Help mothers, help children thrive

When you help mothers, you help children thrive.

As a children’s charity that’s the theory behind so much of the work we do to support women.

We believe it, we act upon it… it’s always fantastic when we see it in action. This happened recently, when mothers in a Global Care-supported self-help group in Ethiopia independently used their new skills and profits to start a preschool for their children.

As is frequently the case in rural Ethopia, their village near Koshe is so far from the nearest government school that many young children are unable to attend until the age of nine or ten, as it’s too far for younger children to walk.

Starting school late makes it hard to catch up on learning, and many children soon drop out again.

The group of mums hoped that launching a preschool locally would enable their children to start learning on time and make better progress when they reached government school.

That’s exactly the kind of outcome we love to see!

Now, this community-led initiative has had a wonderful boost thanks to further support from Global Care.

With a £5,000 grant from the Haramead Trust and additional funding from our Children at Risk programme, Global Care has completed and refurbished the unfinished wattle and daub building used by the preschool, built new latrines and dug a well, so children have access to clean water on site.

We have also supplied chairs, mats, learning resources and outdoor play equipment.

Now the preschool has 100 students aged between five and ten and is a huge asset to families in this disadvantaged community.

In a culture which often disparages girls’ education, our partners have worked hard to encourage parents to send their daughters to school, so it’s a tribute to their persistence that 47 of the students are girls.

“The goal of our self-help groups was always to help mothers to help children thrive – to equip mums with the skills and resources they need to support their families, and especially to improve their children’s access to education.” explains Steve Wicking, Global Care’s Head of Operations. “Clearly, we were thrilled when this group of mothers opened their own preschool, benefitting their whole community.

“It just shows what can happen when you empower women to take the actions they know their families need. It’s been so exciting to be able to support them further, by improving the facilities and the quality of the education on offer, with brighter, cleaner classrooms, new learning resources and play equipment, and improved sanitation.

“We have every confidence that the preschool here will continue to go from strength to strength, and give a massive thank you to the donors who made it possible!”

Our Children At Risk partners make monthly donations of any sum from £3 upwards, supporting a fund which equips us to meet one-off needs like this, to act in emergencies or to kick-start new projects. Join the Children At Risk team using the form below!