It's very common for people coming into a "mission" setting to find themselves doing things way out of their "comfort zones". No way was that going to happen to me!

Before we came to Ethiopia I emailed anyone at the school who I thought would listen and requested that I wanted to teach the youngest children and certainly no higher than grade 2. Why? Having spent the past eight years with Reception ("Kindergarten" or "KG1" here) that was my "comfort zone" and I wanted to stay well within it.

We have both worked continuously since arriving here and having spent the Christmas break adjusting to a new culture we were ready for a change of scenery.

Hilton hotels are a five star international chain, so surely the hairdressing salons that they contain should be indistinguishable right?

I wonder if anything in the salon reveals its Ethiopian location.

Maybe the missing handle on the drawer in front of me, or the two light bulbs that need replacing around the mirror gave it away.

The hairdresser glanced at my hair. “Same colour!” he announced as he departed. He reappeared a couple of minutes later, vigorously stirring a generous amount of dark grey gloop in a plastic container.

We first met Lemma’s family back in 2007. They remain the most hospitable and generous family that I have ever met. Lemma created a school within his property for children local to his neighbourhood. This has stood the test of time. My friend Clare has been visiting Lemma’s school every Saturday to teach two English language classes. I had the privilege of going with her this weekend. We chose a vehicle with good clearance from the ground to cope with a particularly bad pothole that we knew must be crossed, and travelled out of Addis into Oromo country.