One Year Report
TRUST IN TREES
A forest of trees will beautify any schoolyard, but the benefits of planting trees in Ethiopia are immeasurable. Forests prevent soil erosion, which is common in the Tigray region of Northern Ethiopia, as tree roots protect against washouts caused by the heavy summer rains. Trees also help keep water in the soil and reduce global warming by their uptake of carbon dioxide. Shade trees provide students respite from the hot sun at recess, while fruit trees will offer them an alternate food source and significant income for their school. Sensitizing Ethiopia's children from an early age to the importance of planting trees is the first step to recovering the country's deforested regions, which have reached a staggering 98% in the last half century.
Much of Hintalo Wejirat, the district in which imagine1day currently focuses in the Tigray region, has witnessed an extended dry period over the last couple of years. The school communities you invested in, however, have not wavered in their commitment to care for their seedlings. Trees in some schools have been able to fare better than in others but all school communities are working diligently within their means to see that their trees grow and thrive. Below is their current survival rate.
| School Name | Fruit Trees Planted/Survived |
Shade Trees Planted/Survived |
Total Trees Planted/Survived |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daeritta | 1440/777 | 500/144 | 1940/921 |  |
| Girabered | 1440/553 | 500/40 | 1940/593 |  |
| Girawerra | 1440/755 | 500/30 | 1940/785 |  |
| Melbe | 1440/883 | 500/166 | 1940/1049 |  |
| Sebebera | 1440/344 | 500/64 | 1940/408 |  |
| Wazza | 1440/1300 | 500/500 | 1940/1800 |  |
| Zeggaw | 1440/780 | 500/60 | 1940/840 |  |
COMING TOGETHER WITH TREES AND HAND TOOLS
To the astonishment of imagine1day's team, the hand tools you provided have gone far beyond cultivating trees. As each school has set up their own system for tree care and tool lending, each has a unique, remarkable story about the impact of this initiative on their community's relationship to education. Here are just a few:
Girabered
A year ago, Girabered's students were in last place in academic standing in the whole region. Failed grades and dropouts were the norm. To make matters worse, the former principal was at odds with the community. The children eagerly cared for their new seedlings, but their parents weren't encouraged to get involved in the school. Sadly, apathy towards their children's learning reflected in their grades.
Last spring, the imagine1day team hosted a conversation with the school staff, local government administrators and community members to identify the problem and align on solutions. The community's solution: they identified community members that would have trouble tending to their farmland, such as the elderly and households without children, and took the tools the school received to their fields as a gesture of support. The community members so appreciated the help that in turn, they began to truly listen when the teachers spoke about education. The school staff succeeded in healing the relationship between the school and the residents, who pledged their services and even mobilized their neighbours to get involved.
29 community members now actively contribute to the school, lending a hand in nurturing trees and micro-irrigation projects. A four-person Plant Committee, spearheaded by the school guard, Ato Yemane, and a dedicated local government leader enrolls the community to care for the trees and gardens while school is out on break. The best part is that every single one of Girabered's senior (grade eight) students passed their final exams last semester!
Wazza
"Two years ago, there was no contact between the school and the community," says Teacher Gebremedhin. How did Wazza School's dedicated staff mend the rift in this relationship and go on to make Wazza a model school for the region of Tigray? They reached out to residents by attending every community event possible: weddings, funerals, church holiday festivities, and all community meetings. Wherever there was a gathering, Wazza teachers were there to talk about the importance of education and parental participation in the school. Interest caught on fast and now the teachers no longer have to resort to party-crashing. Instead, they are regularly invited to speak more and more. It's not surprising then, that when the parents of all the students at Wazza make their monthly visit to the school to take care of the trees and check on their children, it becomes a social event. Beyond this, teachers have regular meetings with respected elders to garner community-wide support for school improvement and to discuss paths to the best education for their children.
After receiving support from imagine1day in creating five school clubs, Wazza School has multiplied this initiative and has become a kingdom of clubs and committees. Made up of seven students and supported by a teacher, the Tree Committee was formed when imagine1day first delivered seedlings to the school. Math teacher, Abeba Weldegebriel, had previously planted trees in her own home. She joined the committee to help beautify the school and ensure its new trees would be fruitful. "These trees have become so important," she says, "for the school environment, for future income and for transferring knowledge to the community."
In our last report, we told you about an experience-sharing program that has allowed Wazza to swap best practices with other schools in the region. Since then, other schools have begun holding similar events on other topics, namely micro-irrigation. Below are just a few of the many outcomes of this exchange.
- After seeing the trees at Wazza, Adi Awenna School planted fruit trees by themselves and are greening nearly every square inch of their schoolyard with vegetable gardens. They are now competing with Wazza for model school status and have begun practicing micro-irrigation, (as seen at Girabered and Abada schools), to fund and maintain school programs and materials.
- Like in Wazza, Melbe School created a Parent Committee to act as intermediary support between students and school staff.
- Mayni School (not an imagine1day catchment school) planted 100 guava trees after visiting Wazza.
- School yards are increasingly decorated with educational signs and models. No one is quite sure where credit is due for these colorful ideas, but they're spreading fast!
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Melbe
One of the most impressive outcomes of this Mobilizing, Planting and Maintaining (MPM) project occured at Melbe Primary School. Fifteen community members answered the call to plant trees on the school grounds and have since been regularly borrowing tools to cultivate trees and gardens in their homes. At Melbe, a community member must first participate in a school improvement project before earning the privilege of borrowing tools for their own use. The more these parents visited the school to look after the trees, the more interest they took in looking after their children's progress at school, while inspiring other parents to do the same. Following Wazza'a example, Melbe staff then encouraged the community members to form a Parent Committee that would serve as an intermediary between students and teachers. The fabulous 15 now advise students not only on their new found knowledge of tree care, they also exchange with students about ethics, education and schedule regular meetings with students to hear about their experiences at school. If there are issues to address, such as student-teacher relations where the student doesn't feel comfortable addressing it with the teacher, the Parent Committee then meets with teachers on behalf of the students to mitigate the situation.
MOBILIZING, PLANTING, MAINTAINING AND SUSTAINING
imagine1day has entered its last year in our three-year partnership with our 30 target schools in the Hintalo Wejirat woreda (sub-region) of Tigray. We've delivered countless quality education materials, trainings and programs to our schools and are now focusing our efforts on ensuring their ability to sustain their newly elevated learning standards.
To this end, our incredible Finance & Administration Officer, Daniel Ataklti, has been working closely with each school community (sometimes strategizing through the night with PTAs in their villages) to assess and create income generation opportunities tailored to each school. These include drip irrigation-fed vegetable gardens, grain crops, animal breeding and fattening, and beekeeping for honey production. Many income generation activities (IGAs), like drip irrigation and animal fattening, are already on their way. In parallel, Daniel is supporting the creation of each school's IGA management plans and their financial controls systems. Integral to the success and sustainability of these plans is the active involvement of the PTA, the kebele (local government) administrator, and the local agricultural agent.
Girawerra
At Girawerra, a remote school that can only be reached by a 45-minute uphill hike from the main road, all the students, 150 of their parents and over 100 other households are borrowing tools from the school. Grade one teacher Haile Tareke concurs that supplying tools has also fostered increased educational awareness there. "The trees and tools have created a good relationship between our school and the community. They are so happy to be able to use the tools in their homes. When they come to take care of the trees and borrow a sickle, they also check on their students. In turn, their interest, awareness and involvement in the school are increasing."
Teacher Haile also credits the MPM project with being able to earn income for the school. Training the PTA in income generation and financial management as well as ecology has resulted in 276.50 Ethiopian Birr (ETB; the local currency) from a pepper harvest using micro irrigation, and 665 ETB from crop sharing wheat. With an additional 199 ETB contribution from the community, the PTA purchased 2 sheep at 250 ETB each and made a profit of 100 ETB in just one month. With their earnings they will purchase two or three more sheep in the next round, repeating the process for an estimated profit of 4,250 ETB at the end of the year. They plan to then purchase stationary, sports equipment, student awards and maintain their hardworking tools.
From the parents, teachers, community leaders and especially the students whose surroundings are getting ever greener and hopeful, the team at imagine1day would like to say:
