”The fields of Ethiopia are filled with failed aid projects.”
ET Learns Founder Bill Graff says this is a common saying among Ethiopians who have seen aid projects come an go, never staying long enough to make a true difference.
Betty Graff, Ashenafi Kebede and Bill Graff smile for a picture in Ethiopia.
"We don’t want our efforts to end up in field somewhere," Bill said.
Because of our goal to meet Ethiopian's needs, one of the things that sets ET Learns apart is our long-standing relationships with Ethiopians themselves and the trust we've gained through those relationships over the course of 54 years.
Bill and his wife first began their efforts to help Ethiopians by providing books, but switched to technology about 4 years ago. And when the opportunity to start providing Learning Labs to students arose, Bill jumped on the opportunity.
"In short, we have been through a variety of projects over a long period of time. When the right project came along 2 years ago, we already had the trust built that allowed us to go forward rapidly," Bill said.
Bill shared an turning-point experience he had when first pitching the Learning Lab idea to local officials:
"Two years ago we first introduced the concept of a learning lab with a demonstration. In the middle of the demonstration we had a power failure. We had a conference room full of officials and teachers who reacted with disappointment shown by sad faces that said, 'oh no, not again' without using words. The top official immediately said we could go to another building where they had a generator.
The teachers operating the Chrome books had a different idea. They excitedly interrupted the administrator with the surprised comments that everything was still working! The server and the Chrome Books all had internal batteries. They never missed a beat. They never forgot that power failure. If I needed a confidence builder I got it that day."