Save the Children and Mimi's Building Blocks

Bringing Education to Children in Need in Rural Ethiopia

Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world. Roughly 30 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, and this figure rises considerably in rural areas. More than 17 percent of children ages 7–14 do not go to school at all. For these most vulnerable families, poverty means that children have no choice but to work or look after siblings.

With the support of Mimi’s Building Blocks, Save the Children has been able to construct four schools, outfit them with clean water sources and latrines and most recently, introduce preschool programs in the remote Tigray Region. Save the Children’s schools enlist the participation of parents both to involve them in their children’s education and to ensure they feel ownership of their village schools.

Save the Children is grateful to Mimi O’Hagan for her vision of educating Ethiopian children in Tigray and to all of those who have helped make her vision a reality.

Donate Now to Support the Mimi’s Building Blocks Education Initiative in Tigray, Ethiopia

Tigray is located in northern Ethiopia, a particularly hot and arid region. Eight in ten families in Tigray rely on agriculture for their livelihood. Continuous land degradation, drought and famine, excessive deforestation, overgrazing and continuous traditional ways of farming have contributed to a drastic reduction in agricultural productivity.

The limited economic opportunities go hand in hand with the bleak educational landscape. Though the regional government and communities have been working to meet the Millennium Development Goal of education for all Ethiopian children by 2015, many locations in Tigray are at risk of failure.

Of the children who do attend school, many do so at unfurnished open-air classrooms (see left), exposed to the heat and dust, or at threadbare shelters. Clean water and sanitary facilities are largely absent, as is electricity. The great majority of adults are illiterate. Education for these pastoralists has been almost non-existent.

Mimi's Building Blocks: Now Four Schools

In the fall of 2006, Mimi’s Building Blocks began raising funds to help Save the Children build schools in Tigray, an area designated as “being in urgent need of education.” There are now four Mimi’s Building Blocks schools in Tigray: Mai Cheka, Afgol, Adi-Golgol and Dagia.

Like all Save the Children programs, Mimi’s Building Blocks incorporates a “Community Action Cycle,” to ensure maximum understanding, participation and eventual ownership of programs by community members. In Tigray, women carry rocks to a school site (below, left) and men chisel building blocks (below, right) and help dig the wells for the four-classroom school, administration building and four latrines for girls and for boys.

Water and Electricity

Providing a water source for each school is a critical part of Mimi’s Building Blocks. Clean water has a significant impact on children’s health and nutrition by reducing disease and the spread of waterborne illness. Teaching children about hygiene, including hand and face washing, is an important educational activity at each school. In areas like Tigray, where illiteracy is very high, children learn about health and hygiene through songs and drama. In this way, children can teach their younger siblings and even parents or grandparents what they learned in school.

Electricity, like clean water, is unavailable in this area of Tigray. Mimi’s Building Blocks has been able to fund solar panels at two of the schools to power radios that broadcast English and other school lessons recorded by the Ministry of Education. These additional lessons will add significantly to the curriculum.

Early Childhood Development

By early 2010, Mimi’s Building Blocks was able to bring Early Childhood Development programs to three of the schools. Early childhood development is sometimes referred to as “the engine of development” for its critical role in helping young mothers and young children who have little cognitive, nutritional or emotional support. Save the Children’s internationally recognized programs have shown that children who participate in high-quality preschool are more likely to enroll in primary school, plan their families, become productive adults and educate their own children. Thanks to Mimi’s Building Blocks, schools in Afgol, Mai Cheka and Dagia now have Early Childhood Development programs in dedicated buildings near the primary schools. Preschoolers also have access to a piped-in water source.

Student Enrollment

We are pleased to report that 639 students, half of whom are girls, are attending class in the four schools. For some, this has reduced their daily walking distance from 5.5 kilometers to 2.5. As evidenced by the very positive views expressed by the regional government and school communities, our partnership is playing a decisive role in improving the quality of basic education and providing equitable access for girls and boys.

Save the Children recognizes that student enrollment is lower than the schools’ capacity, which we attribute to families’ need for children to support their agricultural livelihoods (cattle herding and harvesting) and a lack of awareness on the importance of education. In response, we have provided training to 28 Parent-Teacher Association members to create awareness of the value of education and increase the sense of ownership in the schools. These training sessions help implement school management and community mobilization techniques. The PTAs are an important link among communities, government bureaus, Save the Children and area partners. We also conduct annual refresher training for teachers, including teaching methodology, first aid and basic health and nutrition.

Your Giving has Touched Many

Prior to 2007, Abadit (left) had never stepped foot in a school. Sadly, she was no different from her three older brothers and two older sisters: none of them had ever been to school. That year, Mimi’s Building Blocks and Save the Children were able to help Abadit and all the children in her community by constructing a school right in the middle of their village.

Today, Mai Cheka Primary School educates 152 children, including Abadit. She says, “If the school had not been built, I would have remained illiterate.” Abadit is thriving! She tells us that her favorite subject is math and that she’d like to one day become a teacher.

Mai Cheka PTA member Birhane (right) says, “Save the Children and Mimi not only built a school, but also built our spirit by visiting us. She built up our confidence to send our children to school and to see our contributions develop through community efforts.”

Save the Children is profoundly grateful to Mimi and her generous friends for demonstrating an unfailing commitment to Ethiopian children and their education, and for tirelessly championing their needs through Mimi’s Building Blocks. The overwhelming welcome at each school’s dedication when Mimi and her friends visited bespoke their gratitude. Each ceremony was a humbling recognition of these communities’ cognizance and immense gratitude for bringing learning and the promise of a better life to theirs and future generations. We look forward to a continued partnership and new opportunities to improve the lives of Ethiopian children in need.

Together we can Ensure Ongoing Improvement in the Lives of Ethiopian Children

Donate Now to Support the Mimi’s Building Blocks Education Initiative in Tigray, Ethiopia

To learn more, visit Mimi's web site