Week Four

Photo: The Band play on.

After the chaotic scenes at their ‘rugby match’ last week, I walked very tentatively through the gates this week. There I was met by six of the lads doing The Haka! It turns out that they hired a video of the All Blacks in action, studied what all this rugby lark was all about and came back with a whole other perspective on the game, and some fairly serious facial expressions. It was their surprise for me. While the game was a little more ordered this week, they were still playing pretty much to their own rules, and it was great. For kids with no formal training in a game that most of them had never seen, let alone played before, their ball handling, passing and jinking is a joy to behold.

This week I had the children think about what this project has meant to them. There responses have been moving and sometimes very difficult to hear. Many of the children had no hope. As one said, ‘this project has helped me to open my mind’. Apart from all of the practical things like washing their clothes and getting breakfast, the overwhelming sense I get from them is that this project has made them visible human beings again. They are loved and cared for by all of the Sisters who know them all well, and by the staff at the project who are dedicated and loyal.

Three of ‘my boys’ brought us to where they learn and practice their music. It is a metal truck container parked at the back of the Red Cross centre here in Mekelle. The band are fantastic. They play mainly Tigrinian and Amharic music, both of which have particular and distinctive sounds. They were just getting into their ‘groove’ when yet another power cut hit the street. Then it was on to the Drama workshop. This drama group are very successful in Ethiopia, winners of a prestigious drama award recently. The class was being taken through their paces by a local comedian who was teaching them about improvised comedy. I couldn’t understand a word of it, but their expressions and delivery made it very funny. Both of these outlets are an important feature in the lives of the street children in providing them with a safe haven for at least a couple of hours a day.

We went to a local café and started to talk about music and the kind of music we have in Ireland. Ironically, for a man who does so much to promote the cause of the developing world, none of them had heard of Bono! On hearing some of U2’s music they were underwhelmed, ‘it’s ok, but he’s no Teddy Afro’ (a very successful Ethiopian singer song writer).

One boy, Tesefy, is one of the quietest, shyest boys I have ever met, until you hand him an electric guitar and a microphone. He is passionate about music and talking to him about it was the first time I had seen him so animated in all of the time we have been here. Another success story for the project, Tesefy has just completed his Grade 12 exams and has been offered a place in University to study Business.