The sequel to our visit last week to the homes of China and Yetimwork, saw three of us setting off in a Bingham van to buy tarpaulin for a roof repair and some supplies for other individuals. An Ethiopian had found two pieces of tarpaulin on sale for 350 Birr each. However when two foreigners asked to buy them the stall holder first bumped up the price to 1400 Birr - well you can’t blame him for trying! There was a delay while he searched for the receipt book (almost nothing can be purchased here without a receipt). He began looking through the layers of tarpaulin and eventually located the valued pad of paper amongst them.

Our first stop was off a semi-built road outside a government orphanage for boys. I could see one of the boys on top of a tin roof. We followed a muddy track to a less than substantial corrugated tin building. Two Muslim girls live in a tiny windowless room at the back. The history is that their mum went to work abroad leaving the two young teenagers alone. Mum became sick, lost her job and her money. hence the two girls were hungry and alone in Addis and so asked Yetesfye Birhan for help. Remarkably a stranger bought a plane ticket for mum to return to Ethiopia. Today just one of the girls was at home; the other was at summer school to retake her English and Civics exams which would allow her to enter the next school grade. It was dark inside and as my eyes adjusted I could make out a bed (hardly wide enough for three) and some pillows arranged in a line by one wall. The girls' bags were hanging on a nail above the bed and two small bars of soap lay on the horizontal length of metal that held the corrugated sheets together. Incongruously a very small and very old television covered in plastic was turned on in the corner. The picture was obstructed by severe interference as was the sound. The fifteen year old girl offered us tea and told us that her mum had gone "down country" as her sick grandmother had died, and also to visit her auntie as she and her four cousins all have AIDS. She received gratefully the gifts we gave her and told us how much she had missed her Bingham visits.

The next stop was to deliver the tarpaulin. Again much kissing and hand shaking took place once one of the mums had been summoned from where she was selling candles outside the church. The two dwellings did not look much better in the dry weather. The notable difference was the now full lines of washing which had to be peeled apart to go through. Many curious scruffy children squeezed into the narrow passageway too, all holding out grubby hands to be shaken and commenting on our white skin.

Mulawark is the girl who is being brought up by her grandmother. We were keen to visit as we heard last semester that the great aunt who owned the ‘house’ that they live in had been making comments about how much Mulawark was eating and how expensive it was. This had upset the girl who is as skinny as they come. We were harassed a bit by some young boys who began chanting as we got out of the van. They were chased away by a young mother who was wearing a teeshirt with holes in unfortunate places, wielding a tree branch. Both Grandma and Mulawark were home. Grandma was genuinely thankful and hugged us for ages after the requisite five kisses when she received the gifts.

The final visit was to Tadalech. She probably lives the furthest away, so much so that taking a taxi would not be unreasonable if you were walking. We stopped beside a busy road and made our way to a dirt track, passing women stuffing hay into sacks and a man selling and chewing cha'at (a legal drug). The track curved and descended steeply down towards a grey, angry river that churned its way along the base of the valley. By now water and mud were flowing between the large cobble stones that lay haphazardly across our path. A tiny girl clambered down beside me, water running through her flimsy shoes. Dwellings were positioned to the right and left with bowls and buckets with indescribable contents and stagnant water. We passed an entire sheep skull with some bits of flesh still attached. Our destination was another windowless dwelling .Tadalech was not at home but we left the goods with a family member anyway.

 As we clambered back up the rubbish strewn bank to the road it really felt like a job well done. Had we made a real difference? Probably not, but we had shown care and brought happiness to a just a few.