One of the supported girls with her mother in the family home This year we have been increasing our focus on girls’ education. We know that each extra year of education can have a huge impact on a woman’s life in Ethiopia: increasing the amount she can earn and the amount of control she has over life decisions concerning marriage, children and health. As one of our pilot projects we supported 12 families with daughters at risk of dropping out…
By Rachel Bowen. This year’s trip to Ethiopia began with a three-hour drive to Assela to the South of Addis Ababa where girls and staff met children and teachers from the Elementary School where they would be working for the project phase of the trip. The girls were overwhelmed by the welcome reception of singing, dancing and applause and they were presented with some beautiful flowers. The girls then experienced their first taste of Ethiopian food – injera and tibs…
By Bernadette Dillon. Eyerus and Hana in their school uniform I was out in Gondar to visit Link Ethiopia’s Donkey Library project which my Rotary Club, Weighton Wolds had helped to fund for a year. Whilst I was there I had the opportunity to visit a child I sponsor – Eyerus. I jumped at the chance. I made the short journey across town with two Link Ethiopia staff: I was taken to her school – Felege Abiyot – which has…
As part of our 20th anniversary, Link Ethiopia has planned a series of events in UK and Ethiopian schools celebrating education, cultural exchange and creativity. We have worked alongside community arts organisation, Kinetika, visiting schools to help them create beautiful flags using images from their school and town. You can read about the both the creation of the Gondar flags and the UK flags in previous blogs. The third stage of the project took place at the end of May…
By Amy Hearn One of the sponsored families I met accompanying Sitotaw on a home visit I decided to spend some of my gap year to gain some valuable teaching experience by volunteering with Link Ethiopia for 3 months, before going on to study for a post graduate in education which would enable me to teach in primary schools in Ireland. Prior to travelling to Ethiopia I was a little nervous about what to expect from a country that I…
Impington college students making their community flag It’s not every day that students get to engage their creative sides on a project that will be seen around the world. Following our successful flag making project in Gondar, Link Ethiopia in partnership with Kinetika, an community-art organisation, has worked with 10 schools across the UK to match the 10 Ethiopian schools. Each school created a flag by creating images that represented them and their community. Together the flags encapsulate the purpose…
Fasiledes Secondary students joining in the Meskel square celebration In the streets of Gondar people look out of their houses and shops to see a phalanx of singing children coalescing on Meskel square. Each group is carrying a multicoloured 10 foot flag full of images of local life. Looking to mark the 20th anniversary of Link Ethiopia’s work changing lives through education, we decided to build a around our celebration around the all key contributors to our work, including UK…
