Hope for Nakurchel as she rejoins school

In the remote village of Dasenech District, just at the Ethiopia-Kenya border, lives a schoolgirl, Nakurchel. At the tender age of 12, she could not go to school because of a relentless drought that had affected her village for years. It is a crisis that threatens the community’s livelihoods, increases the risk of disease, and fuels mass migration. Nakurchel’s family experienced such hardship.

As Nakurchel watched her peers leave for school every morning, a deep sense of sadness and longing would wash over her. She wished to be with them, to learn and grow just like any other child. But instead, she was left at home, burdened with the responsibility of taking care of the household chores. She gazed out into the distance, imagining a life filled with knowledge and opportunities. "I felt so lonely and kept asking myself when my time would come to go to school like other children," Nakurchel envisioned, not knowing what the future held for her.

Her dream finally came true in April 2023 when World Vision initiated an Accelerated Learning Programme in her village in collaboration with UNICEF, which funds the Education Cannot Wait project. The project aimed to provide quality learning opportunities for children who had missed out on learning in class due to the recurrent drought.

Nakurchel's excitement knows no bounds, and she often eagerly anticipates possible things. She was elated when she was selected to be a part of the life-changing initiative. “My first day in school was amazing. I was both nervous and excited,” she says. She was joyful when she received a school bag and exercise books. She couldn't believe that she was finally given the opportunity she had been looking forward to for so long. With each passing day, she immersed herself in her studies, eager to make the most of them. The impact of the Accelerated Learning Programme on Nakurchel's life was profound. Not only did it give her the knowledge and skills she had yearned for, but it also gave her confidence.

"There were times when I felt worthless and left behind, but now, because of the project, I am hopeful to achieve my aspirations," she says. With the support she receives from her teachers and fellow students, Nakurchel has continued to work hard with enthusiasm. In a few months, she began expressing an interest in identifying more and more letters of the alphabet and developing numerical skills. After a few more classes, she will join her friends in the third grade, and she is super excited about it. World Vision has reached 1,056 children, of whom 492 are girls, in the Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP) in the Dasenech District of the South Omo Zone alone.

In addition to education opportunities, Nakurchel is also benefiting from the school feeding programme, which improves health outcomes. Eating at least once a day at the feeding centre has reduced hunger and improved her nutrition and cognition. She says, “The regular eating is really good. The oats I consume are delicious, and I like them.”

The project also offers an Accelerated School Readiness (ASR) program for children aged six to seven years old. It provides a full package of learning materials and capacity-building activities for education professionals. The project is being implemented in 27 learning centres in five districts of the country's four regions, namely, Oromia, South Ethiopia, Sidama and South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region. So far, the project has reached over 23,000 students in the four regions. 

By Bethel Shiferaw, Communication Coordinator (HEA), World Vision Ethiopia