by Feng Ai

 

In August 2005, as one of 12 Chinese youth volunteers going for overseas service in Ethiopia, I arrived in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. I taught Chinese in Addis Ababa University for local students and staff.

 

One morning on January 11, 2006, an embassy official, Liu Tao, phoned me, saying "the new Ethiopian Ambassador to China Haile-Kiros Gessesse will soon take his post. He wants to learn Chinese and we hope you can be his teacher."Naturally, I eagerly accepted.

 

Liu went on to say that Ethiopia had only three embassies in Asia -- India, Japan and China. All of the previous ambassadors to China were appointed to vital positions when returning home, pointing out the importance of its embassy in China. Furthermore, the language teaching would be a good opportunity to communicate with the new ambassador.

 

I felt a great responsibility placed on my shoulders. I called the ambassador soon and found him eager to start.

 

When I arrived at the Foreign Ministry at 2:00 PM on that very day and told the guard I had come for Mr. Gessesse, he said, "Are you his Chinese teacher? We also want to learn Chinese. Ethiopia and China are best friends! Welcome to Ethiopia!”

 

Being very nice and polite, Mr. Gessesse welcomed me with a warm smile. The bespectacled ambassador looked in his 40s and talked with me in fluent English, showing his excellent foreign education.

 

After talking for an hour, we decided to have Chinese classes at 5:00 PM every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and 10:00 AM on Sunday.

 

The first class

 

The following Friday, I came to Mr. Gessesse' office on time, finding that two more students are waiting for me. They were the ambassador's daughter Frena, a high school student, and his lovely son Kecebet, sitting on his father's legs.

 

I taught them the "pinyin"Chinese phonetics and tones. Mr. Gessesse paid much attention to the pronunciation and reiterated "the pronunciation is very important, I hope what I said is standard Chinese mandarin.”

 

To an Ethiopian, the most difficult thing in learning Chinese is the four pronunciation tones. I copied a Mandarin Pinyin Table for him and asked him to pronounce each phoneme correctly. Showing his hardworking nature, he practiced avidly.       

 

After the class, I gave him a book 2005 China in English, providing the latest and comprehensive introduction to China, and a series of picture cards for learning Chinese characters.

 

Language teacher to culture tutor

 

As the day when Mr. Gessesse would depart for China drew near, our language classes shifted to become cultural ones. Our topics covered religion, history, society, economy and geography.

 

He often asked me questions as "Do Chinese people know Ethiopia?"or "What's Ethiopia like in Chinese people's eyes?"I told him people of my father's generation might know more about Ethiopia. However, the young Chinese today perhaps only knew two things about the country, namely Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world and has the world's best marathon competitors.

 

As for me, I got to know more about the country after becoming a volunteer. Now I knew that Ethiopia is a cradle of civilization with centuries-old history, profound religious culture and rich tourism resources. Ethiopia also grows the best coffee in the world.

 

Seriously listening to me, he said the first thing he wished to achieve in China was to change Ethiopia's image in Chinese people's minds.

 

Culture tutor to "ambassador's secretary"

 

Once before a class, the ambassador proudly showed me a pile of materials, including the name list of the Chinese investors and companies investing in Ethiopia and those of Ethiopian counterparts who imported Chinese commodities. He immediately asked me to help him contact those Chinese companies and businessmen for more information in the following days.

 

After accompanying the ambassador to meetings with some Chinese companies' leaders, some staff there commented that I was more like his secretary than a teacher. We often discussed the development and difficulties the Chinese and Ethiopian companies encountered in their management and operations, and we attempted to offer as much help as possible.

 

As the day on which the ambassador left for Beijing dawned, we met and talked about family sizes. I told him about my experience when I worked in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Yunnan Province as a volunteer, where many local families were large size and lived in poverty. Furthermore, we spoke about China's poverty alleviation efforts in the western part of the country, especially the West Development Strategy. Upon hearing that tens of thousands of undergraduates went to the poor areas to volunteer every year, he was astonished and considered it a splendid career.

 

Driving me home, the ambassador said, "Every time I talk with you and Chinese friends, I can get something new. And it does press me to learn more about China. I will be waiting for you in Beijing."

 

Twelve Chinese volunteers set off for Ethiopia in August 2005, the first time the country has dispatched volunteers to Africa.

 

The volunteers stayed in Ethiopia for six months and helped local residents develop the use of marsh gas, improve physical education, further information technology and upgrade medical treatment.

 

The project was jointly organized by the Ministry of Commerce, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Youth League and the Chinese Youth Volunteers Association (CYVA).

 

The author, Feng Ai, a Beijing native, is pursuing her doctor's degree at Shanghai's Fudan University. She was awarded the golden medal for Excellent Young Volunteers of China. In August 2003, she joined the Graduate Volunteers Servicing the West Program and was appointed head of the Shanghai-Yunnan volunteer team, in part because of her substantial experience. From August 2000 to August 2001, Feng taught for a year at the Baiya Village Middle School in Xiji County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region as a volunteer.

 

(Source: China Youth, translated by Zhou Jing for China.org.cn, November 21, 2006)