In March 2004, I returned to Nazareth School for Girls, a Catholic convent school, built on one of the many hills of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital. It was part of my quest to find 8 of my classmates, as I am writing about their lives and what’s happened to them in the intervening years for my first book, “An Ethiopian Odyssey”. I was also determined to make my dream come true, one which I’d had in April 2000. I was back in the foothills of Addis with some Ethiopian friends, feeling the dry top soil and knowing that I was there to help provide water for farmers in the country’s drought-stricken areas.

I awoke from that dream, not knowing how I would do that; I didn’t even have any Ethiopian friends, but found from my research that Ethiopia is one of the three driest countries in the world. This year, it’s the 30th anniversary of the country’s first great famine, which killed thousands and the 20th anniversary of the second, which was publicised by TV journalists, Jonathan Dimbleby and Michael Buerk. Next year it is 20 years since BandAid, and 30 years since Emperor Haile Selassie died in mysterious circumstances whilst imprisoned by Colonel Mengistu, along with the rest of the royal family. The Emperor is the grandfather of the first of my schoolfriends, Princess Mary Asfaw Wossen.

After being made redundant from a very good job just before Easter 2002, (the 3rd time in a decade) I decided enough was enough, and to give up on corporate life, and to help the developing world. Somehow, working with directors to make their companies more profitable was no longer meaningful to me.

Having decided to become a full-time writer and specialise in international culture, and demonstrate my values by always giving 50% of earnings to the poor in the developing world, I struggled for a way to make this practical for readers everywhere. One day last August, when I was clearing out the loft, I found the old school photo, and gazed at it, wondering just what had happened to my former school friends. I decided then and there it would to be my first book, but all I had on the back was their Christian names. I couldn’t go searching on the web, and my old school doesn’t have a web site!

So, from part-time work, I saved up for the first stage of my odyssey and after contacting various charities, some of whom wouldn’t help me because I don’t yet have a publisher, found a willing partner in WaterAid, an NGO who provide permanent sources of water throughout the developing world.

“An Ethiopian Odyssey” details my journey to find the women, how many people help along the way, and the amazing connections between us all. My class mates were: Kathy Miller, a lively, ginger haired American; Phoebe Khalil, a studious Egyptian with a mellow laugh and a plait of thick curly black hair, Celina Fernandez, a graceful half Portuguese, half Indian girl, Sumitra Goyal, an Indian, whose arms tinkled as she walked with all her gold bracelets and her handkerchief always tucked in her cardigan; Silva Derentz, an Armenian whose father was a jeweller and Marta Asrat, an Ethiopian who was always kind to me when I was feeling homesick. Finally, along with Princess Mary Asfaw Wossen, there’s also Hiruth Girma, the brightest girl in the class and daughter of Ethiopia’s President, Girma Wolde-Giorgis.

On my return last month, I discovered that my friend Marta has never left the school as she is the school secretary! I met Mary, we had two good meetings and her chapter has now been written. I spent a week visiting WaterAid’s rural projects in south west and south east Ethiopia, where I saw just how much fresh, clean water is needed and the impact it has on family’s quality of life, earnings and education.

I also spent five days in an orphanage in Addis Ababa, run by Abebech Gobena who has cared for almost ½ million children in the past 30 years. I’m giving her orphanage 10% of my earnings. I was also fortunate enough to be granted an audience with President Girma and was shocked and saddened to hear that his daughter, Hiruth, committed suicide. But I am working with her family to write a truthful and fitting tribute to her life; in 1974, working with a German charity, she raised over DM 2 million for her countrymen, during the first famine.

Lastly, 10% is going to create Gardens of Peace throughout the world. My mother was Norwegian and died relatively young at just 68; this is my tribute to her, as Norwegians are great peace brokers. I would like the first one to be built in Jerusalem, as I don’t think we can have world peace until there is peace between the Israelis and Palestinians; my father, who died in 1982, was one of the many British soldiers out there in 1949.

But I need your help to find the other ladies, please. This photo was taken in November 1963; I am in the front row, third from right; Kathy is standing right beside me. In the second row, Celina is 2nd left, Silva is 3rd left, Sumitra fourth left and Phoebe is 5th left. Marta and Hiruth are in the back row, third right and last on the right respectively.

“An Ethiopian Odyssey” is becoming the story of a country through the eyes of people who lived and still live there, from 1920 – 2004. It begins with the story of Emperor Haile Selassie and Sylvia Pankhurst, the famous suffragette, but focuses on the past 40 years. 2004 is also the 50th anniversary of Nazareth School. Above all, it tells the truth about Ethiopia, its’ marvellous, multi-layered and multi cultured community, and how we each shape and are shaped by world events.