On Saturday, September 6, 2008, Erin flew to Gondar to meet Fantu Gola. From Gondar, they drove 100 kilometers north to Debark, where most of the girls live. (For more images of the town, see Debark.) It was only 100 kilometers, but the road was rough, so the trip took more than 4 hours. One of the first things she noticed when she arrived in Gondar was that people were noticeably poorer than those in Addis. And, as they drove through the mountains to Debark, people got poorer and poorer eventually making those in Gondar seem wealthy by comparison.
This was Erin’s first meeting with the team, who was waiting to meet her and Fantu in Debark. They were wearing their track suits and looked very proud. Erin was also introduced to the mayor and many of the town elders and business people. Fantu arranged for the chief of staff of the Debark Hospital to give her a tour of the hospital. They have a good infrastructure, but no one to staff the hospital and no supplies. The government used the if-you-build-it-they-will-come approach, which has yet to pan out. The hospital’s catchment area has more than 600,000 people. They have 2 doctors and only a few nurses to staff the hospital. The mayor and other community leaders also gave her a tour of "town hall" and the local health post.
Fantu invited Erin to be a guest of the Simien Lodge. He and his business partner, Nick Crane, have taken great care in designing the lodge. A portion of the profits (2.5%) are given to the community. The community comes up with a proposal and the lodge funds the project with the profits. Guests are discouraged from giving money, pencils, candy, or any other sort of hand-out to locals, especially kids, as it discourages them from going to school (because they know that they can get salable goods if they beg from visitors). Guests are given the opportunity to donate benches to local schools for $25/each. In each room, there’s an instruction manual on how to tip the staff, what amounts are appropriate, and so forth. The lodge buys all of its produce and perishable goods from locals.
On Sunday, they left the lodge early to travel down to Debark. The community organized a running competition. The GGRF team ran against two other groups of girls who have taken it upon themselves to organize into teams. The GGRF team was the "A" team and the other two groups were hopefuls — those hoping to eventually be selected for the team. Like in Addis, the GGRF-sponsored girls train with a larger group of girls and sometimes boys. The coaches focus on our girls and the food subsidy goes to buy them rolls and milk.
The competition lasted for a couple of hours and was quite an event. A lot of people from the community, especially kids, came out to watch. When she was last in Ethiopia, Erin had asked Fantu what she could bring for the girls. He asked for underwear as it cannot be bought in Debark. Erin took 70 pairs so that each girl could have 7. Fantu discussed it with the coaches and they and Erin all agreed that the GGRF team would get several pairs and that the "hopeful" teams and winners of the various races would also receive one pair each. Everyone was very appreciative.
At the competition, Erin was able to speak with some of the community leaders. They all thanked her and GGRF profusely for bringing the project to Debark. GGRF and the Lodge are the only development projects in Debark. They all said how proud the girls on the team have become. The families say that they notice a difference in the girls. All of the girls on the team have improved their grades, which is an unexpected positive outcome. Fantu and the coaches stress to the girls that the point of the project is to keep the girls in school and that the girls must focus on their studies.
The mayor of Debark wanted Erin to convey how thankful they are for the project and stressed that the whole community is supportive of it. He mentioned that all of the girls on the team are showing more discipline in their studies. Running takes up much of their free time, making it more difficult for them to engage in less productive or beneficial activities, like hanging out with boys.
GGRF provided lunch for the team, coaches, and some of the community leaders, including the mayor. It was a long and really enjoyable lunch. The girls ate and ate and ate. Erin sat with the team, and despite the language barrier, was able to speak with them for close to four hours. They had Amharic-English language exchange lessons, took pictures, and laughed a lot. They went around the table and each one told Erin what she wanted to be when she grew up. They all want to have professional jobs and gave her examples ranging from engineer to pilot. One mentioned wanting to be a professional runner.
With Fantu’s help, Erin asked several of the girls to tell her about a typical day. Here is an example of what any one of the girls might do on a given day: Wake up between 5:30 and 6am; train for between 1 and 1.5 hours; shower; help out at home with domestic chores; study; go to school; train with the team; go home to have a meal with their family; study; go to bed.
Erin asked them how far they have to walk to get to school. Eight of them lived within 10 to 25 minutes of the school (walking). Two of them, Tigest and Alem, live 15 kilometers from school, meaning that they walk 30 kilometers a day in addition to the running they do on their own and with the team. One their way to the lodge, they dropped off at their homes. Erin had one word for this experience: humbling.
There are three coaches, Salomon Abuhay, who is the head coach and team coordinator; Dessie Endires; and Melaku Tadiwolo. Melaku was just hired by Fantu on the day of the competition. Dessie and Melaku will handle the technical work of training and Salomon will oversee the team and administration. Erin asked the girls about the coaches and they love Salomon and Dessie.
The profile of the girls on this team is different from the girls on the Addis team. Many of them still live with their families. All of them are in school, and they all have big dreams for the future. However, Debark is very poor and there are not many social, sporting, or empowerment opportunities for young people. The team gives the girls something constructive to do with their time. Being on the team is a source of pride for all of them. The GGRF team and the contributions of the lodge to the community are among the only development projects in Debark.
To help the Girls Gotta Run Foundation support this and other teams, you can make a donation via Paypal from the GGRF Donations page. You can also use www.goodsearch.com as your search and shopping engine, specifying Girls Gotta Run as the charity you support.
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