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I visited in March 2017 to assess the development and encourage Worku and then again in October 2017 with John Stanley from Chase Oaks Church to establish budgets and develop a transition plan from external funding to local funding.
The school re-opened for the new school year in September with 1,250 children - 560 in the kindergarten and 690 in the primary section. This was up from about 400 at the end of the previous year.
The school now has 90 employees; teachers, administration and other personnel, bus drivers, teacher aids, grounds people, cleaners etc.
Finally, after five years electricity is at the gate of the school property. It will be connected soon which will save a lot of time and money and make work a lot easier.
Many of the students come from families that are part of the University faculty. They are very impressed by the standards compared to any other school. The word spreads.
The school is able to fund charity projects as part of operations so as much as possible tax will be kept to a minimum by donations.
The church planting is struggling a little. It appears that the enthusiasm for sending out has dropped, possibly because Worku has not gone there so often and Pastor Damtew is a little older and more settled as a pastor in one church. Worku is putting the pressure on them to remain active and to be self-sustaining. This may also cause a little push back. There is one training session remaining for this year and there will continue to be training in the coming year.
Senior Care Programmes (ETH02b, l and m)The Senior Care programme is the largest in the Amhara region. They are now in a network with other charities. The government keeps a close eye on them all and this has been approved as the best charity by the government. Their admin is around 13%, by far the lowest of any organization. Some were over 30%, that is the maximum allowed. Worku hopes to be able to raise a lot of income for the charity within Ethiopia before too much longer. This would be from local donors and NGOs. The government is putting pressure on to become internally sustainable.
The blind young people continue to do well. There are now two teachers employed to tutor them as some have gone on to Grade 9 which requires a secondary school teacher. The minimum mark last year was 84%. They have looked at shifting them to better accommodation but it is very difficult. There is a lot of prejudice out in the community so it is still safer for them to remain at the Blind Institute. Teringo visits them every week and Worku visits them every month to encourage them. The local school is catering for them very well and the principal and teachers are wonderful. There are nine students, two are in Grade 7, two in Grade 8, two in grade 9, two in grade 10 and one is at teacher training college.
The school has been accredited by the government as a model school for all others to emulate. There are many bi products to what they are doing which is being recognized by the community:
1) the employment of 90 people
2) the work for many businesses in the building/construction
3) lifting the academic standards of the other schools by becoming a model
4) improving the standards of English for the students and their families
SchoolIt was determined that the best way forward was to complete the building so that next year the number of students could go above 1,600, close to 2,000. This would mean the school could cover costs at the school, pay the bank loan, fund all the ministry at the current rate and give a small profit.
Chase Oaks Church has subsequently committed to fund the amount required to complete the building and purchase two more school buses.
A lot of discussion was had around the support of church planters. Chase Oaks, Worku and BHW were all agreed that this is the primary purpose of the partnership and that we should by all means attempt to ensure this continued. There are currently 23 church planters being supported in the Gumuz area. Churches are being encouraged to take over support but it is a challenge in that area.
The current church planters will be shifted to a different support basis. They will be supported at the current rate for six months and at the end of that time each will be given four goats. This will set them up for ongoing family support. In the future, any new church planters coming on will be supported in the same way.
Once the new support structure kicks in it would be opportune for more Foundations for Farming training to be done in the Gumuz area. Some of those trained are trying to implement it but there is a good platform to develop it further.
The ongoing pressure on Worku is very intense. He has so many roles, all of them stressful.
That the building will be completed on time for the next academic year. There is a lot of work to do.
1) That the school is now up and operating and even this year will begin contributing to the ministry.
2) That the widows are being so well cared for.
3) That the blind students are progressing well in their studies.
4) That the transition of the church planters to the new support will go well and be successful.
5) That Worku will continue to be able to work the way he has been up until now.
After nine years the dream is being realized and the income generation is beginning to kick in. Chase Oaks have been very flexible and generous about getting this done and could not have been more helpful.