Hi, I’m Meghan, the Board Chair of Roots Ethiopia. I am inviting you to be a member of our monthly giving community called, The Roots. There are 4 reasons I think this is a great time to join The Roots! Continue reading “Why a monthly gift makes a difference.”
You know the saying, “Kids do the darndest things” – today we have a story about an amazing girl in Wisconsin who did something awesome to support students in Ethiopia. Continue reading ““Kids do the darndest things”….LIKE DONATE SCHOOL SUPPLIES!”
When the Roots Ethiopia field staff first met Ruhama, she was working for a road construction company lifting heavy materials. With no parents to care for them, Ruhama and her brother and sister were struggling to survive on their own. Ruhama wanted to attend school, but regular attendance wasn’t possible. Despite her desire to achieve and learn, Ruhama worried whether a difficult childhood and so many demands on her to take care of her family’s needs would assure she would always be poor and without the education. 
Today, with the help of Roots Ethiopia’s School Sponsorship program, Ruhama attends 9th grade. She and her older brother still work to support the family, but the support Roots Ethiopia provides means Ruhama attends school daily. Your support means Ruhama’s school fees are paid, her school supplies and a new set of clothes, shoes, and a uniform are ready for the start of every school year. Ruhama’s family also receives food support 3x a year.
It’s a challenge for a 15-year-old to balance work, taking care of family, and school. Ruhama is tremendously ambitious and driven. She says, “Even though life is difficult for me living in the countryside, Roots Ethiopia’s support helps me to continue my education and move me toward my dreams. No one can stop me from making my dream of education come true.”
You are making such great strides, Ruhama! Keep up the great work!
Meseret is a shy, quiet 13-year old girl whose greatest desire is simply “to stay in school.” Continue reading “Meet Meseret – A Dream of Education”
Today, your support means everything to Misgana. Continue reading “Misgana is clear, YOU make a difference”
Our work with schools, children, and educators in rural Ethiopia creates lasting change. Your contribution today means Ethiopian students will have the resources they need to start school, stay in school, and succeed in school.
To keep our work going strong, we’ve launched a donation campaign to support students, schools, and teachers in Ethiopia. And we’ve rooted it in the idea that no amount is too small to impact a life — it’s all big to a kid! Every donation makes a child’s world a little bit bigger and widens the door to new opportunities.
What does $10 do? It provides three textbooks for a library. It helps a local school get one donation closer to its first microscope. It fills a backpack with school supplies. It supports a fund to provide educators continued professional training. It creates a ripple of change through the community.
We established two special education classrooms in Ethiopia. The teachers from both schools have attended training at some of the excellent special education centers in the capital city, Addis Ababa. We continue to help the classrooms with support for more students, more teachers, and quality teaching materials.
Students enrolled in the special education program are fed lunch and given safe transportation to school EVERY day.
Meet one of our special education students, Seiyed. Before entering our special education classroom in Halaba, Seiyed struggled with language and had trouble reciting the alphabet. Now he can recite the alphabet like a boss! He has progressed rapidly with the help of our program, see for yourself!
*Donations will be allocated to our “LRP: Schools Receive Critical Learning Materials” and “School Sponsorship Fund” as needed.
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.
You may already know that Roots Ethiopia provides School Sponsorships to 200 rural, poor students in many communities. Continue reading “No Barriers to Education: for Teen Girls”
Thank you, thank you, dedicated donors, for helping our School Sponsorship program to expand, sending more kids to school in 2018 than ever before. Continue reading “200 School Sponsorship Students… FUNDED!”
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.
Join our School Sponsorship program – $21 a month supports one of our 200 students!
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