ENGLISH
GOAL
Introduction
In the province of West Wollega in Ethiopia many children cannot go to school, because their parents lack the means, and that is a pity, because it is education that these children need to stand a chance of a better future. The foundation Stichting Schoolproject Ethiopie endeavours to have these children educated and does so in corporation with local mission-schools in West Wollega. The foundation pays for school fees, clothing and daily meals for the children. To facilitate more children attending school the foundation seeks sponsors. Apart from that, once-only donations are obtained through actions of schools, service clubs, churches and contributions by private persons, often in connection with an anniversary or celebration such as a jubilee, a birthday or a wedding anniversary.
The aim of our project Ethiopia
The aim of the foundation is to provide primary education for deprived children in Ethiopia, boys as well as girls. We believe in this approach. An educated child has better prospects. As early as in 1948 the right of education was laid down in the Universal Human Rights Declaration. This right has still to be fought and has for that reason been embodied in the Millennium-goals, one of which proclaims that every child, boy or girl, should by 2015 have the opportunity to pass through a complete course of primary education.
The effect of education on children
Education forms the basis of a child’s development and leads to acquiring an occupation which is the basis of an economically independent existence. It is this philosophy that gave birth to the Stichting Schoolproject Ethiopie foundation. Not being able to read, write or calculate makes it harder to find employment. One who can read has access to information about work, food and health. Research has shown that educated people are less prone to famine and poverty and live healthier. It is easier to get a paid job and thus break the vicious cycle of illiteracy, unemployment or poverty. Every Dutchman understands this. However, in a country such as Ethiopia, stricken through the ages with massive illiteracy, his is a new angle.
The history of other developing countries, especially those in Asia (India and China) has taught us how fast arrears in socio- economical aspects can be caught up. The mastering of skills such as language, writing, arithmetic and so forth, not only makes people stand a better chance of work, but also lead to a better infra structure ( housing, transport, safe water supplies), democratization of society, women’s rights, improved healthcare, concern for cultural heritage etcetera. These long-range effects commence with access to education.
HISTORY
In 2003 we were asked to help the children of the mission school of Addo ( near Dembidollo in West Wollega) whose parents were unable to pay the school fees. The school is a catholic mission school with 1000 pupils from a wide neighbourhood. The school project is limited to mission schools only because they can be properly monitored.
We started with 4 children the ages of which vary substantially. In 2004 we started with a group of 20 children, providing them also with a meal at school, next to a set of clothes, shoes and school materials. Abba Tesfay, the principal, sees to everything and has appointed one of the teachers to assist the children after school with their homework and monitor them otherwise.
In January 2005 the Stichting Schoolproject Ethiopie was founded. Following the procedure above many groups at various schools were started during our visit in October 2005. In 2007 120 children went to school thanks to this initiative. And in 2008 an extra 50 children were added to this number. This means that at the moment we provide education for 170 children. We have decided to fix the duration of our support of the education at every single primary school for a period of eight years.
RESULTS
Each child costs € 70,00 per annum. This means that we need € 12.000 every year to provide for 170 children. This amount has to be raised yearly if we don’t want to be forced to abandon these children. Many of the funds are raised by once-only actions or donations. Our regular supporters provide us with the certainty of a steady basic income which we can rely on every year.
FUTURE
One of our concerns at the moment is the question whether we should extend our support to children who have passed the 8 years at primary school to help them continue further education.
We have been seeking sponsors for some children who would like to continue their education and are exploring the possibilities to create a foundation for the benefit of more children.
CHIP IN
You can support us by:
- becoming a supporter
- starting a sponsor project
(we provide schools with information and DVD-based presentations)
Click here for your supporter application form.
Support our school project
Possible from € 70.00 per annum. The full amount goes to the children in West Wollega.
For which they get:
- access to a primary school
- 1 pair of shoes + clothing
- A hot meal every day
GIRO 5167737 tnv. Stichting Schoolproject Ethiopie.
CURRENT AFFAIRS
Newsletter March 2009
The 2009 issue of De Schoolproject Nieuwsbrief is released! You can browse it here.
UPDATE
The Foundation is doing quite well! Thanks to an increase in our funds we were able to adopt extra children from 5 schools in 2008. In September 2008 50 children could be added to our list. At the moment 170 children take part in our programmes. To be precise: thanks to the foundation 30 children in Addo, 30 in Danka, 40 in Konchi, 20 in Nekemte, 40 in Sakko/Karro and 10 in our new and seventh! location go to school. The foundation provides for the school fees for these children, pays for their school uniforms, shoes and a hot meal every day.
ACTIVITIES
To give you an idea of the activities we undertook last year to make our project
feasible here is what we did:
- The book market in Stompetoren was a huge success and yielded quite some profit and so we shall organise a book market again in 2010.
- The Schermer celebrated its 375th birthday. The Schermer based foundations active in Ethiopia have received the profits of the church collections.
- At the Christmas Market in Bergen we sold peanut wreaths made by Miekenette with the assistance of the pupils of St John’s School in Akersloot.
- Some other schools had their own projects to raise money for us.
- We received a number of donations from larger organisations.
- The foundation intervened in the applications for the build of toilets, the purchases of a computer and a copier for the school in Addo.
- Many jubilees asked their guests to donate a contribution to the foundation instead of buying presents. A suggestion that merits imitation? It worked perfectly well in 2008!
Thanks to al these activities and support we have been able to close 2008 very satisfactorily. Finally we have some extra money and we really thank you very much for that!
VISIT TO ETHIOPIA FEBRUARY 2009
This year the new chairman Henk Pielage and Geertje Roelofsen visited all 7 partaking schools in February 2009. For the very first time in the area Henk was quite impressed by the amount of work executed by the workers of the mission posts. Not only schools were visited but also many other projects were paid a visit to.
We were especially interested in the experiences of the group in Babiche, where we started in September 2008 with a modest (trial) group. Abba Zelalem, the group’s supervisor, entertained us extensively with "his" children who introduced themselves through merrily singing. We had the opportunity to ask questions and afterwards we and the children were served lunch that was concluded with the well-known so called Ethiopian coffee-ceremony. Father Zelalem is highly motivated to make this school project a success. We expect a lot from him.
In a week's time we had opportunities to conduct efficient and intensive discussions everywhere about our project, in which information about post primary school education was of the essence, as the first batch of children are on the verge of leaving school.
When living at a less than 5 km's distance from a (government) secondary school children will come to school walking. In case they live further away they will have to be accommodated in Dembi Dollo, Gutte or Nekemte. Together they hire a humble abode to share the costs. But they also need mattresses, blankets and some cooking gear, plus some food daily. This way of accommodation seems quite satisfactory and is already being applied in many places. Local children are used to this way of life and frequenting secondary school at the same time. There is no need for a "mother babysit" because the primary school's sister or abba remains in charge in case of problems.
After our discussions with the contacts of every school it is our firm believe that cutting our support after grade 8 would be a shame. The children would be deprived of further opportunities. Continuation of our support through grades 9 and 10, after which a national exam takes place, provides them with the opportunity to follow either a vocational course or to go to university. University fees are paid for by the government. Full of energy we returned to Holland. The children are doing well and would love to keep on learning. Surely we will support them!
WHAT IS NEEDED ANNUALLY?
The costs per child in 2008 amounted to at least € 70.00, which implies that a number of 170 children requires a minimal amount of € 12,000. This amount no doubt will increase due to our new plans and is to be harvested every year. In 2008 our revenues were more than sufficient and so make room for new plans for the future. On our website you will find our financial report on 2008.
FUTURE
At the moment the question whether or not we should continue our support of children in the case of post primary school education keeps us occupied. We have searched for sponsors for 3 children who would love to continue their education and are investigating every possibility to provide for further education.
NEW FLYER
Because the information in our current flyer was somewhat out-of-date we have upgraded the text and had new ones printed. Four sponsors were kind enough to pay for the expenses. The re-newed flyer is enclosed in this issue. More flyers can be obtained from the foundation's office.
Loes Brandenburg
Sadly enough 2008 made us take our leave of Loes Brandenburg, member of the board and former chairman. Although we knew she was past recovery her passing away took us all by surprise. She was a pioneer of our project and thanks to her former work in the "Family home" of the Medical Centre Alkmaar a woman of much experience that she generously sought to share with us all. We owe her many thanks for that and will never forget her friendship and input.
SCHOOLPROJECT ON THE INTERNET
The Stichting Schoolproject Ethiopie (SSE) foundation is opening its own website! The number of people looking for information on the Internet is increasing and so the SSE has decided to create its own informative website: www.schoolprojectethiopie.nl. This site allows us to inform you and many others about our objectives, the way we operate and the results we achieve. On our site you will also find the necessary data should you wish to support or to contact us. Our site was co-funded by Sander Kastelein (web design) and BaseNET Internet Projects (sponsor of hosting and domain name).
CONTACT
Stichting schoolproject Ethiopie
Tuingracht 10
1483 AP de Rijp
tel. 0299-674054
e-mailadres:info@schoolprojectethiopie.nl
Gironummer: 5167737
tnv St. Schoolproject Ethiopie
K.v.K. Alkmaar 3711702
ABOUT US
Here you will find information about the founding members of Schoolproject Ethiopia.
My name is Henk Pielage. For about 40 years I have been active in the field of education, for the greater part as a principal of a primary school. I think that every child is entitled to receive education, even in parts of the world where going to school raises insurmountable financial problems for many people.
I cannot close my eyes to the unfair distribution of prosperity in our world. That is why I want to be an active member of the Stichting Schoolproject Ethipia as a member of the board, which I have been since January 2008. I find it highly gratifying and energizing to think of all the opportunities we can offer to more and more children.
Until 2006 Schermer-based Dorette Meijer was employed by a national financial services office. After an industrious life she found time for sports as well as leisure and working as a volunteer. Apart from being a member of the board of two cinemas in Alkmaar and Grootschermer she dedicates herself to a world void of illiteracy. Because what can one do if one can’t neither read nor write? That’s the main reason why she decided to join the Stichting Schoolproject Ethiopia to help realise the millennium goal.
Miekenette Coelingh Bennink hopes that he pedagogical, secretarial, and artistic experiences and education will enable her to participate adequately within the Stichting Schoolproject Ethiopië. Her great passion is sculpture. During the school period of her 3 children she initiated actions for charities and was a board member in school organisations and sports clubs. She is eager to help the really poor children of West Wollega stand a chance of a better future.
After retiring from her job as a GP Geertje Roelofsen visited Ethiopia in 2003 for a medical project ( Stichting Strumeth Foundation), that had started 3 years earlier.
It was then that abba Tesfay asked her to organise school facilities for poor children.
First she started a pilot project with 4 children to find out what might be the best formula. In the year after that it was decided to work with groups of 20 – 30 children and henceforth the foundation was officially established in February 2005.
Every year Geertje visits Ethiopia for three weeks to monitor the projects of both foundations. She has built a strong and warm relationship with the co-workers in Ethiopia.
