Ethiopia – the Debre Zeit area, about an hour's drive from the capital Addis Ababa. Dawn is breaking. People in simple houses made of wood, mud bricks and grass are waking up. Many children have to help at home right away in the morning – run to buy milk or fetch water, or take care of the animals. Then they also face an hour's walk to school.
Classes at the primary school in the Bishoftu children's centre begin at eight. It serves the poorest families in this area who cannot afford to send their children to school. State schools do not charge tuition fees, but you still have to pay for a school uniform and supplies. Yet according to one estimate, up to 20 percent of Ethiopians cannot afford even one proper meal a day.
In Bishoftu, children receive uniforms, supplies and lunch for free. For lunch they have bread baked by the centre's staff and vegetable soup. The vegetables are grown on the plot next to the school and fortunately there is also a water source nearby. Almost 600 children attend the school, aged from five to 15 – children from large families and those without siblings, children who have parents, as well as half-orphans and orphans living with relatives or neighbours.
They learn in classes where age does not determine which grade you are placed in. Among the younger ones are also older children who previously had no chance to attend school. The Bishoftu project was established in 2006 with financial support from Ireland and is led by its founder – a trained social worker, Bezabih Tolossa.
The project has since grown, and the Integra Foundation decided to help with funding to secure food by launching a sponsorship programme for these children. Donors from Slovakia also pay for the children's lunches. They have also included healthcare in the programme. Many of the diseases the children suffer from can be prevented with basic medical check-ups and treatment. This would prevent sad deaths at school. The construction of a clinic to help prevent and treat basic health problems for the children and their families is partly funded by SlovakAid.
Through the Integra Foundation, donors receive letters from the children of Bishoftu. At first quite short, as the children are still learning to write. Some write in their own languages – Amharic or Oromo. Both languages are taught at school alongside English. They struggle with the languages – Oromo uses the Latin alphabet, Amharic is a Semitic language. At first they also do not know what to write about or how to answer questions from people in Slovakia. The way of life in Europe is very distant and unimaginable for them.
School in Bishoftu ends at four o'clock; the youngest children go home after lunch. The school offers children various other activities – a sports field, a science club, a girls' club, a language club, civics and health education. Some children do their homework then. However, many often still have to help with work at home after school. The sun sets around half past six and since many houses have no electricity, they have to get a lot done before dark.
The Integra Foundation and the Malaika association fund several projects through their sponsorship and distance adoption programme – besides Bishoftu in Ethiopia, also Detská záhrada - a home and school in Nairobi, Kenya, and they are also launching support for the TAPA project in Kibera, the largest slum in Nairobi.
This article was published in the bulletin Rozvojová pomoc - Jar 2010. It is published by the Platforma mimovládnych rozvojových organizácií (MVRO), which is an association of legal entities – an umbrella organisation of 31 (23 regular members and 8 observers) Slovak non-governmental organisations primarily engaged in foreign development and humanitarian aid.