Our 2020 Update Gendit is a small village 35km outside of Gondar in rural Amhara. When Together We Learn first began working with Gendit school, it consisted of one mud and wood classroom with a blackboard but no desks or chairs. In Ethiopia, the government is committed to universal primary education and works with communities …
Sponsorship: Kalkidan’s Story Kalkidan was born in Asebeteferi in the Oromiya region of Ethiopia in 1997. When she was five years old, Kalkidan’s mother died and her father married another woman. Kalkidan moved to Bishoftu to live with her uncle. Kalkidan’s father did not support her, so her uncle became her guardian but, after some …
2020 Update Kumbursa is a village of around 250 households, 40km south of Addis Ababa in the Oromia region of Ethiopia. The village has a local school – Kumbursa Elementary – which offers grades 1 to 4, teaching children up to the age of 11. Kumbursa was the first school supported by one of our …
Football Teams: Tibebe’s Story Together We Learn’s football team in Bishoftu is led by a young and dynamic coach called Tibebe who first approached the charity when he was 14 years old, young but with a big heart. Tibebe lives in Bishoftu with his parents, and has two sisters and one brother. Tibebe first heard …
An Update on our Early Years English Improvement Project Teaching English makes you think a lot about how words are spelt and how they sound. Words like tough, bough, cough and dough look similar but sound completely different. And starting from the other direction, words like sight and site sound the same but don’t look …
Sponsorship: Muluyay’s Story Muluyay was an ordinary girl who liked to play hide-and-seek. As she got older, she helped her mother with the housework; cleaning, cooking, doing the laundry, selling tella (local beer) and fetching water. She was a good student, in the top 10 of her class, and she liked to play volleyball. However, …
Kindu Klub: Abdu’s Story When Abdu’s mother first came to Together We Learn for sponsorship support, the family was living in very bad conditions and they didn’t have enough to eat. This extreme poverty resulted in malnutrition, a lack of hygiene and little hope for a better life. Abdu weighed only 3 kilos at the …
Girls in Ethiopia often lack access to sanitary products, information about periods, or even a private place to change. Cultural taboos around periods mean that it’s difficult for girls to learn about what menstruation is and how to manage it. Many schools don’t have gender separated toilets or a place for girls to change or …
Sponsorship: Solomon’s Story Solomon and his brother Addisu were orphans living as street children when they first heard about Together We Learn. Both of Solomon’s parents had died when he was young. Solomon’s father was an army captain and died in the Ethiopian civil war. Solomon’s mother later died after a long illness, the exact …
School Construction: Andinet School Silenat is a student at Andinet school. Silenat lives with her mother, her brother and her two sisters in a one room mud and wood house in a rural area on the outskirts of Gondar. Silenat’s father died when she was young so her mother supports the family working as a …