The Kids of Lalibela

During my visit to Lalibela, children often came over to talk. Some wanted to practise English. Others wanted to show me a place or ask where I came from. I had many conversations that started with simple curiosity.

At times a whole group gathered around me. It could be intense, but the encounters I had were friendly.

Several children told me they had come from the countryside to attend school in town. Some were living away from their parents. I could see how independent they had become, but I did not know enough about their families or circumstances to draw conclusions from a brief meeting.

One group asked me for school supplies rather than money: notebooks, pens, and English-Amharic dictionaries. The request was specific, and the dictionaries drew the most excitement.

I went to the market and bought 150 notebooks and pens, followed by dictionaries and backpacks. The hotel manager helped me bring them to schools and distribute them.

The children opened the dictionaries immediately and began looking through them together. The distribution was improvised. Looking back, I can see that future support should begin with the school, follow its safeguarding rules, and respond to priorities set locally.

Later, I bought a football and went to the high school stadium. A game started without much planning, and for a while that was all we were doing.

I remember the conversations and the football more clearly than the things I bought. I also understand the limits of what I knew. A visitor can share one encounter honestly, but should not turn it into a story about every child in Lalibela.