Bingham Academy in a Nutshell:

Another picture post…



Bingham Academy stands on about 8 acres of land. This is the main building where the kitchen, teachers’ lounge, and computer labs are. I am here every morning for devotions and every afternoon for tea. The cooks always make us incredible juice smoothies for tea. In fact, it’s so good that I’m tempted to steal a jug next time they make it, freeze it, and bring it home. Right across from the main building, where I took this picture, is the Ricker field and the “forest”. The forest is just a ton of trees clumped together but, you know, it wouldn’t surprise me if they call it a forest because of the fact that it is likely the one area in all of Addis Ababa were you can see more than 10 trees standing side by side.

There are 4 big classroom buildings on compound and 6 apartment complexes. I live in apartment 18, which is just a small part of a large building that was once used for boarding. Bingham Academy no longer has a boarding home for students because there weren’t enough boarding parents to keep the houses afloat so now everyone has to commute to school. The students, even at the kindergarten level, ride in taxis the whole way here by themselves every morning! I was quite impressed with that, especially since I hardly understand the taxi system. –Taxis here are nothing like what they are back home. Maybe I’ll explain that system later…maybe not. But just know that it really is impressive that these kids know how to ride taxis to school every day.


In case you hadn’t figured it out already, I’m teaching first grade so this is where I spend my…life. Just behind that bush to the left of the door is our little first grade garden and “read-aloud” area. The kids have white blocks that they sit on and I read to them on Ms. Sink’s little bench swing. It’s really quite nice. I have 16 crazy students in my class…which naturally implies that the inside of our classroom is a disaster. Therefore, I decided to spare you from that visual. I’ll leave the inside of my classroom to your imagination…for now.


This is only half of the play area for the elementary kids. Honestly, this is a pretty pointless picture…but it gives me an excuse to share another funny story about that swing: just the other day Sophia was twirling in that swing and having a grand old time. That is…until she realized she had tangled her hair up in the swing as well. I heard her screaming from across the compound and came running to see what was wrong. After 5 minutes of trying to untangle her hair unsuccessfully, I contemplated cutting it off…but I knew her strict and proper Korean parents would hardly appreciate that. So an Ethiopian worker lifted her up in the air to loosen the ropes while I continued to work at the knots for 10 more minutes. All the while, Sophia never ceased screaming. The hair was finally rescued but, needless to say, Sophia will likely never swing again in her life. Too bad I didn’t have a camera in that moment. …oh the memories.


This is the prettiest area on compound, by far…and it just happens to be just outside of grade one. That bright purple tree is called a jacaranda tree and it is just gorgeous. We also have those little “tookles” (round, straw hang-out spots) all over the compound. They make me feel like I’m in Africa (not that I forgot or anything).

This is just one of the two giant tortoises that live at Bingham Academy. I like to call them “Speedy” and “Swift”. It takes about five strong men to lift one of these boogers and the elementary kids thoroughly enjoy riding on their backs. During field day, the tortoises always seemed to cross the track in the middle of races and it was quite the nuisance to remove them. But the athletic director concluded that, obviously, they just wanted to join in on the fun. So next year there will be a new field event: the elementary tortoise race. This will combine both the tortoises’ love for the field and the kids’ love for riding the tortoises.

Underneath the main building there’s a secret tunnel that leads outside the city. I went and explored it the other day and it was pretty sweet. It was pitch dark though so picture-taking was an issue. I guess the tunnel was put there initially as a potential escape route in case of an attack. Since we have so many rich embassy kids here at the Academy, there’s always the possibility that an attack could happen…even though it never has. Well, after the underground tunnel was built the board decided it was a lame idea because it finally clicked that it is rather unrealistic to get 500+ kids and adults through the tunnel unnoticed…so the tunnel was just abandoned and never ever used.

Within the next few years the tunnel will be gone entirely because the board of directors has a game plan to completely level Bingham Academy and build up a new and improved campus from scratch. We have actually been discussing ideas for a new “Bingham design” at staff meetings. At the next one…I may suggest something like this:



…I’m also visualizing a pool, spa, Jacuzzi, bowling alley, etc. Such renovations would certainly make it harder to be a missionary in Addis Ababa. Not that I’ll necessarily be here to see those renovations…but still. I’ve got to make sure my friends here are truly suffering for Jesus. ;)


-Nicole