Sesame April/May 2002 - The Open University

Issue 208 April/May 2002 Sesame 13Travellers talesA flower bloomsin Addis Ab a b aIkutha women collect waterVillagers benefitfrom a well ofOU kindnessBy Malini SenBonface Ndili’s crusade for water began with a visitto his childhood village Ikutha in Kenya after anabsence of 10 years. He went back to visit hisgrandmother and was shocked by the hardships facedby people in his village because of water shortages.Bonface, who is pursuing a Diploma in Social Welfarewith the School of Health and Social Welfare, iscommitted to taking water to the village.“An elderly woman and her daughter, who had given birththree days ago, were visiting my grandmother. The youngmother had not had a wash for weeks. She said she had just onedrink during the delivery. Young girls fetch water between schoollessons, mothers leave children for hours, sometimes for a dayand-a-half,to walk a distance of 20 to 60 miles to the river.“I felt I had to do something. I discussed it with my motherwho said: ‘It has been 25 years since Independence and thegovernment has done nothing about it. What can you do? Willyou go to heaven and bring water for the village?’”partnershipsIkutha is the gateway to the popular safari park Tsavo. Theroads around the park have been developed and electricitylines have been drawn through Ikutha to supply power totourists. The village does not enjoy similar facilities – butBonface plans to provide a well.He said: “The OU course has taught me three key things: tofocus on people, assess a situation and build partnerships.”For any action to be taken, he needed the support of thevillage. “Women are the most affected by the water crisis andI needed to know what they felt. I told them: ‘I am notpromising the world. But I will go back to England and try andraise funds either to set up a water pump or to dig wells.’“Water is integral to human existence. Besides being importantfor health and sanitation, it is a source of livelihood. A steadysupply of water would help irrigate the land, feed livestock andtherefore generate income,” said Bonface, adding with a smile:“Since my return to England, my water bills have gone down.”Bonface’s tutor Anne Radforth, who has been verysupportive, said: “I share his vision and I am proud of what heis doing.” Anne is helping Bonface to set up a charity to fundthe project. He has named the project Maisha Bora (meaning‘Life Good’ in Swahili) and is determined that the villagers beself-reliant. “They should feel proud of the project andhelp in maintaining the well,” he added. Bonface would behappy to receive any kind of support, contact him at:bm.ndili@talk21.com or on 01773 520722.Like the Open University, tutorsgo every w h e re as the BusinessS c h o o l ’s M a u reen Whitehead-L a u s m a n n explains in thisreport.Traffic is heavy on the way backfrom the tutorial venue; threelanes of cars in each direction,with drivers constantly switchinglanes, hoping to make some headwayin the stop-and-go queue. I crane myneck to see what is up ahead and seea donkey grazing on the grass vergewhich separates the lanes. But it isnot the donkey which is holding usup, nor is it the goats being herdedalong at the side of the road. This istypical rush hour traffic on the BoleRoad in Addis Ababa.My first visit here was a few years agowhen more than 100 of Ethiopia’s topmanagers and government officials setoff on B800 Foundations of seniorm a n a g e m e n tas a first step towards theirMBA. Since then I have returned 10times to deliver tutorials. As the studentshave progressed and graduated, so haslife in Addis. Roads have become busier,buildings have become newer and taller,and signs for Compaq, Dell and BM havesprung up along the Bole Road. Bole iswhere the International Airport and manyembassies are situated and, since 1997,the MBA centre provided by the Ethiopiangovernment for OU students.The Bole Road leads past MeskelSquare, a favourite meeting place forrunners in the city. My driver dropsme off at the palace guest house whereOU tutors are accommodated. Thesoldiers guarding the entrance eye mesceptically as I go through. The temperatureis pleasant as I walk through thegardens to the residence; although Addisis almost on the equator the climate ismild owing to the altitude of almost 2,500metres.The palace guest house itself is a twostoreyvilla. Its contents were describedby a colleague on a previous visit as astrange mixture of old colonial furnitureand ’60s MFI. Although Ethiopia wasnever fully colonised, a fact evident in theindependent mentality of its people, theinfluence of the Italian occupiers isevident in architecture and lifestyle.Sometimes when I can no longer faceanother traditional meal of injera (a typeof bread which looks like a pancake) andwot (a spicy sauce) I go out for pizza,spaghetti and cappuccino.As I am the only guest I reside inbedroom number one, and am lookedafter by a host of staff, some of whomserved in Haile Selassie’s court orremember the times of the militarydictatorship of Mengistu when, I am told,Tito was also a guest in bedroom numberone.thirteen monthsOne of the ladies on duty tells medinner is at one o’clock, which is 7pmby our clocks. The mealtimes no longerconfuse me as on my first visit I soonlearned that most Ethiopians set theirclocks from dawn to dusk. I still struggle,though, with the Julian calendar followedby Ethiopia, which is seven years andeight months behind the Westerncalendar. However, as it consists of 12months of 30 days and one month of fivedays, Ethiopia’s tourist board can boastof thirteen months of sunshine.Street scene in Ethiopia’s capitalThe OU’s development of its language coursesrecently took another step forward with theappointment of Jim Coleman.The university’s first professor of languages is working ona 10-year strategy to facilitate research into the subject, asignificant development for a department that was formedonly a decade ago.“The OU didn’t offer any language courses at all until the1990s,” says Jim, who came into post at the end of last year.“When it did, there was a treadmill of course creation whichleft little room for research.“People might think ‘language is language, we speak, sowhat is there to research?’” he says. “But we’re looking tofacilitate how language is taught, to make it a comfortableexperience for students.“When you learn a language you become someone else. YouIn the free time between tutorials Iget a chance to explore some of the sightsof Addis. I take a taxi to Mercato, Africa’sbiggest market where you can buyanything from a cow to a comb. When Ipass the row of sewing machinists Iremember Michael Palin had his trousersrepaired here in Around the World in 80D a y s. Back in the city I cross the piazza,another legacy of the Italians, withcolourful architecture and small, bustlingshops and cafés. Next, along ChurchillAvenue to buy Ethiopian coffee and othersouvenirs.Although poverty is evident everywhere,it seems the number of beggarshas fallen over the years of myvisits. The people are dressed either intypical Western clothes or traditionalEthiopian dress. My lasting impressionis of a colourful bustling city, which ismaking progress fast. The name given tothe city by Taytu, wife of EmperorMenelik II, just over 100 years ago, ondeciding to settle there, seems apteven today. Addis Ababa means NewFlower and to me it is a flower which isgradually opening to full bloom.Picture: Raewyn SoerJim breaks through the language barrierlearn the knowledge, such as the words and the grammar, butyou also develop skills – how to make sounds and interact. Itbecomes a subject about personal identity and attitude.Research into how people can learn a language, especially ata distance, doesn’t just embrace linguistics, it coverseducation and even psychology.“Our research has got to be not just about teachinglanguage, but teaching people how to learn a language andbuild their confidence. You speak a language better throughuse, speaking, listening, reading and writing, and we’ve gotto help students who have only the minimum of face-to-facetutorial contact.”He adds: “The OU is the only place with the long-termperspective and resources to make a success globally ofdistance language learning. I always had a great respect forthose who are now my colleagues.”