Br. Tom Walsh
De la Salle Brothers
Ethiopia
The De la Salle Brothers work in the Bale
region in the South Eastern part of Ethiopia.
With help from the IMRS they have built a school
and furnished it. Like many IMRS members, the
Brothers are also striving to create new
connections between people in Ireland and people
in the developing countries. Br. Tom Walsh a
secondary school teacher working in Waterford
has been involved over the past number of years
in bringing a group of secondary school students
to Ethiopia. He writes passionately of the value
of the links being made between young people in
Ireland and the realities of the developing
world.
"The cradle of humanity is challenging,
exhilarating, demanding and uncompromising. No
amount of preparation for eager volunteers can
ease the culture shock. Volunteers are awestruck
and touched by literally stepping back in time,
the simplicity of life, the feeling of
belonging, the aura of gracefulness of the
people, the exuberant community spirit, a
heightened spiritual intensity, the unbelievable
welcome and daily greeting with several hugs,
the constant quest for education, the appalling
poverty everywhere, sprawling shanty towns, the
extent of social deprivation, massive brokenness
and deformity, inclement weather, treacherous
roads, and above all unconditional love awarded
to you. Every volunteer feels privileged to be
present, honoured to participate, affected for
life by the experience and return home
exhilarated with a fervent quest for more.
It opens blinkered eyes, forces us to revisit
our value systems, to focus on the essentials in
life while opening up new avenues to explore.
Life can never be the same after returning from
Ethiopia. Volunteers with the help of numerous
benefactors have brought tremendous joy and
happiness to thousands in Ethiopia, touching the
hearts and souls of thousands, reaching out to a
forgotten people, uplifting them, empowering
them, developing them for greater fulfilment in
life.
One final event will linger forever in the
memory, as we worked on site one warm sunny day
a Muslim woman called Asha appeared on site and
invited us to travel to her outstation Bucha, to
share her dream of a future for the next
generations. On our visit we met the local
Elders and community sitting in the middle of an
open field, this was the greatest venue they
could offer their invited guests. Sitting on the
bare ground after walking three miles on foot we
literally discussed openly their future. They
sought fl owing water, a school and electricity.
They ventured to declare that electricity was
not a priority as they had managed for centuries
without it but that water was essential and for
any worthwhile life in the area so too was a
school. I cried quietly as I left the townland,
what desperation it must have been to drive
these Muslim people to ask foreigners and not
even their own religion to come and deliver a
proper basic standard of life to them. I can say
with pride now that this community in Bucha have
a make shift road into the area, a functioning
hand water pump and four classrooms. What joy,
pleasure and life we have given to this
forgotten people, what personal satisfaction we
have received by just being among these people
sitting with them, sharing their pain and
helping to relieve their difficulty. It’s the
road less taken that has made all the
difference."