. We had seen Emaway's mother cooking this over an open fire in the other hut. No one in the family could speak English but Kiber was very good at interpreting and explaining things for us."

"We had to leave about 2.30 after a sad goodbye, but we were so pleased to have been part of Emaway's family for a short time. We managed the walk back down in 2 hours with the help of Kiber and our porter and made the bottom by 5pm."

"The drive back, though bumpy was very beautiful with the sun now lighting the eastern mountain sides. There was lots of activity along the road with people taking donkeys, mules and cattle and goats home. Even after dark there were still people working in the fields. We returned to the plan Ethiopia Office by 8pm, after a tiring but wonderful day!"