LEAP

Lalibela Education Alternative Project in Ethiopia

In Lalibela, northern part of Ethiopia, where only 42 per cent of the population can read and write, educating children is more important than ever. According to a report from UNESCO, Per capita income is estimated at around £60 per year. Illiteracy rate in 2003 was 77 per cent for females and 55 per cent for males. The right to education should be the right for every child, whatever, creed, race or religion. But, the children in Lalibela are not fortunate enough to have this right.  The majority of people in the area are too poor to send their children to school. Their dream is sending their children to school, but they can’t afford to do it.  

LEAP, a Scottish charity, set up in 2005, by Sandy Littlejohn and Sirgut Yadeta, is trying to help these people to realise their dream. The founders decided to set up the charity after observing the grounding poverty while on a holiday in the area in 2002. 

If there are five children in a family, a decision has to be made whom to send to school, as it is financially impossible to send them all.  Normally only one or two would make it. The children who are sent to school end up in a class with over 100 kids where there is only one teacher. These rooms have no chairs, tables or any learning materials.  They attend a morning or afternoon shifts, and that is after walking 2 to 5 km.  Yet, these children are the privileged ones.  The fate of the rest is to look after the sheep and goats while their parents work in the fields. These children really want to go to school and their families want very much to send them. Unfortunately, they can’t. (Website sponsors: party poker bonus code Party Poker sign up bonus party poker )

LEAP wants to give these children a chance for a better life. It wants to put a  smile on the children’s face and give a boost to their future by giving them the simple opportunity of education. Local farmers have agreed to give up their land for the project. They said that if there had to be a choice between the land for farming and a school for their children, there was no choice.  The project’s objectives are to provide lasting change in the region and ultimately relieve its extreme poverty by constructing an educational facility for five hundred youth, and to create income-generating projects by giving skill development training. (Website sponsors: party bingo bonus code Party Poker sign up bonus party poker )