Norfolk Resident Receives Award for Humanitarian Work

Chris Hanley named Outstanding Alumna

By Tom Hodgkin

Chris Hanley is recognized for her work at Mekele School.

Sometimes the good a person does in the world eventually catches up to her. Such was the case on May 28 when Norfolk resident Chris Hanley was awarded the Northwestern Connecticut Community College 2009 Outstanding Alumni Award at the college’s recent graduation ceremony in Winsted. A 1978 graduate of the college, Hanley has worked as an art teacher in Region 1 for seven years, but it was her work for the Mekele School for the Blind in Ethiopia that triggered the award. In 2006, at the urging of a colleague, Hanley embarked on a cross-cultural art exchange with students in Ethiopia. Participants in Connecticut and Ethiopia each created triptychs on the theme of “Welcome to My Life”. This project culminated in a trip to Ethiopia, where Hanley met a blind teacher who invited her to visit students at the Mekele School for the Blind. What she saw there changed her life. Here in this third world country, subject to all of the discomforts and poverty of the place, Hanley discovered an even greater poverty and lack of opportunity in the students of Mekele. Many lived and attended class in cast-off shipping containers. Students received one pancake of gruel a day for sustenance. Many suffered horrendously from cut feet and broken toes because the grounds at Mekele had not been graded or raked and, without walking sticks or sight, and students were constantly tripping and damaging themselves. There was no security, and some girls had even suffered sexual assaults. “It was one of the most lonely, sad, and dangerous places I’ve ever been in my life,” said Hanley. Within a month after returning to the United States, Hanley put together a slide show presentation and began to visit libraries, schools, and community groups. At the end of one year, she had raised $30,000, all of which she used for the children of Mekele. From her home in Norfolk, Hanley established contacts in Ethiopia and arranged for work to be done at the Ethiopian school. The money was used to build a security wall, to clear and grade the grounds, to purchase 90 mattresses and pillows, and to buy sandals and walking sticks. Over the next few years, she created a website, www.mekeleblindschool.org and received donations from the Rotary and Lions Clubs, from private foundations, and from individuals – many here in Norfolk. In 2007, she returned to Mekele with a group, including an optometrist and a carpenter, and in 2008, she went back again. During the past three years, she has arranged for a twice-weekly delivery of fresh vegetables and fruit, the construction of a $14,000 clinic and library building supplied with over 400 Braille books, and the purchase of a $2,400 water pump to supply the school with clean water. To date, she has raised over $75,000. And, as she repeats with pride, every single penny she has raised has gone to the students of Mekele, with any administrative costs or travel expenses being borne by Hanley and her teams of volunteers. In describing Hanley’s accomplishments, Northwestern’s staff cited the college’s mission statement saying, “All of the work Chris has done in Ethiopia has grown out of a willingness to engage those who live in a different, compromised world; her deep respect for them; and her commitment to enable the education and opportunities she knows they deserve. We cannot think of a better example to hold for our graduates than this person and the humanitarian work she does.” Hanley accepted the award by expressing her heartfelt thanks from the students at Mekele. “They would all love to meet you and get to know you,” she told the graduates. “Simply to know that someone knows about them and cares means everything”.

Leave A Comment