Building a school is the easy part. Sustaining a quality learning environment that addresses the needs of girls and boys requires vision, commitment and partnership.

ATSEMBA SCHOOL OPENING PARTY

It was three years ago that a concerned teacher from Tsehafti Primary (an imagine1day-supported school) saw the growing demand for education overtake the number of students Tsehafti could accommodate. Teacher Kiros took the initiative to start a school in an under-served area 7km away, where the people of Atsemba welcomed him with open arms.

Atsemba school began as a single informal twig structure, or open air dass classroom, that scarcely sheltered 44 eager grade one students from the harsh outside elements: strong sun and dusty wind in the dry season, cold in the winter months, and torrential downpours in the spring. Each year a new

  class was added as children succeeded to the next grade. As education awareness grew even more, so did the number of students and the need for a proper facility to support them.

For the imagine1day team, Teacher Kiros' initiative is a testament to the potential in everyone to make a difference. He saw a need to see all the children in his community go to school and he took the initiative to fulfill that need. Little did he expect that this humble beginning would turn into a full-fledged school building, with an eight-stall latrine and clean drinking water on school grounds that would eventually be covered by trees and vegetables.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Principal Kiros has since gone back to Tsehafti Primary, and Principal Belay Kidus has taken his place as director of Atsemba School. The following is a message Principal Belay delivered at the inauguration ceremony to all who came together to make the patient dream of a formal school in Atsemba a reality.

Dear respected invited guests,

First and foremost I would like to welcome you to the inauguration ceremony of Atsemba School. Atsemba Primary School was established in 2007 with 44 students in an open air dass school. For the last three years students were suffering from sun stroke, wind, and cold. Despite this, the number of students has reached 253 (149 male and 144 female).

But now in collaboration with imagine1day and its investors, four standard classrooms, a latrine, a shallow well, school furniture, a drip-irrigation setup, tree planting and much training has been rendered to us. I would like to thank you all in the name of the village residents for what you did for us.

On top of this, for those who paved nearly 2km of road, the tabia (local government) administration who gave us the land, the engineers, foreman and technicians who designed the plans and who constructed this beautiful school, I would like to thank you all in the name of the community and the school.

To imagine1day and its investors who support 30 schools, you are doing great work creating healthy school environments for children in the woreda (county). imagine1day is a committed NGO who is part of an accelerated development effort made by our nation to conquer poverty. We thank imagine1day very much for the holistic support of our school.

BIG SISTER

Many people came from far and wide to celebrate the opening of Atsemba's School. Among them were students from Atsemba's big sister school, Tsehafti Primary. Below is a poem read by Merisata Tesfu, a physically impaired grade eight student and HIV & Gender school club leader.

LITTLE SISTER

Instead of spending a fourth year learning in a twig structure, Freweini Kalayu will finally be able go to school in a real classroom. Here is the message she delivered to the opening ceremony crowd on behalf of her grade four class.

Please hear me, I'm now going to say something about this (open air) dass school turned into a building: We students, who were learning under the dass on the stones and with the strong sun that is now changed into real classrooms, recognize and declare that it is imagine1day who created change with us. We thank you, imagine1day, we thank you for changing the dass into a classroom building!

WHAT'S AHEAD FOR ATSEMBA

imagine1day is proud to announce that Atsemba has been chosen to receive a second cycle primary school block, for grades 5 to 8. Following a competitive assessment among seven communities, Atsemba shone in community commitment, using the newly provided shallow well to start a drip irrigation-fed cabbage crop to generate income for the school. They have also already planted 2,000 shade and fruit trees on school land. The funds earned from fruit and produce will be used to sustain imagine1day's Quality Classrooms program. The community also showed a great need for access to a secondary cycle block. Currently 165 students (76 boys and 89 girls) walk an average distance of 6km outside of Atsemba to continue learning past grade four.

Local access to grade 5-8 greatly increases the continuation of education for rural children, especially girls, as often parents worry for their safety when they have to travel long distances. The opportunity to attend grade four in Atsemba school is already a dream come true, and now Freweini and her friends can stay close to home to take their education to the next level.

Thank you for bringing the dedicated people of Atsemba a giant step closer to realizing a better future for their children.