December 19, 2011

Christmas Comes Early for Ethiopian Schoolchildren

ACDI/VOCA Board Member and Congressman Present Laptops to Rural School

Actually, Christmas is not celebrated in Ethiopia until Jan. 7, but yesterday a substantial gift was received at the St. Gabriel School in remote Metu.

Congressman John Garamendi and his wife Patti, a former Peace Corps and USDA official and now an ACDI/VOCA board member, had sent 20 laptop computers to the school where Patti taught when they served as Peace Corps volunteers in the 1960s. After a protracted shipping and customs experience, they were received Dec. 13 by the school’s alumni association for use by the students.

Visit Fulfills Promise

The gift came on the heels of a visit the Garamendis paid in March to the town where they spent two adventurous years immediately after their marriage. In March, uniformed schoolkids lined the path up to the school, singing and chanting, to welcome their guests back after 45 years (Flickr album). In a warm ceremony, which included renditions of still-remembered folk songs Patti had taught her students, the Garamendis promised to do more to help the school.

Yesterday, they delivered on that promise. ACDI/VOCA’s Country Representative Bick Riley, who had helped coordinate the March trip and was instrumental getting the computers out to Metu, wrote the Garamendis: “We are happy to play a small role in transiting your generous gift to those lovely children in Metu, enriching their education.”

Long-standing Commitment to Ethiopia

ACDI/VOCA has multiple projects in Ethiopia, and the Garamendis have had an ongoing love affair with the country. Along with other Peace Corps alumni they used personal contacts with high officials to try to negotiate an end to the Eritrean-Ethiopian conflict. They came to work in famine relief in 1984, and Patti returned to help relaunch Peace Corps activities in 1994.

Now the Metu school’s increased computing power ensures a continued Garamendi legacy and enhanced opportunity for the fortunate school children.

Learn more about our work in Ethiopia.