Asra Hawariat School Fund – Ethiopia

£10,000

In June, Bishops’ Appeal granted the Asra Hawariat School Fund £10,000 to maintain their school in Gulele, a slum on the edges of Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian Capital.

The school offers free primary school education to over one thousand children and teenagers (with an emphasis on providing education for girls), as well as further education and skills training in other institutions for our graduates. Places are only offered to those who cannot afford to go to government schooling. The school is regularly one of the top performers in the national grade 8 examinations.

Aside from the school, the Asra Hawariat  also have a health clinic which, in addition to basic health care for the students, does a lot of health-awareness training in the community. There is also a kindergarten, a library and a vocational farm which serves as an educational tool, a source of income, and as a supply of vegetables and milk for families in the child-aid scheme.

It has always been the policy of Asra Hawariat not to charge students or parents, and this has led to low salaries for staff and a budget deficit. Several teachers resigned suddenly due to low pay, creating an urgent need for greater funder. Bishops’ Appeal are proud to provide the financial support needed to maintain the school and to hire new teachers.

Bishops’ Appeal understands the need to provide adequate salaries for teachers in order to maintain a high quality of education for the students. It is hoped that this grant will help the committed staff of Asra Hawariat to continue their highly valuable work in the community.