18 Month Report
CHANGE AND TRANSFORMATION IN HARNET
"The community here used to be distant from the school - they were not very supportive of the construction or willing to help," says Harnet Grade 1-4 Community School Principal, Kinfa Hadush. "Thankfully, times have changed."
In a community that was once so skeptical of the school you supported that they wouldn't even donate a small patch of land to allow us to drill for water, we have seen great change.
Today, Harnet is a community that is rallying behind their school. While a severe lack of water makes life in this remote community a challenge, it hasn't dampened community members' spirits as they make their school a success.
"Now we have no problem getting community members to plow the school's land and harvest cereals for our income generation activities," says Principal Hadush. "We also started animal fattening as an income generation activity this year and the community members have been incredibly generous with contributing food for the oxen to eat."
Join the imagine1day team as we explore Harnet's transformation over the past two years and take a look at the challenges and possibilities that lie ahead.
  |
  |
  |
If you want to see extraordinary changes in the community of Harnet, just look at the school's income generation activities that imagine1day was able to implement with your support.
Income generation is a critical component in every imagine1day school because it is the key that opens the door to sustainability. Principal Hadush explains why income generation activities is one of the most important parts of his school (and not just because it brings in the bucks):
"Ethiopia has required foreign aid for decades and has become entirely dependant on it. You gave us this school but with the income generation activities we can continue on our own and develop the school with our own efforts and commitment.
Income generation activities help us to purchase the resources we need within our school, but more importantly it is an example of self-sufficiency for everyone in our community to see. The benefit to the students is huge because they gain exposure to a variety of creative ways to develop income at the school, which can easily be transferred to their homes as well.
This way, by being an example for our community, sustainability will spread and will one day be a reality for every part of this country."
What exactly did Harnet do to achieve sustainability?
It all started with six sheep (an investment of 1,800 birr which is approximately $120 CND) from imagine1day. The community fattened the sheep for three months and then sold them for 2,200 birr for a profit of 400 birr.
Then, they took two hectares of land that the community donated to the school and they plowed it, planted it and recently harvested six quintals of wheat from it. The going rate for a quintal of wheat is approximately 700 birr, generating 4,200 birr.
Now the school has invested in one ox with a contribution of 1,200 Birr from the local community. The school will spend the next three months fattening the ox and will then sell it. They are aiming to sell to it for 1,500 - 1,600 birr and make a profit of 300 - 400 birr. Not bad!
Where's all this money going? Principal Hadush dishes the details:
"When we have the income from selling the ox, we will then buy materials we can use to create teaching aids that will increase the quality of education for our students. We also want to purchase a tape recorder. This is because there are many educational programs on the radio that we want to share with the students. With the recorder, we can tape the programs and keep a small library of tapes to use in our lessons. Everything we purchase we want to be used to increase the quality of education for our students. Nothing should go to waste."
With your support, imagine1day was able to build an eight-stall pit latrine on the edge of Harnet Grade 1-4 Community School's property. While it seems like a given that a proper school building would also have a proper latrine, the impact this latrine has had on Harnet's students and the whole community cannot be overstated. Harnet's Grade 4 class tells a story of transformation and education:
|
"Before the latrine was built at our school, we used to make waste on the way home after school. We would go along the road but there would always be snakes and insects that would bother us. Other people and animals would walk by and so we didn't have privacy, but we had no other option." |
 |
 |
"Going to the toilet on the side of the road was very uncomfortable because you would have to do it in the hot sunshine." |
|
"After imagine1day built our latrine at the new school, it became nicer to use the toilet because it is safe and it is not hot." |
 |
 |
"Since the latrine was built I have learned many things. I have learned that I have to use paper to wipe and water to wash my hands afterwards. I do this because I know it is good for my health. Before I learned this, I used to use a rock to wipe which was uncomfortable for me." |
|
"After I use the latrine now I wash my hands with water. Before I did not wash my hands." |
 |
 |
"After the latrine was built at the school, my family built a latrine in our own home too because it is better for our health to put your waste in a latrine than out in the open. We also got a small plastic jug and put it next to the latrine at home and keep it full of water so that we can wash our hands after we use the latrine." |
Your support for Harnet Grade 1-4 Community School gave imagine1day the opportunity to provide, among many, three elements that we believe are essential to a complete school: reading corners, creative writing materials and Life Skills Training. At first glance they seem unrelated, but Grade 3 teacher Seid Awel explains how they're all intricately tied together and how they are the building blocks of a quality education for his 61 students.
"My students' ability to read and write has greatly improved since imagine1day provided us with the materials and resources to teach creativity. They need paper and pens to practice writing and you (imagine1day and donors) provided that for us. Before, we could teach them but they wouldn't have been able to practice and further develop their skills. But most importantly they needed a way to express many different ideas that they have. Now they can do that through writing poems, proverbs and small stories. The Reading Corners have also helped in many ways. Our students are more creative now because they are exposed to more ideas through the books. Lastly, because of the Life Skills Training that was provided to us, the students' confidence has been improving. They now stand and share their poems and stories and they volunteer to answer questions. Overall, I have seen a great improvement in skill, imagination and confidence since we were provided with these resources!"
On a recent trip to Harnet, the imagine1day field team was treated to a presentation by Seid's class of poetry and stories that they had written. Here's one by Berihu Abrah and the translation!
Seid, Harnet's Grade 3 teacher that you met in the previous chapter, is one of three teachers from his school that attended imagine1day's Active Learning Teacher Training in September 2010. He learned many new skills but did it make a lasting impact? imagine1day checked in with Seid to find out:
S: Before the training, I was a very static teacher. I only taught orally and did not focus much on engaging my students.
S: Before the training I would just talk to my students and expect that they would not only understand, but also remember what I was teaching. Sometimes they did but the training taught me that I must be more creative and engaging to help them remember. Teaching aids like charts and models as well as encouraging participation in class through asking questions and arranging group discussions has helped them to understand the material.
S: There has been a great change in me since I participated in the training. We learned a great deal about self-confidence and how to bring it out in our own students. The unexpected twist is that this training also made me much more confident in myself as well as in my abilities as a teacher! Now I am more outgoing with my students and as a result they pay more attention because class is more engaging and entertaining.
S: They really just understand the material more and are actually interested in class. I learned at the training to use local materials to create models because this also makes it easy for students to replicate at home. I also learned to make questions more creative. For example, when I ask "2 + 2 = ____," I don't just ask that any more. Instead I ask it in a way so that the students can easily imagine the problem in their minds. So now I won't ask them "2 + 2 = ____," but will ask them if you have two cats and your mother gives you two more cats, how many cats all together will you have? It's much easier to understand and answer that way.
S: Definitely. Sometimes the Education Bureau gives us training that is good but difficult to practically apply in the classroom. This training from imagine1day is useful and it produces results in the teachers as well as in our students. I will continue to use the methods I learned at the training because they really work!
Meet Mhari. At ten years old this Grade 2 students stands almost 5'9" and towers over his peers. With legs that seem to never end, it should be no surprise that Mhari is Harnet's speeding bullet! But he hasn't always been that way. While he has always been a gifted runner, he never knew that school was one way to bring him into the world of professional running. That is, until one of his teachers helped him out.
Harnet's Face of the Future tells us more...
M: I love to run because I am really good at it. It makes me feel special to be the best at something.
M: I went to a Sport and Art Competition at a school called Sesella last year and I ran in the 800-meter race. I came in 7th but I know I could have done better. I could have won. I was just nervous so I didn't do my best. But I like the 800-meter race - it is just the right distance for me.
M: I want to be a professional runner but I also want to be a teacher. I didn't think that either of these were things that were possible for me but now I know they are. One of my teachers told me that if I stay in school I could also run at the same time so now I want to continue both side-by-side. I know I will not be able to be a fast runner forever so when my running is finished it is important that I have gone to school because then I can be a teacher.
M: My teacher explained to me that the best way is to stay in school because then I can compete against different students. As I get older I will compete against more people from different schools as well as better people. Eventually I will be able to become a professional by working my way up.
M: I want to be a teacher because I learn so much in school that I didn't know before. I want to share that knowledge with other people so that everyone knows these useful things. I think the best way to share that is to be a teacher.
M: You provided me with this uniform that I am wearing today which I do my sports in. You also helped us to start our different school clubs - like the Sport and Art Club. It's in this club that I get to train, run and compete against other students.
So friends, in the coming years keep your eyes peeled for Mhari from Harnet - he's one to watch and you'd better pay attention because with the speed he's got you just might blink and miss him!
As you can tell, remarkable transformations have occurred within Harnet since you chose to partner with imagine1day in providing this community's 170 students with access to quality primary education.
Room to Grow
There's always room to grow and there are always areas to improve on. When it comes to enhancing his students' education, Principal Hadush isn't one to shy away from a good challenge. When we caught up with him just before Christmas, he had lots to tell us about his plans for a successful, productive 2011 for Harnet Grade 1-4 Community School.
P: As of right now, economic survival is still the priority in our community, not education. Today we have 170 students on our register but our attendance records show that 111 students attend class on a regular basis. This is our biggest obstacle.
P: It is a direct result of a lack of awareness within our community. The benefits of education are not things you can necessarily see or touch right away. We need to teach our community members that they must make a sacrifice and let their children come to school because in the long run the benefits will far outweigh the hardship (like having to make up the labour difference) they may face now because of it.
P: It is important for us to work with families to solve this problem. We now have this new school you provided for us so we need to fill it with as many students as possible. Our Parent Teacher Association (PTA) members will continue to go house-to-house to visit the families of children who are not in school. A personal conversation like this often gives the family a chance to ask all of their questions and also to work towards a solution that is just right for them. The other thing we are doing is having meetings with the whole community in places where they already gather together, like the church. When we are there, we explain the benefits of education, give examples of what the students will learn in school and how it is possible for students to balance both responsibilities at school and at home.
Challenges Ahead
Providing access to quality primary education sets the stage for lifelong learning and comes with its own set of challenges.
Meet Zenebe - a member of Harnet's Education Board, father of three beautiful daughters, and the man in search of a plan to keep Harnet's students in school well beyond Grade 4.
"After the construction of the school in our community, all of us were motivated to send our children to school. We were so excited about it that we even asked the Woreda Education Bureau (regional government) to open a Grade 5 classroom for us. We did this because the closest Grade 5 classroom is over two hours away on foot and we are not comfortable sending our children that far.
The government did not provide us with the classroom and so now our Grade 5 students, like my oldest daughter, are at home.
Other parents see that it is not likely for our students to go beyond Grade 4 so they don't bother to put their children in school at all; to them it makes more sense to keep them at home from the beginning and have them tend crops, protect fields and take care of the animals."
Where there's a problem, there's always a solution:
"While I don't agree with people who think in this way, I can understand (where they're coming from) so I spend a lot of time talking to people in their homes motivating them to send their children to school for Grade 1-4. I do this because even if the students don't go past Grade 4, primary education is essential for all people because it is in these first four grades that you get a base of education and you learn how to learn. If you learn in Grade 1-4 you have the tools you need to continue learning informally for the rest of your life and you never know when you may have the opportunity to continue on in school.
The government says we must have at least 200 students in our school before they will consider building us a Grade 5 classroom and providing us with a teacher. So another thing I do, like Principal Hadush explained, is to work with the community so they send their children to school here."
We look forward to the day when all of Harnet's students continue on to Grade 5 and beyond and with people like Zenebe leading the charge we have no doubt that this day is coming soon!
Principal Hadush isn't the only one who is grateful for you and your generous support. The imagine1day team thanks you for your belief in the importance of quality primary education in Northern Ethiopia and for believing that we are delivering a program that makes a difference.
From Harnet with love and heartfelt thanks,
