By Tafesse Woubshet | Executive Director
On May 10, 2016, The Fregenet Foundation embarked on a new fundraising venture in partnership with GlobalGiving. This exciting development will allow us to reach a larger audience and expand our support network, all in support of bringing early childhood education to the poorest of children. Phase I of our project was entitled “Literacy Training for Needy Children.”
After a little over two months’ time, we are proud to announce that we have successfully completed the first phase of the fundraiser in accordance with GlobalGiving requirements. This success is your success! Without your generous donations and support this could not have happened. We thank you all enormously.
Moving forward, we are now on the second and final stage of this project entitled, “Educating 370 Needy Children of Ethiopia.” As you may recall, we opened an elementary school for impoverished children in the fall of 2004, enrolling only 30 kindergarten age children. Since then, we have added 30 new students every year and are now educating 340 children. In the coming new school season, our student population will reach 370.
Over these 12 years, we have provided our students not only with education but also with school uniforms, books and stationery, breakfast and lunch, health care, and other necessary support free of charge. We do all of this because Ethiopia’s preschools today are not part of the public school system, and parents of needy children cannot afford to pay for a private school education.
Just to give you a bird’s-eye view to what we do, we will share with you a profile of one of our students:
“Abdurahim Abrar is a nine-year-old third grade student of Fregenet School. His father died a few years ago so he has been raised by his single mother. His mother makes a living from selling goods on the side of the road and is also raising her other son, a younger brother of Abdurahim.
They are living in a small one room house, sharing kitchen and latrine services with other neighbors. The road side retail is so insignificant for supporting their family, they often are forced to seek additional assistance from others.
Our staff members have talked to Abdurahim’s mother once as part of their routine family visit. In her interview, she said ‘The support my son gets from the school in the form of free food, education, learning materials, uniform and basic health care is so great that I have no words to express my gratitude. Had it not been for this support we would have been at a loss. I wish Fregenet could expand itself in other cities and across the country, so that all families in my situation would be supported.’”
Abdurahim is just one among many other children born to a destitute family that is fighting for mere survival. It is here that Fregenet intervenes and works to make a difference by enrolling kids in our school.
Abdurahim and the other hundreds of students keep our lives exciting, challenging and full of hope for tomorrow. It is because of them that we never turn back from our quest to provide an education for all children in need. It is a long journey, but we are eager to expand our efforts and reach as many underprivileged children as our recourses allow. With your continued support, we will never stop marching!
Thank you very much.
The Fregenet Foundation
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