18 Month Report
A STORY OF TRIAL AND TRIUMPH
It's been 18 months since a school was built in the resiliant community of Adi-Ajero. We're excited to share with you this community's powerful story of trial and triumph.
Ethiopia has been losing the Word Association game for many years now.
"Ethiopia."
"Drought."
"Dry."
"Hunger."
"Stereotype."
For the average person, the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about Ethiopia is drought and starvation. And who could blame them for that perception? With media and news outlets mostly portraying the most devastating events in Ethiopian history, the country is often known for little more than drought, starvation and coffee.
imagine1day believes that Ethiopia is much more than that. Over the three years we have worked here, our team has witnessed the country's dramatic beauty and the incredibly resilient and hospitable spirit of its people. That said, there is no denying the fact that drought and food shortages have been a reality for many of the people we work with and it is not a topic we shy away from.
Such is the case in the remote community of Adi-Ajero where, 18 months ago, you supported imagine1day in building a beautiful, sustainable Grade 1-4 school.
Between 2004 and 2009, the community of Adi-Ajero experienced a tremendous drought. Over 95% of Adi-Ajero's community members rely on their harvest to survive and with no rain, there was no harvest. With no harvest there was no food.
imagine1day shares with you the reality of a community surviving a drought and the inspiring story of a community thriving in possibility for its future because of one thing: access to education.
Welcome to Adi-Ajero Grade 1-4 Community School; the school you built and the bright future you created.
Drought.
Synonymous with Ethiopia for years, surviving the big "D" is a reality that the community of Adi-Ajero has created in recent years. But what does life look like when no water falls from the sky or springs up from the ground?
To understand where Adi-Ajero is today, one must understand where they've been. Enter Michelay Hagos, Chairman of Adi-Ajero's Education Board and father of seven. Having lived in Adi-Ajero his entire life, he's seen a thing or two and was more than willing to share a part of his story with us...
MH: For us, drought means no food. In the olden times, the land here in Adi-Ajero was green. There were thick forests all along the mountains and there was lots of water because the trees helped to keep the ground wet. But slowly people began to cut the trees down to build their homes or to use for firewood. Eventually, the mountains became bare and there were no more trees. There was no water in the ground and no water fell from the sky. When that happened, nothing that we planted would grow.
MH: The first time this happened I was young. My family moved to a new place in search of food and work. Of course, eventually we came back to Adi-Ajero. This is our home; this is where we belong.
MH: We really had nothing: no breakfast, no lunch, and no dinner. I am sorry to say that we only had the option to eat the dry leaves off the bushes and the roots of different plants because we had no choice. When we had water to drink, we would mix a bit of salt in it because the combination relieves hunger.
MH: We had to make a big effort to mobilize the community to keep the students in school. Even as Parent Teacher Association (PTA) members we had no energy to do this but we knew we had to try. No one on our PTA has a formal education and we could see that being part of the reason the drought affected us so much. We are uneducated and did not know better ways to manage our resources. What better reason could we have to keep our children in school than to believe they would learn things there that would keep them from experiencing the suffering we did?
MH: Yes, this year is a great harvest! We are so happy! We have plenty of food and have gone on to plant even more different things like apples, tomatoes, coffee, mangos and papayas! Also, everyone who left during the drought has returned. We are happy that we did not give up on educating our children when life was difficult. We can see now that there are periods of challenge but they will not last; eventually they must end. But nothing is more important than educating our children and there isn't a reason good enough to interrupt their studies.
To survive five years of drought there must have been something to eat, right?
You've probably heard of the World Food Program and USAID. A drought like the one in Adi-Ajero is exactly the type of situation where organizations like these step up and step in.
Behanu Michele, a farmer, explains the ins and outs of surviving a drought in Adi-Ajero with the help of the Ethiopian government's Safety Net Program. He also tells us why, no matter how little food was on their table, keeping his daughter in school was his first priority:
"Here in Ethiopia there is a program called the Safety Net Program (SNP) that is sponsored by the government. If you find yourself in a situation where you have no animals, no grain, no crops and no assets, then you can work for the SNP."
"I worked for the SNP for five years. The way it works is that an adult in a family can work five days for every member of their family that is over the age of seven. I have five in my family over the age of seven so I worked 25 days in total. I received 15 kg of grain for every five working days so at the end of every month I would have 75 kg of wheat. Perhaps it sounds like a lot but it was not enough to change our lives; it simply gave us the means to survive. I don't know what we would have done without it."
"At the time, only my eldest daughter was old enough to go to school and I never took her out. It didn't matter to me how hard our situation was; I believed that for her, the most important thing would be to stay in school."
Behanu wasn't the only one who felt that way. Meet Genet, Grade 1 teacher at Adi-Ajero Grade 1-4 Community School and one of the teachers who went above and beyond the call of duty to continue providing quality primary education to her students no matter how tough things got.
"It seemed hopeless for a long time," remembers Adi-Ajero Grade 1-4 Community School Grade 1 teacher, Genet. "When there was no food and no water, it was a challenge to continue teaching because my students were not present. I had 50 students to begin with but only 25 would show up regularly. They had poor academic performance, were not active in class and were not physically active when they were outside; they wouldn't even water the seedlings properly."
"But I could not give up on my students because it wouldn't have helped anyone. Instead I worked hard and created a tutorial class for the students that were missing class periodically. There they could come and catch up on what they had missed. As you have heard before, many of our students moved away, but when they came back we increased the tutorial classes for the students who took large breaks from their education. Today, I am proud to say that almost all of them are caught up."
"Today I have 36 students and they have a 100% attendance record this year. They actively respond to my questions and lessons, they remember what they are taught, they participate in all different school activities, they are successful in their tests and overall they are outstanding students. During the drought, the class average was 65% but their hard work and a good harvest provided food to give them energy. They now score an average of 85% in their tests today! I am proud of them. I am thankful that we did not stop believing that we could educate our children."
English theologian and historian Thomas Fuller once said, "It is always darkest just before the new day dawns." If he's right, then Adi-Ajero's brand new day has indeed arrived heralded by its bright, motivated students.
Join us in Adi-Ajero's Grade 3 classroom; home to 19 and 20 year old Kahsay and Berhanu. At their age, they don't fit the mold of your typical Grade 3 students but, then again, these two young men are anything but typical.
K: We know we are old for this grade and that by this time in our lives we should probably have already graduated from high school. The thing is, when we were younger our parents were not aware of how important education was for us as children so they would not allow us to attend school. Instead, we tended to the cattle and plowed fields. When we turned 18, we were old enough to make independent choices and did not need to rely on our families anymore. We chose to start our educations. From watching our friends we knew what we had been missing all those years and we didn't want to miss it anymore.
B: I remember asking my parents over and over again when I was younger if I could go to school but they would not let me. Now no one can stop me from coming to learn.
K: It is important for us to be in school because otherwise we cannot advance in life. You only know as much as you know, but you can imagine many things. I want to know the things that I dream about. I want to understand them. If I go to school, one day I will understand.
B: I agree. I want to be able to read and write because that is the only real way I will be able to understand what happens around me. I want to understand all aspects of my life, all the interactions I have with people. If I can't read or write, I won't be able to understand those things.
K: Well, we started last year after imagine1day finished building the school here but we started in Grade 2 instead of Grade 1 because we had covered the material from Grade 1 through our informal education.
B: An informal education for us means that we learned the Tigrigna (regional language) alphabet and how to speak, count and things like that by spending time with our parents at home.
K: Our future goal is to make it to university and graduate with our degrees. There is an expectation in our community that men like us will take jobs relative to our current status; as a farmer or something like that. But it is not what we want. We want more than that.
B: Yeah, I agree. We both want to go to university. He wants to be a teacher and I want to study economic development within the agricultural sector. The majority of people in our country work in the agriculture industry so there must be a way to use their skills and knowledge to make our country better and economically stronger.
We told you they were extraordinary! They're just two of the many amazing students in Adi-Ajero who dream big and are bringing about a bright, promising future for themselves and their community.
But what exactly are the plans for the future of the school? Read on...
Adi-Ajero definitely hasn't had the easiest ride to get to where they are today and it hasn't discouraged them. With a bountiful harvest supplying them with food for the next year and a steady stream of water coming out of the water point you built, their plans for the future are as big as they are bright.
Meet Abraha Haftu, Adi-Ajero's Parent Teacher Association Chairman and die-hard advocate for complete education for all of Adi-Ajero's children including his three sons. Two of them have finished Grade 4 and have moved to a new town to pursue their Grade 5 education and his youngest is thriving in Grade 2!
When our conversation shifted from remembering hard times to looking ahead to the future, his face lit up. Excitedly, he told us about the PTA's plans to continue elevating and improving education within their community by developing various programs, kick-started by your contribution.
Reading, 'Riting and 'Rithmetic
You gave Adi-Ajero a four classroom school building and this is how they are managing and growing your investment:
"We have seen what a big difference the Grade 1-4 School that you built us has made for our children," says Abraha. "The only thing is that when they finish Grade 4, then what happens?"
"The way things are now they must move away from us to go to Grade 5 in a different town but they are still so small. To keep students in school while also keeping them close to home, we are building classrooms for Grades 5 and 6! I want to see my children every day so building the additional classrooms seems like the best solution. One day our vision is to have a complete primary school here so that our children can stay at home until they are finished with Grade 8!"
Sowing Seeds, Planting Dreams
You generously provided Adi-Ajero with 2,000 seedlings; this is how the community has been stewarding the trees:
"You gave us 2,000 seedlings for fruit and shade but when the drought came they all died. But when the drought ended we replaced the seedlings and they are now growing well. So far we have a 100% survival rate and in two years we expect our first yield of fruit from them."
"We planted more shading trees than we did fruit trees because one thing that we know trees do is retain water in the ground. We want to start re-foresting our valley and these mountains. We want our school to be beautiful."
Sweet as Honey
Your contribution made Adi-Ajero the first imagine1day school to participate in beekeeping as an income generation activity. Here's what the buzz is all about:
"We have put the three honeybee hives that you gave to us on the top of a hill just up from the school. We've entered into Phase Two of production, which means that we will harvest honey for the first time in coming months. This is because Phase One is the production of honey that you leave in the hive for the bees."
"We produce 20 kg of honey per hive and then sell it at local markets for 100 Ethiopian Birr/kg (the Birr is the name of Ethiopian currency). If the hives yield what we expect, we will have enough money to buy new textbooks for the students, continue to add books to their reading corners and even start our own library!"
As you can see, Adi-Ajero has come a long way in just a few short years and is destined for great things in the future. Thank you for your invaluable support of imagine1day in this project. We could not have done it without you!
In the words of the PTA Chairman, Abraha, "Please know that you are in our prayers. We hope you will stay green, which in our culture means that we hope you are blessed, increase in wealth and stay healthy and happy."
We couldn't have said it better ourselves!
Thank you for your unwavering support and commitment to providing quality primary education to the students of Adi-Ajero. We also wish you the best and hope that you stay green!
From Adi-Ajero with love,
