Many tell me that they love all the pictures and have missed them in the reports during the troubles.
As you will see, we managed to have the meeting with the students in September 2022 and I am happy to be able to give you all the up to date photographs.
Our software engineering student, Getnet Adane, came to Lalibela for the meeting and, with the hire of a generator, set up a zoom link. I was able to speak to the students while sitting in comfort in Scotland. Many thanks Getnet for all your hard work and expertise.
Since the meeting, a peace treaty has been signed. The electricity supply has recently been returned to Lalibela which means water can now be pumped into the town. Everything is looking very positive.
The disruption from COVID restrictions, followed by the war, has meant disruption to the education system. The timings of student promotion to the next grade at school and to graduations have been variable for the last 3 years. I am pleased to report that the fund has been operational throughout all the disruption. This is thanks to the efforts of the Lalibelan committee and, in particular, to Teshale, the fund manager.
When I reported in April 2022, we were supporting 47 students. Since then, 11 students have graduated from University and College and are now out of the programme. Unfortunately, one young student, Temesgen Destaw, did not take the opportunity offered and left the programme. We accepted 13 new students into the programme in September and are now supporting 48 young people.
10 are at University, 7 at College and 31 are in the school system.
We distributed 685,012 Birr (Approximately £11,500) in the 2021/2022 academic year. The exchange rate has averaged about 60 Birr to £1. Because of this inflation, we increased the student monthly payments to 1,100 Birr as from September. (Approximately £18).
A little money goes a long way in Ethiopia. We can only operate the fund because of your support. Many thanks for keeping thinking about us. All our young people send their thanks for the opportunity you are giving them.
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. Thanks also to Simon, in London, who donates his time and his computing skills to keep the website updated. Thanks to Maureen for verifying our annual accounts.
Susan
You can download the full SASF Fund Report 2022 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.