Practicalities

East Africa here we come! Ethiopia and then The Sudan!

There’s a lot of planning and organising to do especially as we have to sort out plans for Ethiopia and wind-down from Georgia and then there’s also things to sort out in England.  We haven’t enough money that’s a bit of a nuisance!

A lot of research went into the flights and different combinations were investigated but as prices were going up we had to buy them quickly.  A quick moving around of our finances allowed us to buy our flights but it means that we do not have any English money to draw on while we are in Georgia.  So flights are booked, and we leave England on Wednesday 4^th July for Ethiopia, and then from Ethiopia to Sudan on Saturday 25^th August.  Unfortunately we do this via Cairo with a 7 hour layover but the direct flights had gone by the time we could rustle up the cash to book.

Naturally we don’t really have a clue what we are letting ourselves in for in the Sudan and so it is always difficult to prepare!  We have learnt from Georgia that we need as much TV series and films downloaded onto our laptops as possible.  Not forgetting good speakers.

Also we have now acclimatised to the cost of living in Georgia.  When we arrived last year, everything seemed so cheap but that was comparing it with English prices.  I am glad that when we arrived we made trips to Armenia and the Svaneti region of Georgia as I don’t think we could justify spending that sort of cash 10 months on! (What? 100lari?!!! - £27)  We no longer have any English reserves in our bank accounts to soften the blow and so we are trying to buy what we can in Georgia to save us paying English prices.

We have to get meningitis jabs and 12 month boosters for Hep A and B (Martin) and Hep B (me).  There is not a lot of difference in price between Georgia and the UK for meningitis but Hep B for me is £76 in UK and only £23 in Georgia.  Martin’s Hep A and B are free for him.  We also have to get a medical form signed which confirms our inoculations and general health.  This was going to cost £110 each!!!!! However, I wrote a pleading letter to the Practice manager and they will only charge us £75.  Still a lot of money for us but a good result!  We also have to pay for a police check (£25) and 3 months of health insurance (£75).  The charity will pay for health insurance after that.   We receive a stipend to live on in the Sudan, but I can’t remember how much!  It will be enough to cover our expenses so probably similar to what we get in Georgia and accommodation is provided.  We need to buy medication as well to take for at least the first month or so, but will buy these in Georgia as it will be much cheaper.  We need malaria meds, high blood pressure meds for me, painkillers, diarrhoea meds and maybe some anti-biotics.  I expect meds will also be cheap in Sudan.  I still have to check out the prices of insect repellent as from what I hear they are evil little sods that will penetrate denim!

We need to take a deet-impregnated mosquito net for our bed.  It is likely that we will have two single beds pushed together and so the pop-up double net will not be suitable.  So we are going for a king-size version that we have to hang from the ceiling. We will have to take extra fittings in case it is difficult to put up.

Sudan is a Muslim country and as a woman I have to be very conservative in my dress.  However as a foreigner I won’t be stoned if I am seen in public in trousers but intend to abide by the rules when teaching.  This means long skirts or trousers with long tops; no cleavage showing and long sleeves.  I have been advised that cotton is the fabric of choice because it is so hot and it would be unbearable wearing man-made fabric.  Black is the colour of choice for women’s clothes in Georgia but I have found an orange paisley loose top and a lime green top with fake sapphires over the chest!  I am delighted and my friend said ”It is very you”  so make of that what you will!  I also bought a long black skirt which is light-weight and so this is the basis of my Sudanese wardrobe.  I thought I would check out the Indian stalls in Stratford or Whitechapel  as I am sure I will find something suitable there.

We are seriously down-sizing the stuff we have in Georgia.  There is no point in taking home any winter clothes as we will not use them for at least a year maybe longer and so I will give them to the teachers here.  There is probably a suitcase full of winter clothes which is not surprising given that we have just spent 6 months in freezing snow!  But we also have a colour printer, kitchen and bedding stuff and modems to get rid of.  I have found buyers for the expensive stuff but hoping that they actually pay the money when it comes to it as the stuff isn’t really available until just before we leave.

We are also trying to sort out the teaching resources we need.  We want to buy the pupil books for the MacMillan English World to take with us as we have copied the DVDs onto our laptop and we are scanning in the pupil work books.  It makes sense as we are familiar with the books and they are a good resource, but they are aimed at primary level children and as we will be teaching secondary school level they will not in themselves be directly useful.  But we can use them in Ethiopia and in the future.  Chalk, colouring pencils and other stationary is also cheaper here than in the UK so we will be looking to buy some resources here to take with us.

And then what resources to leave in Georgia?  Originally we thought we would leave the printer and laminators with the schools but now we realise that they will not use them!  But I will make a pack up of images and word cards, worksheets and tests that I think they might use and do the same for our school back in the village.

There is a lot of preparation and only 3 weeks left to sort it out.  Problem is that I have just got over a three week cold / chest infection and now moved onto the number 2 health Georgian health issue – stomach upset which has left me with no energy at all.

Will really be glad to leave Georgia!

Going to the Sudan

Last July, three weeks before we were due to board the plane for South Korea to teach English in the public schools, we were told that we had not been accepted after all despite being told by our agent that there was no problem at all.  When the email arrived saying “I am sorry for my impatient action” by way of an apology for leading us up the garden path I just couldn’t help but laugh.  We had rented out both our houses and prepared ourselves for a year away from home and had had an early Christmas dinner for the family (22 people) in July in the garden, with a Christmas tree, decorations, “Secret Santa”, crackers and carols; not forgetting a lovely traditional Christmas dinner.

We were a bit stunned to say the least but we researched alternatives, China, Taiwan and then applied for the Republic of Georgia (which incidentally was Martin’s first choice originally).  Conscious of not having had a plan B for South Korea, I decided to make sure we had one if Georgia didn’t work out and this is how I found out about the Sudan Volunteer Program (SVP). 

We exchanged a few emails with David Wolton and then met up in London for a cup of coffee and a look at some photos.  The problem was that they already their quota of volunteers but at that time were going through the process of confirming that everyone was actually going and so it was a bit of a waiting game.  The charity worked closely with the universities in Sudan and placed volunteers to teach university students English.  What we loved about it was the immediacy of the process; we had a chat and then signed up.  How this contrasted with the rigor of the South Korean EPIK program where we had to DHL a dozen documents at a significant cost and under immense time pressure.  This seemed so civilised!  And so the plan B became our plan A and it was a matter of waiting to see which one came through first.  When Georgia came through first Sudan was put on the back burner as a future plan.  Deep down I thought maybe we would never end up going there but as it turns out we will be spending a year there starting in September.

We didn’t know what we would be doing for the academic year 2012 to 2013.  It was February 2012 when we started to seriously think about what we wanted to do and then we weren’t really sure.  One option was to do another semester in Georgia and then travel around for 9 months, maybe get some volunteering work en-route, maybe India.  A young American woman in our Georgian cohort had met the love of her life in Tbilisi, a Nigerian student, and was planning a summer wedding in Nigeria.  “Why don’t we go to the wedding and then find a project for the summer?” we discussed and then we could go straight to the Sudan from there as it was so close!  So that was the seed but we didn’t have a firm plan.  Then a couple of weeks later, I was discussing our options with another TLGer and she told me about a volunteering opportunity in Ethiopia.  She had been there herself and said that we would love it and they would love us.  It was a school run by an English woman and her Ethiopian husband for poor children.  More research and emails and we were accepted to teach summer school at the English Alive Academy, in Nazret, just outside Addis Ababa; and so we applied to go to the Sudan for September, straight from Ethiopia.  (See separate blog for Ethiopia)  As it turned out our friends have decided to marry in the USA.

SVP have now introduced another program, working in secondary schools and they asked if we would like to be part of this new venture to which we agreed.  Our experience s in Georgia have made us (well me really) realise that I definitely do not want to be stuck in a very rural area without easy access to amenities and so we requested Khartoum as our base.

We just found out that we are part of a team of 6 teachers who will work in secondary schools in Khartoum.  We will each be teaching in 2 schools (single sex) the oldest classes, aged 15 to 16.  Apparently, first year university students are aged 16 to 19 so this is really pre-entry.  We are very excited about this and very happy about how the next year is looking.