This is my last week teaching. Over the past two semesters Ari and I have worked intensively with our students on English listening, speaking, pronunciation, and grammar. Even though we spoke very slowly and enunciated, it took our students a long time just to get used to our American accents and understand us. The novelty of having two ferenji teachers has not warn off yet. Every class we are greeted enthusiastically, and when I walk through the streets I will certainly hear students yelling, "Miss Alex!" at the top of their lungs and running over to say hello. Slowly, I have seen progress in some of my better students. I can only hope that our presence in Gonder has impacted all of our students in some tiny way — exposing them to English-speakers, serving as role models, motivating them to further their educations, or simply showing them that people outside of Ethiopia care.
Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance wheel of the social machinery.
-Horace Mann
-John F. Kennedy
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