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Written by Mathilde

The short answer is – quite a lot! Read on for the slightly longer answer.

Link Ethiopia sponsorship programme is in place to support children who face greater hurdles when accessing education than their peers. These barriers are often simple; not being able to afford a school uniform or the basic resources necessary to complete school work. Because of their difficult life circumstances, these children and young people may also greatly benefit from additional tuition or extra-curricular training & support – so we make this possible too.

Volunteers supporting Link Ethiopia often step into this role, and with their experience, training and insight they can offer these children that vital bit of support – support they are unlikely to have seen before. What do you think the impact of this can be?

Kalkidan Grade 7 and BarbaraKalkidan, in Grade 7, learning with Barbara, Link Ethiopia’s volunteer teacher and mentor.

A great recent example of this is the English training sessions run in Yekatit 23 Elementary School in Ethiopia. Barbara, whose background is in education, put together and ran a tuition club for the older sponsored children at the school. Barbara focused on this area because

the end of school Grade 8 exams play a big part in determining what doors remain open for future education and life“.

Kalkidan, Betelhem and Mekdes were three students who attended those sessions. Shy at first, they nevertheless worked extremely hard and gained confidence over the duration of the lessons. The focus was on learning that was relevant to their curriculum and to succeed in their upcoming exams. One method used was phonics, to improve their English reading & writing ability. In the final session, they put this learning into practice and wrote a short letter to their sponsors, detailing and illustrating their own lives and their recent progress.

The three students really enjoyed the sessions and had the right attitude to learn a lot from them. At the end they received a well-deserved certificate to attest to their hard work and dedication. These sessions were a success and a good way to focus on the specific needs of each child. We will work with Barbara to continue the English tuition and phonics programme next school year.

Mulusew, school director presents Betelhem with her certificateBetelhem received her certificate from Link Ethiopia, Barbara and her school Teacher.

The volunteer program is a wonderful opportunity to change children live’s through education. By helping them to learn, progress and succeed, volunteers like Barbara contributed valuable time and experience to build these young people’s future. You too can take part to this adventure and make a real difference. Link Ethiopia is currently looking for volunteer teachers and librarians. And you can learn more about our work with phonics here.

The sponsorship program gives you the opportunity to donate what amounts to few pence a day to enable a child to go to school, have the books & resources needed to succeed at school.

Betelham (left) and Kalkidan

Students doing their English homework

Link Ethiopia