Concern Blogs

Aster Arba, grade two, in front of her house in rural Wolayita. Photo: Ethiopia, Concern Worldwide

Aster Arba, aged nine, lives in the remote and rural village of Duguna Fango, about 450 kilometers south west of Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. Up to when Concern intervened, Aster and her friends would walk eight kilometers every day to go to school.

In fact, they walked barefoot in extreme heat, and risked being raped and abducted, or attacked by wild animals. When I first saw the area, I was humbled by how difficult it was for a young child to travel to school in this extremely hot climate over such distances.

In response to the difficulties of these children, Concern and our partner organization WRDA began construction on basic education schools in villages where none existed. Now, Aster and her friends attend school within walking distance from their homes.

During our regular monitoring visits to these schools, I met with the children who are clearly feeling better and are far happier with their new situation.

When I spoke with one of their teachers, Zinash, she explained that the sense of freedom and proximity of the school to home made children attend classes regularly, which in turn had contributed to a marked improvement in their performance at school.

Vulnerable children benefit from basic Education in Addis Ababa

Children attending basic education centres in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital. Photo: Ethiopia, Concern Worldwide

Often in Ethiopia, children, and especially girls, migrate to urban areas in search of better lives. In lots of cases, these children are either entirely uneducated or have dropped out of school after one or two years of education.

Out-of-school children are forced to work as housemaids, and can be exposed to child labor and sexual exploitation. Some have to support their families running small businesses and often wind up on the streets as petty traders.

Without help, I know that many of the girls would face futures of prostitution and the boys would become delinquent. Others still, are orphaned due to HIV and AIDS, and do not have the opportunity to go to school.

Young girls, previously out of school, attend basic education classes in Addis Ababa. Photo: Ethiopia, Concern Worldwide

When I meet and speak with the children who are at school, I see that Concern’s support has given them hope. They have purpose and feel accepted.

Concern has responded to their needs by collaborating with three local organizations in Addis Ababa, to run schools with a flexible schedule, which allows very poor children to attend classes at times appropriate for them.

The lessons are designed to streamline children back into formal education in three years, which enables them to complete the first education cycle of Ethiopia’s formal education system.

To meet that goal, Concern provides free education materials, books and school uniforms and pays the teachers’ salaries.  As a teacher myself, I am happy to work with Concern to reach these children and their teachers.

Experience has shown that the children thrive, not just because they are receiving an education, but because they feel a sense of acceptance and receive due recognition from their teachers and peers.

In the last nine years (2002-2010), Concern and six partner organizations in three different regions of Ethiopia, have established 22 schools where more than 15,000 (50 percent of them girls) vulnerable children, who were not able to go to formal schools, have attended the first cycle education, necessary to continue in Ethiopia’s formal schooling system.