The new High School building now being complete, the next phase of building work could be started. However at Bingham, major changes are not tackled piece-meal, rather they are all started at once. Three classrooms have been knocked into one large space to be used as a chapel (assembly hall). The large quantity of mud from the dismantled walls being taken away a barrowful at a time. The metal wheelbarrows that the workers use all have the squeakiest wheels you could imagine, rather like running your finger nails down a blackboard. I imagine it would take a large quantity of WD40 to remedy this.

Simultaneously, new classrooms have been created within the old science labs. I was working in one the other day, they are spacious and have a raised double step around one corner. Children can sit here for more relaxed reading. Also popular are the window cushions. As the outside walls are so thick, two children can fit comfortably  on a window sill at any one time. As Grades 3, 4 and 5 have moved to these new locations, the vacated classrooms are being slowly converted to become a library. No one can predict how each building may have been originally constructed before the work begins, for example, when they began to remove the internal walls in these classrooms it soon transpired that they were dealing with mud bricks rather than slabs. At one point the new chapel roof began sagging alarmingly and a three ton jack had to be brought in to shore it up. The school runs as normal despite the turmoil, but we have been promised that the end result will be worth it.

Whilst standing in the queue at our church bazaar recently, waiting to buy a very reasonable-looking lettuce, I struck up a conversation with the lady behind. She told me about a ‘Taste of Addis’ event, taking place the next day. We were given directions by several people and combined with a few enquiries, we found it. We didn’t know the timing and apparently arrived early. Along with others we sat in the sunshine with a drink and watched proceedings unfold. Rather like a similar event held in St Albans, various restaurants were represented and sold tasty, small platefuls of food so you could try several. I had Indian, whilst Phil had offerings from Yemen and Bahrain. ‘Taste of Addis’ was yet another surprising, random event in the middle of a chaotic city.