In January 2008, Kevin, Christine and Winston visited Shashemene to view progess in the temporary school and to have meetings with the school committee to discuss the new school project.161 children are presently completing their first semester and making very good progress, particularly as they have only been in school for 4 months. We were really thrilled to see the enthusiasm and commitment from the children and the four teachers who each have a class of 40 children.
We had a lengthy discussion with the committee in relation to temporary school issues and the new school project. The committee have been busy over the past year obtaining approval from various goverment agencies and at this point, all approvals have been obtained.
The priorities to move the project forward from here are as follows:
1. 30% deposit of total budget is required to go into local bank account. This will be shared 50:50 between Ethiopian Schools Project N. Ireland and Schools for Humanity USA
2. The school committee will complete a final submission of a 3 year plan to the local government office.
3. Upon completion of 1 & 2 the area of land will be formally identified and secured for the school site
4. An architect will provide a detailed construction plan
5. The school construction will be put out to tender and a local construction company selected for the contract.
Now, back home in N. Ireland our immediate priority is to raise our part of the 30% total budget and to send this over to Shashemene before the end of February. Our co-partners in the USA are engaged in raising their share of the deposit at the same time.
If you would like to contribute to this fund, please contact us by email: info@hopeandafuture.co.uk