Send girls to school in Ethiopia

Every day we work in some of the poorest communities in Ethiopia, engaging and empowering the community to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty through education.  The girls and young women in our program are now in their final academic term of this school year. They all continue to work hard and appreciate the opportunity to learn and engage with their peers in a classroom.  As one participant shared, “I love school.  I love the books and the numbers.  I love my uniform and backpack.  I just love it all so much.”  Another participant expressed, “I loved summer school because I felt safe.”

This passion for education is just one highlight of the 16 successful months our programs have been operational in Ethiopia.  As this school year comes to a close, we want to share the impact your support has made.

Since implementing three programs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in January 2015, 30 adolescent girls received pad kits during an interactive workshop on sexual and reproductive health, through our partnership with Days for Girls – Yellow Springs, OH.  A 13 year old participant expressed her joy, “The pads are the most beautiful thing I have.  And I got them because I’m a girl – I feel so proud to be a girl.”  We reached 150 girls with life skills programming to help them make healthy decisions and feel empowered by their own potential.  Additionally, we ensured 10 adolescent girls opened their own bank accounts and began to learn financial literacy skills.  One participant shared, “I’m the first person in my family to have a bank account.  I’m teaching my mother about budgeting.”

Our holistic, inclusive approach supports direct and indirect beneficiaries of our programs alike.  A mother of a program participant shared, “The money for food helps everyone in our home, especially my daughter.  It helps her learn and grow.”  We directly provided 50 family members in very poor households with consistent monthly nutritious food to supplement their diets.  We remain deeply concerned about the drought that is impacting parts of Ethiopia. Our participants are indirectly impacted: lower crop yields have increased the prices of food commodities. Our participants expressed gratitude to you, our donors, for enabling them to supplement their diet at this difficult time.  Apart from our core supplemental nutrition program, we working with our partners on the ground to provide critical aid to the poorest and most marginalized drought impacted communities.

Looking ahead, we seek to expand our support and strengthen our impact.  Last summer, we sent 4 adolescent girls to summer school to build upon their knowledge and protect them from the risks of summer break, such as child labor, child marriage and trafficking.  We continue to develop programming to support and empower our participants throughout the course of their academic careers.  Starting in September 2016, we will send 8-10 girls to university, college or technical school through our partnership with the Kapadia Education Foundation. 

Thank you for joining us – together, we are standing up for girls!

We asked some of our participants what it means to be in school. They used a variety of descriptive words that provided insights into their lives and demonstrated the power of education.

“Opportunity,” one girl said. Others chimed in with “future,” “possibility,” “chance” and “hope.” These girls looked ahead and saw the potential that education brings. They saw pathways out of poverty and toward a destiny of their own choosing. Oher girls focused on what education offers them now. “Friends,” said one girl with a smile. Others offered “learning,” “playing” and “writing.” Of all responses, one struck us the most: an adolescent girl in ninth grade said that being in school means "safety."

The girls in our program live in one of the poorest communities in Addis Ababa. They lack access to the resources they need to have safe, happy childhoods. The average family in our program has an income of $1.88 per day. This lack of financial security leaves girls at risk. Girls often spend their days working instead of learning, collecting firewood and then haulding bundles on their back to sell at the market. Sometimes families marry off their daughters because they struggle to feed them and think their lives may be more secure with a husband. Unmarried girls are at high risk for gender based violence when they collect firewood and walk to the market alone.

These risks drop when a girl is in school. School provides a safe space for girls, helping communities see them as children- and therefore not marriageable. It lowers risks of violence and lets girls learn instead of work. When families have the means to send their daughters to school, they do. We know this because we are working with these families. They don't want to marry off their daughters, nor do they want to send them into the forest to collect firewood. They want their daughters to be inside of a classroom, learning and growing and making a safe transition into adulthood.

Thank you for giving girls a future of their choosing- and for keeping them safe in the meantime.