Six weeks to go until the end of term, one can feel the excitement rising as a six-week visit to the UK is planned and days are beginning to be earmarked for events. The anticipation of seeing children and grandchildren in person is so very special.

I have offered to do an assembly for Green Lanes School, where I used to work as they have been kind enough to raise money for The Big Home Academy - a flamboyant name for a country school here. A PowerPoint presentation was called for, so I have been gathering pictures and video that I can use.

I took some short videos at Bingham of my class, which is never straight forward. For one thing, you have to time things right, otherwise the lesson transition bell, a heavy lorry driving past a few meters away or children running up to ask questions or request help for this or that, results in a few false starts. Five year olds are also unpredictable in what they might say. One small girl insisted that her Dad just “sleeps all day” whilst another lad told me his Dad “just writes emails”. I happen to know that both parents referred to have significant roles here and would probably be horrified at their offspring’s interpretation.

I thought it would be good to include a short video of one of our Y’tesfa girls as I’m portraying the contrast between schools but this requires a conversation in Amharic, so duly rehearsed and with my Amharic teacher fine-tuning the pronunciation of my questions I attempted it. One question was “How many children in your class?” The answer was 57!

However, the most significant part entailed a trip to The Big Home Academy to catch up on the progress of previous projects and learn of a new one. As I’ve described previously, this school is situated within the grounds of the home of Lemma, Bingham’s head guard. We first visited in 2007 and it has really stood the test of time. As May Day (Labour Day here) is a public holiday, armed with a camera Phil and I set off from Bingham with Lemma. En route, Lemma directed us to a newly widened road Phil had never driven on before. On the right and left were carriageways with cars travelling not surprisingly in different directions. Separating these was a two- lane carriageway with nothing to indicate how to use it. Lemma assured Phil that it could be treated as a normal two-lane road, but when cars began coming towards us and people were gesticulating in confusing ways our comfort level plummeted.

Despite the unconventional journey, we arrived to find a concrete playground where there had previously been only mud. A breeze block wall replaced the dilapidated corrugated iron fence making the school far more secure. There was a new staff room and guard house, and outside sinks with a water conservation plan.

Water is one of the biggest issues in the countryside. Lemma was explaining that they can only expect water maybe once a week. He proudly took us to a ten-metre deep hole in the ground that he wants to turn into a reliable well. He let down a bucket on a rope and brought up clear water. Not clean enough for drinking but suitable for other uses such as washing, watering plants, and flushing toilets. This would provide a sustainable long term solution to a common problem.

The first step would be to purchase concrete supports and pay a very brave contractor to descend down the hole and secure these in place. The second step would be to insert a wide circular tube then build a wall around the top, a secure cover, and a hoist. The donation from Green Lanes School will allow the project to get started. Over a plate of rice and shredded carrot at 11 o’clock in the morning, we rejoiced with Lemma at what may be possible in the future.