It was several months ago in a bustling 7th grade classroom on Long Island, NY, a group of curious students embarked on an extraordinary journey of kindness and generosity. Continue reading “Jonah’s Hands inspires 15 lbs of Pencils!”
Category: Field Visit
How do Magna-tiles Help Us Measure Impact?
What do you have when you put six Ethiopian Staff Members together with a Board Member who is crazy about data in a room with smartphones and Magna-tiles for two weeks? Continue reading “How do Magna-tiles Help Us Measure Impact?”
Our Board Chair and Seldom Seen Photos
One of Roots Ethiopia’s core values lies in our belief that the most sustainable and long lasting change comes from Ethiopians helping Ethiopians. We trust in local ‘tibeb'(wisdom). This value also means you won’t often see our US based Board of Directors in images since we focus on local stories told in authentic ways by local women, teachers, children, elders, and neighbors.
Continue reading “Our Board Chair and Seldom Seen Photos”
Be A Dream Builder Series. Meet Betsegaw
Recently we celebrated the launch of our Roots Ethiopia Education Ambassador program, in which we took the two top-performing students from each of our partner schools on a trip to Addis Ababa. The week was a game-changer, broadening not just their appreciation of their country, but their sense of access to the wider world. It’s one thing to believe in the power of every child’s dreams. It’s quite another to see them catch fire in real time. The gift of our work in Ethiopia is the promise of children like Betsegaw.
Betsegaw is a 14-year-old 9th grader who lives in the city of Hosanna. His top student marks in his primary school—one of our partner schools that draws some of Hosanna’s poorest students—earned him a spot on our Ambassador programs. And like his exceptional peers, he returned from Addis Ababa with new stars in his eyes. The architecture Betsegaw marveled over on his trip added fuel to the fire of his own dreams.
Roots Ethiopia had the good fortune of visiting with Betsegaw so we could admire some of his own architectural creations; models built using brilliantly scrapped-together materials that he collects from the streets and local stores. Bravely practicing his English with us, Betsegaw showed off his small collection of working tools (scissors, paper, cardboard) and the first model he ever made, a hospital he assembled last year. After he constructed it, Betsegaw took the next step to find a mentor and seek out advice. A local architect suggested to Betsegaw that he next train his focus on building something more personal. So, this young man set about designing a model of a Roots Ethiopia school. After all, school is Betsegaw’s kingdom.
We celebrate this young man who has found his passion and created a way for himself to pursue it wholeheartedly. May he travel far in this world to feed both his imagination and his ideas.
Your donations fuel the amazing success of students like Betsegaw. Thank YOU!
School Sponsorship Scholar: Meet Mihret
The Project Officers for Roots Ethiopia are local to the regions where they serve. This has many advantages for both Roots Ethiopia and communities, as it enables us to understand the sometimes unique needs of a community. It also allows our staff to be frequently in different villages (“kebeles”) on a regular basis, developing relationships. Here is a story sent to us by staff who were alerted to a potential School Sponsorship Scholar in Wolayta by a Project Officer…eleven year old Mihret.
When the Project Officer first brought to us meet with Mihret, she was carrying one of her little sisters on her back. When we get closer to the house, she came to ask us who we were. She looked pale and tired; the look in her eyes clearly touched each of our hearts.
Mihret is eleven years old. She has a twin sister and also has younger twin sisters. Her Mother is a widow who struggles to raise all four girls. Her mother used to work as a laborer. However, now with the younger twins to care for, she couldn’t leave them to go out and find labor work. The family could not afford to rent a house and are living in a small house provided by the local Women and Children’s Aid Society. Mihret was living with her aunt who lives far from her family’s village, and used to attend classes in the local school. Now it has been five days since she left school to return back home to her mother. We asked her why she had to leave school. She explained that “my twin sister got sick and went to Hawassa for medication. My mother wants to find a daily labor work and I am here to help care for the smaller children.”
As we spoke to her, she continued to carry one child on her back while other little ones played. We would have like to find her playing or studying with her friends. Instead, she has left her dream behind to make things better for her family.
Mihret deserves to be supported. She is now included in the Roots Ethiopia School Sponsorship Program. She was happy with tears in her eyes when she received school materials from the team. She will attend school and there will be help for her mother’s task to care for her sick sister. We know this: we will work together to create a better future for more children who are in need of our help.
School Sponsorship Supplies the School Supplies! (Try to say that 5 times really fast)
Today our field team is working together to deliver school supplies to students who need a ‘refresh’ of materials for the 2nd semester, which starts on Monday.
We are also excited to share that we are now including some additional books for our youngest students in their yearly supplies! We also added tools for math, hygiene materials like soap and lotion, and more everyday notebooks.
Do you want to be part of this goodness?
Join our School Sponsorship program – $21 a month supports one of our 200 students!
Breaking Down Barriers to Education!
One of the things we are most passionate about here at Roots Ethiopia is identifying and removing the barriers between all rural kids and a good education.
Some of those barriers involve financial means or distance from a school or adequate seating in a classroom or the availability of books.
And sometimes the barrier is a pair of eyeglasses.
Yesterday a volunteer team of Ethiopian vision professionals visited the school children we work with in Halaba.
This is especially important for the 30+ children in our special needs program in Halaba. Children with Down Syndrome have a higher rate of vision impairment, and our plan is to serve their vision needs as fully as we can.
We love that over 80 students and their families were included in vision testing. We planned to evaluate 40 special needs students, but word got out and our team of volunteers worked as long as daylight allowed.
We love knowing that so many kids saw themselves in the men and women who tested their eyes — representation matters! Maybe there is an ophthalmologist in the crew of kids tested!
We are especially grateful for the kindness and generosity of the volunteers! The children benefited from their time, their skills, and their compassionate care. What a difference this will make!
Next step: providing proper eyeglasses for these students. Stay tuned for more details!
New Office in Addis Ababa!
Two of our leadership team members from the USA are with our Ethiopian team in Addis Ababa this week. Welcome to the Roots Ethiopia office in Addis! It’s a very productive space with so much good work happening.
Lots of meeting about the nuts and bolts of getting the work done efficiently and cost-effectively over the next three years. Meetings, reports, numbers, and more meetings.
But it’s also Ethiopia. So thank goodness for BUNA!
Special Education Classroom Gets Needed Supplies
Longtime friends of Roots Ethiopia, The Rikkers Family, held an online fundraiser to support teacher training requested and hoped for by the special education classroom teachers in one of our community schools.
“It was our family’s good fortune that the teachers in Ethiopia had been designing and building a wish list for their classroom, including teacher training for students with autism, Down Syndrome, and other special needs. We were ready to lend a helping hand with a fundraiser, and help supply and deliver the toys and games for the students.” — Jeni Rikkers
This article discusses how the special needs project in Ethiopia started.
Special Education Requires Special Materials
It’s unusual for Roots to bring materials in from outside of the country because we are committed to sourcing labor and materials locally. This was a unique case because of the difficulty finding local items. Roots Ethiopia’s team, the teachers at Haile Bubamo, and a special education consultant crafted a “wish list” on Amazon. The project was off and running.
“Our family used social media and email to share our effort to outfit this classroom with these specific hands-on classroom toys. The call to action was sent and within days the boxes arrived at our doorstep. Oh, so many boxes from people all across the country!!! Boxes were filled with goodness, such as sensory toys, puzzles, balances pods, Magnatiles, fidget toys, and blocks. Toys for large and small motor skills, to learn counting, colors, and letters. As we opened each box we could feel they were filled with…. hope!” –Rikkers Family
Students Enjoy Toys, Games & Puzzles
The delivery of these fantastic learning resources made students and teachers inside of the cheerful blue walls of the classroom jump in delight! Volleyballs and soccer balls were pumped up; Magnatiles were assembled into colorful structures; balance pods were laid out on the floor; fidget spinners were distributed, and blocks were fashioned into “mekina” (cars). No common language was needed to understand how to experiment with these colorful items.
Teachers Enjoy School Supplies, Too!
Jeni received some basic training during the months prior to travel so that she could demonstrate the use of many of the items for the teachers. Each toy was a source of inspiration for working with students. Blocks, games, and puzzles were discovered with laughter, fun, and learning. For example, the teachers loved how the game Twister is used to identify colors, simple instructions, and identifying right and left. The room full of children and adults alike were exploring, laughing and playing!
Now, these teachers can “pass on their knowledge” and new experiences to other teachers who serve children with special education needs in other schools!
“After all the pieces of luggage were emptied, we shared an Ethiopian coffee ceremony and ate himbasha bread together. We took the pumped up soccer and volleyballs into the courtyard and realized, again, that language is not needed to connect. A ball, a sense of play, and a desire to be together are all that is ever needed.” –Jeni Rikkers
Roots Ethiopia’s Community Identified Work Is Changing Perceptions of Special Needs Children
This classroom is, in fact, very special, and now has superb learning tools contributed by so many loving people across the world! What’s more —- THIS WEEK the teachers and their vice principal are in Addis Ababa to receive special education training. The teachers asked for this opportunity, and with the help of Roots Ethiopia and another generous family, the teachers are growing their toolkit for these precious students in Hosanna.
Many thanks to the Rikkers Family and the other generous families who helped to make this unique and special delivery possible!
Donate to the Roots Ethiopia General Fund to support increased community-led work in Ethiopia.
This story was contributed by Jennifer Rikkers, of Jennifer Rikkers Art. Jennifer is a longtime supporter of Roots Ethiopia and has traveled to the field with Roots Ethiopia twice.
If you found this story inspirational, please SHARE it with others who have a passion for lessening the stigma of special education throughout the world!
Exceptional Results at an Ethiopian School
It was a day of celebration when our team arrived at The Jajura Primary School on October 19, 2015. The children cheered and the teachers boasted about the initial results of the Learning Resource Project that Roots Ethiopia funded last year! Check it out!
You Won’t Believe These Results!
The Jajura Primary School, a Learning Resource Project (LRP) that was funded in 2014 reported a 99% pass rate on their 8th Grade National Exam. Prior to providing essential resources, the school reported a 66% pass rate on this exam. The results are remarkable. The Principal, Wondimarium, attributed much of this success to the School Library which is filled with books and is regularly visited by students and staff.
Wondimarium was beaming when he told us:
“We are so proud of this library. It is unbelievable to see the amount of people checking out books. It is so popular that we remain open on Saturdays, and allow the entire village to use the books.”
There is More!
- More girls in school! Enrollment of girls prior to our LRP was 50% of the Jajura Student body. It is now 55%.
- More kids in school! School registrations have increased from 2,016 to 2,213. Parents are excited about the results and are encouraging their children to attend this school. The leaders at The Jajura Primary School are committed to working hard to sustain these results.
- Kids helping other kids! They have created a peer-tutoring group. The higher scoring students tutor the lower scoring students. Lower scoring students also receive additional materials to strengthen their areas of weakness.
- Teacher accountability! They have created programs that hold teachers accountable for planning for success for their students.
- Motivated students! Of the 34% of students who did not pass the exam in in 2014, 100% returned and passed the test in 2015.
- Confident leadership! In the entire 8th Grade, 1 student failed the National Exam. According to the Principal Wondimarium, “They will come back and they will pass the exam.”
- A successful library! The improved library is now open all day Monday-Friday. 100 students per day go to the library. It also remains open on Saturdays, a rarity in any community.
- Regional acclaim! The school is part of a cluster of 5 schools in the region and 70 in the district. It has outperformed all of these schools and is receiving regional attention as a result.
What’s Next?
The school reported needing science materials, improved latrines, computers, and better buildings. Roots Ethiopia does not build buildings as it is out of our scope of work. However, The Jajura Primary School will be included in our hygiene and sanitation work. Roots Ethiopia will also improve science materials and we look forward to working with the school to improve its Science Curriculum!
Read our previous update about the Jajura Primary School and contact us about leading a Learning Resource Project to transform Ethiopia’s most vulnerable communities!
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