At Chapel Friday, Student Council President, Skakel M. and I, kicked off year three of Saint David’s School Ethiopia project. Launched in celebration of the School’s Sixtieth Anniversary in 2010, our aim was to raise the $100,000 necessary to build a school for a small village in Tigray, in the northern region of Ethiopia.
This will be the third successive graduating class that has assumed the leadership responsibility for Ethiopia.
Saint David's teamed up with
Mimi’s Building Blocks and
Save the Children to help us achieve our goal of bringing a school to a community that needed one, much like our founders did for Saint David's--"pass it forward."
Ethiopia’s children have been profoundly affected by decades of conflict, food insecurity and poverty, and as such suffer from some of the world’s worst education and health indicators. Children under the age of 18 account for roughly half of the total population of approximately 80 million, resulting in high demands on basic services that the government struggles to meet. Although children’s access to basic education has increased significantly over the past decade, schools are failing to prepare learners with the building blocks they need to succeed in school and in life.
Saint David’s, the Kalina Dass, and the Kukuftu Community
The Kalina 'dass' school is located in the Southern Zone of Tigray, in Kukuftu, a frequently drought-stricken community 138 km south of Mekele. Kukuftu’s 496 households (367 male-led, 129 female) rely on traditional farming for their livelihood and the community grows sorghum, corn, and lentils. Though the people in the Kukuftu community are poor, they have great interest in education and recognize the importance of sending their children to school.
The Kalina school currently educates 233 students (117 girls). Because of inadequate resources at the district level, construction of classrooms has not been funded and programs such as teacher training and PTA development have not been adequately supported. Working with the Ethiopian Country Office, Saint David's is helping to transition Kalina school from a dass to a permanent structure with latrines, furniture, hand-washing facilities and basic training for teachers and the PTA.
We expect construction to take four months with the first month utilized for preparation, bid and contract agreement.
Tigray and “Dass” Education
Tigray is a hot and arid region located in northern Ethiopia. Eight in ten families in Tigray depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, but continuous land degradation, droughts and famines, excessive deforestation, over-grazing and continuous traditional ways of farming have played a great role in reducing agricultural productivity. Poverty is endemic. Although children’s access to basic education has increased significantly over the past decade, many locations in Tigray lag behind. Many of the children who do attend school do so at unfurnished open-air “dass” classrooms exposed to the heat, dust and weather, or at rude shelters.
Clean water and sanitary facilities are often absent.
By building the school, we will improve education and health outcomes for children by improving the skills of teachers, training parents and community groups to help manage the school and support their children’s education. We will also provide learning materials, through our partners, to the school. In the health arena, working with Save the Children, we will focus on the critical health and nutrition factors that keep the Kalina children out of school and reduce their ability to learn effectively.
This is an exciting program. The boys have raised more than 3/4 of the funding that's needed. If you'd like further information, please contact us.
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