Dunderry teen's experience of lifetime working in rural school in Ethiopia

A Dunderry teenager has just returned from Ethiopia where he had the experience of a lifetime working in a rural school in the African country.

Cian Egenton, a son of William and Mary Egenton spent almost three weeks working in the poverty-stricken community of Ambo and since his return says he really wants to go back some day.

Cian is a student of Castleknock College and will be starting sixth year in September.

He was one of eight Castleknock College students selected to travel to Ethiopia as part of the Vincentian Lay Missionary (VLM) project that is run in the school each year. Another Meath student who travelled with him was Emmet Reilly from Ratoath.

While in Ethiopia, Cian and Emmet worked in a school for two weeks teaching primary school children and also carried out a number of visits to important projects being run by the VLM in Ambo, including the opening of a new classroom in a leprosy colony.

Cian raised over €3,000 for the project with the help of family, friends, Dunderry GAA, Dunderry Fair and the wider Dunderry community, as well as supporters in the Navan and Trim areas. Over 260 people attended a coffee morning in the Egenton's home in Dunderry to raise the necessary funds for the charity. Cian plays with the Dunderry U17's and was very grateful for the support that he got from his team mates and the Dunderry GAA club where he has played football for many years.

He is also grateful to his friends in Navan Rugby Club and Navan AC for all their help. 

The school in Ambo was built by the Vincentian missionaries and most of the fund raising for it was carried out in Ireland, particularly in Castleknock College and nearby St Paul's Primary School.

Cian's Ethiopia adventure began on 24th June when he flew from Dublin airport to Addis Ababa, but he had to put in a lot of work to get the opportunity in the first place.

Every year, eight students are chosen at the end of fifth year to travel to Ethiopia with the VLM.

“At the start of fifth year, everybody who wanted to apply, could send a letter in and the head of the charity looks over the letters. We were all interviewed and they picked the eight students they felt would be the best to go over,†Cian explains.

He was delighted to be chosen as he had been told from he started in the school in first year, that it is a wonderful experience,

“Jack Hurley our rugby coach went over as a leader a few times and he told us that if we got the opportunity at such as young age, if we passed it up, we would regret it in later life.â€

When the Irish group arrived in Ethiopia it was the rainy season so they weren't hit with the extreme heat they were expecting. In fact it was raining and the temperatures were in the mid teens when they arrived. Temperatures did rise during their stay to just over 20 degrees and there was some rain.

“I was surprised when I arrived in Ambo - there was a main street with buildings either side and there were well dressed people, but there were also a lot of shanty dwellings and huts made from anything that could be found.

“However,  a lot of Irish charities have been involved in building better housing there and some of the leaders remarked on how much better the housing situation had got since they had first gone there.â€

Cian explains that they stayed in a small compound where the head priest, Asfo was stationed. An Irish priest, Fr Stephen has also been based there for the past eight months.

Inside the compound is a school which consists of a Kindergarten, a primary school split into a junior and senior section and a secondary school.

“Three others and I took the younger half of the primary school and taught them English and maths, geography, music and songs,†he explains.

Cian says that some of the students come walking for miles and miles to get there while others live just right beside the school.

“There were 60 to 70 pupils there the first morning, but by lunchtime, the  news had got around that our group had arrived and the evening session had up to 200 children.â€

“There was one girl at the school and both her parents were doctors. She had aspirations to be a doctor when she left school. She lived in a lovely house with gates on it, but on either side were poor shanty town  houses.

“There was a huge difference between the rich and poor.â€

Cian enjoyed the experience. “What impacted on me most was how happy people could be with very little and I look at things differently now. You don't need a lot of things to be happy,†he said.

He would like to return some day.

“My younger brother is in first year now. I would love to apply to go as a leader when he is at that stage,†he says.

Cian is now facing into his Leaving Certificate year and says he is not certain yet what he intends to do afterwards, but will be concentrating on his exams.

“I a delighted to have done this and to have got the opportunity, Again I want to thank the communities of Dunderry, Trim and Navan for all their help,†he said.