Susan Aitchison Scholarship Fund

With grateful thanks to everyone who has supported.
You are giving us the chance to make our dreams become reality.

We are now into year 3 of the fund.

Please accept my apologies for the delay in writing the annual report. Nothing happens quickly in Ethiopia and I have been waiting to see where all our young people will be this year.

In year 2 the equivalent of £4,476 has been distributed to the students. The official University results for semester 2 are not given out until the students return to University. I am still waiting to be sent the results for 5 students, which will mean additional bonus payments of approximately £50.

We made the decision to take on no new students this year as we still had the 16 students from last year. This is the last year of support for Getenet and Tarko. Desta may also finish this year. This will mean we can probably take on new people to support next year. We will issue application forms at the end of January. The Lalibelan committee will screen and check the validity of the applications and select the most deserving 10. These applications will be sent to the Scottish committee who match the applications with the bank balance and choose those to support. There will be positive discrimination towards young girls who show the potential to benefit from education. The number we can support is directly related to the money in the bank.

I am delighted with the performance of the young people. They have been taking full advantage of our support. Yonas was home during the summer and was fêted by the whole of his village. His achievement is something they perhaps don’t fully understand, but they are so proud of him. We nearly didn’t give Destaw support and he has turned out to be such a lovely young man. He is just so grateful for our support.

The bank balance is looking healthy thanks to everyone’s generosity. I hope that everyone has received a personal thank you. If not, please accept my apologies and my thanks. A special mention must go to Hamilton Bridge Club. They have ownership of the fund, as they were responsible for the first money that set it up. They continue this support every year. A special thank you must go to Joan and Jack who donated the £760 they received in wedding presents to the fund. This money alone keeps 2 young people in the education system for a year.

In August we held a meeting in Lalibela for all the students we support. 13 of the 16 were able to attend. They asked if they could form an association in order to keep in touch with each other. Fiker agreed to coordinate this association. Realistically, as the students are now all over Ethiopia, they will only be able to meet together every summer.

Be assured that 100% of the money given reaches the young people. Both committees give their time with no charge to the fund. I am taking this opportunity to give my personal thanks to:
Tefera, Habtamu and Mamo from Lalibela and June, Margaret and Maureen from Scotland. All your time and effort is much appreciated.

I am the lucky one as I get to meet the young people and I receive all the thanks from them. These thanks are due to all of you who have given support and I would like to pass them on to you. If you have not yet visited Lalibela, I hope that you will soon have time to come and receive in person the thanks you are due.

Year one has now passed with very few problems. 9 of the 10 students we supported have completed the year.

Adane Akane was the only ‘drop-out’ from last year’s students. As he did not get the teacher training course he wanted, he did a second year at the vocational school. He has not been getting support from the fund to do this. I am delighted to say that, at the third attempt, he has achieved a high enough grade to gain entry to grade 11. He is a very happy person and comes to my Saturday English class for additional support. He will perhaps apply to the fund again in the future!

The education system here is very ‘challenging’! Students don’t start grade 1 until they are 7 years old. They then do 8 years in elementary school. There are elementary schools all over the region. At the end of grade 8, they sit national examinations and, if successful, they are promoted to grade 9.
All grade 9 and 10 students from the area attend secondary school in Lalibela. This means 2,000+ students in grade 9 and the same in grade 10. The course is very academic and there is no choice of subjects. All students expect to go to University and most have ambitions to be a doctor, as doctors are the most respected people in Ethiopia. There are again National Examinations at the end of grade 10. However, there are only 200 places in grade 11, so 1,800 young people are ‘failures’, as they don’t get a place in the preparatory school.

In Lalibela there is a vocational school, which offers a variety of skill courses. Students have to pay to attend, and many just don’t have the money. The fees can vary, but are approximately 100 Birr per month (£5). Students at college refer to themselves as 10+ students.

Grades 11 and 12 are taught in the preparatory school in Lalibela. There are again national examinations at the end of grade 12. Students are asked to give 5 course choices. The government then decides who will go where. Hopefully, they will be placed in one of their 5 choices!

There are still many children who do not enter the education system. The Ethiopian government has committed to having every 7 year-old child in the system by the year 2015. This has meant children being forced to school, against the parent’s wishes. As there are not enough school buildings, teachers and resources, many children give up, even before the end of grade 1.

A grade 1 teacher is paid approximately £30 per month and will regularly have classes of 70+, few textbooks and little paper. It is very much ‘chalk and talk’, except chalk is sometimes in short supply!

A problem the committee in Lalibela had this year was finding girls for our support. Girls in the education system tend to be from wealthier families, and therefore not needing support. The committee are going to try to find younger girls that we could support through the system.

The 9 students from last year are being supported for another year. 61 applications were made for support this year. From these we have taken on an additional 7 students, giving a total of 16 young people that we are helping. As you will see, they are not all the ‘clever’ ones. We have agreed to support a number of them at vocational school, and therefore give them an opportunity to find employment in the future.

Thank you for your support.

It takes very little money to keep a young person in the education system. Every donation is much appreciated.

Susan