Eastern Ethiopia holiday

People

On Day 1, you will walk to a local village and cook with a local family. They will show you how to make a traditional meal and a typical Ethiopian coffee ceremony. The best way to share stories and meet new people is over a plate of great food and a drink in hand. On Day 7, we will also visit the abundant market in Nazareth. The town is not normally on the tourist trail as it hasn’t got sublime rock churches and sites. Supporting the local food industry in Ethiopia not only maintains the cultural identity of Ethiopia but connects cultures through the most ancient of pastimes, eating!
Life for the majority of Ethiopia’s 73 million people is harsh, even by the standards of Africa’s poorest nations. The average Ethiopian person earns less than $100 per year and will not live beyond 44 years of age. North Wollo is amongst the poorest areas of the country, depending largely on rain fed subsistence agriculture. Our guide Mark established TESFA - a local charity organisation that was set up in 2003 with the specific aim of developing community-based tourism in Ethiopia WITH communities.
By putting communities in charge of their own tourism resources, payment goes directly into the communities - 60% for the communities, 25% to a local guides service (that also transmits bookings to the communities), and 15% to cover administrative costs. After the communities have paid their staffing costs and for the consumables (food, toiletpaper, soap etc) the remainder is split between profit and a fund to allow for reinvestment and depreciation. The profit is then put into a community fund for the whole community to decide how it should be spent, such as the purchase of a community grain grinding mill.
The Wild Frontiers Foundation is proud to support Camara, an international charity and social enterprise that uses technology to deliver 21st century skills to improve education in disadvantaged communities around the world. In 2012, with £2500 initial funding from the foundation, Camara was able to install 25 recycled computers, loaded with educational software, and create a new eLearning Centre at Aba’ala Secondary School in the remote Afar region of northern Ethiopia. Teachers from the school have also been trained in basic digital literacy skills, simple hardware maintenance and how to use computers to teach other subjects.
In 2015 we sponsored our second school with a further £2500 to establish an elearning classroom at the Bruh Tesfa Primary School, in Addis Ababa. These students now have access to affordable technology and are learning new skills to improve their education and ultimately gain better future employment.
We are continuing to raise money to install more e-learning centres in other Ethiopian schools.