A LETTER: LIBRARY HOUSE WARMING

Dear friends:

Today, a long letter about the "house-warming party" for the official opening of the library, and for the success of all our projects in general. We celebrated house warming party last Saturday. There was Christina's letter addressed to the students and I read it to the students and some guests from the Bureau of Education. The letter inspired the students to develop sense of belongingness and respect. They were clapping after each full stop in the letter.

For the party we bought soft driinks and organised the party at the cafeteria. The students were delighted to get a soft drink. I was observing this while they were drinking, they were touching the bottles and feeling the size and the shapes. In fact, every one got a bottle of Miranda or Pepsi or Coca-cola, including the guards, the cooks, the teachers and myself. Apart from this, the students prepared their own band and were singing in the middle of the ceremony. Some of the songs were: Welcome Song, Thank You, and We Are Proud of Who We Are.

After I read the letter of Christina, the director spoke about the projects and he was grateful to the group. One of the guests spoke how great the band was, and the library and motivated the girls to use the library equally with the boys. There was a representative of the students, Berikti, and she spoke about the utilization of the library and motivated the girls to use it. She also thanked the group from America and Ireland who were responsible for building it.

After that, the guests visited the projects and loved the library in particular. Kahsu and Gebre demonstrated the materials in the library. Yohannes demonstrated the games and puzzles.

I had also invited one guest from the Tigray Blind Association and he was very happy. Finally he proposed that the projects should be named after the group that made them possible.

Everyone accepted this idea. Now there is the Marie& West Garden, Christina Library, Tricia and Jane Gazebo, Emer Games, Anike First Aid Clinic, Gina Bridge, and the Mitiku Wall!

My friend prepared metal boards and wrote the names and attached it in their respective areas. It looks great and colorful.

I have some photos wheich are very helpful to compare what it was and what it is now. A place taken in different seasons, the compound before the wall and after, and the place where the library is now located. That will help us understand how far we have come.

In general, we have finished the projects. We are running two more projects: the Braille literacy and reproducing local text books in Braille and equipping the library with them. You know what? The library is very helpful even for the high school students and I hope Ato Kinfe, the school's principal, will continue to allow the older students to use the library because of Christina's letter to him, requesting this favor.

Well, friends, we have done a great job! And you have inspired other people and students as well. With little support, the lives of many people could be changed. Yesterday, I participated in a conference entitled, "Cultural Revolution and its benefit for development" spearheaded by Seyum Mesfin, the foreign minister of Ethiopia. He said in 1990, the balance of Ethiopia's account in  New York was 0. He said we started from 0, which is unusual for any country. I do not know if this was true, but I believe that many people in Ethiopia could lead an independent life with just a few dollars. Well, I guess I am writing you a thank you letter on behalf of the Foreign Minister....And thank you for your friendship and give my love to everyone behind the Mekele Blind School!

Love,
Mitiku