Ethiopia Trip

Bumping and Plodding in an old Land Cruiser through a dusty parched landscape for hours we finally made it.  It was the seventh day of our week and a half trip and this was by far the most remote place we had been.  As a matter of fact it is the most remote place I have ever been in my life.  Descending from the mountains several miles ago, stretching to the horizon, the landscape was filled with nothing but seemingly leafless fifteen foot trees that had to be held up by the ever present dust.  The school we had made all this way to see was finally ahead of us.  It would have been easy to miss without our guides.  It was nearly transparent.  The termite infested members that made up the walls were spaced several inches apart around the perimeter, which made them blend in quite well with the surrounding scrub vegetation.  The few sheets of tin on top were what set it apart.  Five classrooms were placed one beside each other and school was not in for the day.  As we approached we could see that classrooms were around 200 square feet a piece.  I still couldn't imagine the 80 children per classroom that were in there when the school year started.  Especially with the single desk sitting in the middle.