Unfortunately, there is still unrest in the Amhara Region which makes the support we give to the students even more important. I hoped to attend the student’s meeting in September but it was still impossible for me to attend. Teshale organised and conducted the meeting himself. I am delighted that 40 of our students managed to attend.
We started in September 2023 supporting 51 students. Abbey Desale made the decision to leave the education system and is no longer being supported by the fund. Three of our students graduated from University. We therefore had 47 continuing students. It was agreed to accept one new student into the fund. This means we started in September 2024 supporting 48 students. 11 students are in University, 12 at College and 25 are in the school system.
The Ethiopian Government made the decision to devalue the Ethiopian Birr. Last year the exchange rate was 63.34 Birr to the pound. At the moment, the exchange rate is 152 birr to the pound. Because of this, we have increased the student monthly payments from 1,100 Birr to 2,000 Birr. This is still the equivalent of approximately £18 per month. I am aware it is little but it is enough to enable the students to remain in the education system. Last year 769,040 birr was distributed which is approximately £12,000.
The fund could not operate without the team of people who give their time to ensure the smooth operation. Many thanks to June, Margaret and Joan who keep everything running in Scotland and to Tefera , Habtamu and Teshale who look after everything in Ethiopia. Welcome to Sandra who has agreed to join the Scottish committee thus giving a more youthful input to the decisions made. Thanks to Getnet for the support he gives to the Ethiopian committee. Thanks also to Simon, in London, who donates his time and his computing skills to keep the website updated. Thanks to Isobel for verifying our annual accounts.
Many thanks for all the support you give to the fund. The number of young people we can support is directly related to the money we have in the bank.
Susan
You can download the full SASF Fund Report 2024 as a PDF for printing or offline viewing.
If you are able to help us then please use our Just Giving fund raising account to contribute.