Tag: Ethiopian Education

2017: Year in Review

Dear friends, 

The past 12 months have been amazing for Roots Ethiopia. Our team has been hard at work to support local ideas for lasting change. You have made this a year of growth and excellence.  As always, we could not have accomplished our work without your support. We have put together a list of ways YOU have made a difference – add a touch of coffee, some very long days on the road to remote villages, and a dedicated team, and 2017 is a year to remember. We are so grateful for your enduring support!

Happy New Year,
Roots Ethiopia

16
Learning Resource Projects:

3 NEW in 2017

Highlights from our team:
  • Wanja Primary School is a woman-led School in Halaba.
  • 500 textbooks purchased for Ewoqet Chora Primary School’s first EVER library.
  • Over 18,000 students and their families have enriched learning opportunities as part of their continued partnership with Roots Ethiopia.

1 VIP Latrine

(Ventilated Improved Pit)
with Menstrual Changing Room for Adolescent Girls

—————————-

170 Students Attending School

with a
Roots Ethiopia School Sponsorship

Highlights from our team:

  • All children received backpacks, uniforms and school supplies, and they LOVED the SpongeBob backpacks this year.
  • We rented a truck and delivered grain to all the families in our program.
  • We listened to a lot of the hopes and dreams the children have for their futures, and we encouraged them to dream BIG!

3 Special Needs Classrooms:

2 NEW in 2017

Highlights from our team:

  • Haile Bubamo Special Education classroom received special education toys for children to learn while playing.
  • 10 children at Wanja Primary School were added to the Special Education roster.
  • A classroom of 18 students in Halaba is now part of our program. There will be a daily snack and transportation to school added as a pilot program here.

60 New Women-Led Businesses

for 3 new Self-Help Entrepreneurs peer savings groups (SHE)

Highlights from our team:
  • Women in our new Usmancho SHE are very motivated to build a strong team for learning and sharing.
  • The growth of SHE in Halaba Kulito  means more women have joined our successful work there and have many successful mentors.

 

1 Office in Addis Ababa
NGO License &  Country Director
*you are welcome to visit us in Hiya Hulet*

3 Teacher Training Programs

Highlights from our team:

  • 2 professional teacher training for science teachers. Over 80 teachers trained in a University setting to help them create a hands-on science curriculum for their students.
  • 1 professional teacher training held in Addis Ababa for 4 special education teachers.
and more ….
Thanks for being part of our journey to support community-identified solutions for education and job creation in Ethiopia. We are ready for 2018!

 

The Roots Ethiopia Team

Top 10 Reasons To Invest in Wanja Primary School

1. The School is Run By Female Teachers

The staff at this Ethiopian school is 92% women. This is an anomaly in a country where male teachers and students almost always outnumber women. The female director and 12 female teachers at the grades 1-6 school work tirelessly to promote girls’ inclusion and attendance. They also offer extra counseling and tuition support for their most vulnerable students.

2. Duba, An Ethiopian Student

Duba is a 13-year-old girl in the 3rd-grade class. She is her happiest when she is in a Wanja School classroom. Duba was forced to discontinue her education to help support her family but has now shortened her work schedule (fetching water and selling vegetables at the market) to afternoons and weekends so she could bravely rejoin Wanja school. Duba told a Roots Ethiopia team member,

As a girl from a poor family with seven siblings, going to school is not easy. But going to school again gives me hope and purpose in life.

Every day Duba walks to school where her favorite subject is English and her heroes are her teachers.

3. Donations in Ethiopian Education Make A Big Difference

A $50 donation could cover a girl like Duba’s school supplies for an entire year, increasing her chances of success.

4. Ethiopian Classrooms Are Overcrowded

Seventy-two (72!) children cram into each one of Wanja’s eight classrooms, making learning difficult.

5. Help Create Future Ethiopian Doctors

Duba dreams of growing up to be a doctor one day and deserves the proper teaching tools and science lab supplies to make that dream a reality.

6. No Drinking Water

There is no drinking water available at the Wanja School in Ethiopia so children are susceptible to dehydration, lack of energy and illness.

7. Girls Need Private Bathrooms In Ethiopia

Many girls Duba’s age don’t have private bathrooms or changing facilities. This keeps them home from school up to 20% of the month. This project will increase female attendance at school, and allow them to keep up with their school work.

8. Ethiopian Teachers Care For Wanja Students

Twenty-nine orphaned students and eleven special needs students are cared for by the Wanja School staff. These students are integrated into the classroom and receive after-school care from volunteer teachers.

9. Girls in Ethiopia Need Quality Education

Many girls in Halaba, like in most Ethiopian regions, disproportionately fail to pass the exams required to progress to secondary schools. Therefore, without access to secondary education girls like Duba become an exceptionally high risk to repeat the cycle of poverty.

10. Roots Ethiopia is tracking Ethiopian Student Achievement

We value measurable results and will keep you updated on both students’ improved academic performance and passing rates as well as increased enrollments.

Roots Ethiopia needs to raise $22,326 for Wanja Primary School in Ethiopia. Our on-the-ground needs assessment determined the school needs to function at a level its students and staff members deserve. Your generous donation goes directly towards building library bookshelves, a desk for every student, and outfitting Duba’s science class with much-needed lab supplies.

If you and your family want to help us raise funds for Wanja Primary School, to be sure Duba and her classmates thrive, let us know! Also, we have a great peer-funding page. You can build a great plan right from this page.

Did this story inspire you? Please share it with your friends and family on Social Media.

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.

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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!

In The Mind’s Eye | Stories From The Field

Contributed by Lauren Werner, of Lauren Werner Photography and member of the 2014 Roots Ethiopia Field Team.

During our #100Kids School Sponsorship Campaign, we are sharing the personal stories of our field work in Ethiopia. These are the stories that inspire and remind us that education is a right, not a privilege.

In The Mind’s Eye

In Ethiopia, the space of land surrounding a community church holds a certain sanctity, one I cannot fully describe in words. I am the Roots Ethiopia photographer, so I have the incredible honor of speaking without words. My eyes do the listening. My photos do the talking. It is a privilege to be part of the team in this quiet and impactful way.

The physical property around any Ethiopian church in the southern region is simply a modest reflection of the surrounding landscape, no more, no less. However, in every community I have visited, within the gates of church property, serenity has long ago taken hold and refuses to let go. During my last visit, we visited a church in Hadero. Entering the church grounds was like a breath of incredible air. Like an inhale the blue-green gates drew me in, and like an exhale, the shaded space within offered me precious relief from the intense heat of the day.

Even as the grounds filled with curious school children, many of the same children I had met the year before, peace would not take a seat. Rather, it commanded our attention by being ever present despite the giggles and chatter that filled our midst. One of our Roots team members, Jeni, brought out an instant camera. “What is that? What will it do? What do you mean you SHAKE the picture to make it appear?” And the gentle breeze brought the intensity down to a mellow kind of questioning from the young audience. Jeni began make pictures with the camera for each child. Soon, dozens of children were shaking their tiny pictures, reflections of themselves. Even as each student saw the image appear, he or she kept fanning the air with it, waiting to see if something else magical would shine through. The children looked like they were holding dozens of colorful butterflies fluttering in the afternoon light.

In each student there is a kind of sanctuary, a grand reserve of creativity and hope. Children who attend school, like those in the churchyard that day, have the opportunity to nurture their minds. And within the sanctity of their own growing minds, they can imagine their own future full of the flapping of magical images, where almost anything that can me dreamed of, can happen.

 

Roots Ethiopia is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization working in Africa, specifically helping Southern Ethiopia. Roots Ethiopia supports community identified solutions for job creation and education.

Funded! Helping Ethiopian Education One School at a Time

The Mugunja Primary School is an Ethiopian School where 80 children regularly cram into one classroom hoping for a seat. The kids that do get a seat commonly share it with three other students. In addition to the lack of seating, there is no furniture for the staff, hardly any books and minimal teaching materials. The teachers struggle to teach which results in kids struggling to learn. As is the case in many Ethiopian villages, test scores are low and kids are not passing national exams. It’s a cycle that we are committed to breaking one school at a time in Southern Ethiopia.

We are happy to announce that with to the help of one generous family over $12,000 dollars will be donated to equip the Mugunja Primary School in Ethiopia with books, furniture, learning materials and sporting equipment. The education project was donated in honor of a lost loved one who inspired this family to look outside of themselves to find organizations that are committed to sustainable impacts in Ethiopian education. We are honored to partner with this family and look forward to measurable results in the months and years ahead.

 

To learn more about helping Roots Ethiopia improve Ethiopian education click here: http://www.rootsethiopia.org/projects/learning-resources-projects/

Donate to our current program in Kembata, Ethiopia which is focused on closing the gender gap at The Duna Sadicho School:

http://www.razoo.com/story/Duna-Sadicho-A-School-Enrichment-Project

Roots Ethiopia is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization working in Africa, specifically helping Southern Ethiopia. Roots Ethiopia supports community identified solutions for job creation and education.

What Causes Gender Inequality at Rural Ethiopian Schools?

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As a boy, Desta Seyoum lived a traditional rural farming life in the same Ethiopian Kebele as The Duna-Sadicho School. He remembers passing through Duna Sadicho village on his way to Secondary School giving him many chances to witness the needs of the community.

Desta, who now lives in London, just returned from Ethiopia after a prolonged family visit in the region and was able to talk to us more about inequalities in Duna Sadicho, specifically addressing the problems that girls face in the region. He is very worried about gender inequality at Duna Sadicho School, and quickly pointed out the number of girls drops even lower at the secondary school level as girls are unable to pass the required national exam to continue their education.

Desta explains:

“Many girls in the region face challenges of gender inequality that exclude them from school. Extreme household poverty, walking distance to school, inadequate school resources, lack of sanitation facilities, child labor and marriage, and female genital cutting are among obstacles that prevent girls from education. Lack of education means girls forced into informal labor market at an early age. They will never reach their potential to become positive forces in their communities, and remain trapped in a vicious circle of poverty.”

While data seems to show that gender inequality is narrowing at other area schools, the gender gaps remain a problem at Duna Sadicho. Desta feels that the gender makeup at Duna Sadicho may be largely associated with what happens in the school as well as in the community. According to Desta,

“the lower number of girls may have a direct correlation with the poor quality of resources they have in the school. It may also reflect the level of poverty and poor living standards of the community.”

Desta points out that a gender audit may be required to deepen our understanding of girls’ education in the region. But for now, one thing is very clear to Desta,

“providing basic learning resources is imperative so that girls may have an equitable chance of continuing their education.”

By providing school children with essential learning materials, Roots Ethiopia will help rectify the gender inequality at The Duna Sadicho primary school. These basic learning supplies will give girls what they need to stay in school, pass their national exams, have the opportunity to continue education, stand a chance of going to college, securing an employment and eventually becoming significant contributors to their community.

Help Ethiopia by donating to The Duna Sadicho project today! We are 40% of the way there and need your help in taking step one to rectify the gender imbalance at this rural Ethiopian School.

Roots Ethiopia is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization working in Africa, specifically helping Southern Ethiopia. Roots Ethiopia supports community identified solutions for job creation and education.