Thanks to the mother to mother discussions!, Tazeb wants to continue her education despite early marriage
Tazeb is a 19-year-old woman attending the mother to mother discussions organized by Hiwot Ethiopia in Doa Kombulcha. She already has one child and was married at age 17, a result of an arranged marriage by her family. She dropped out of school at grade 6. She started attending the discussions 3 months ago and has been learning about family planning, sexual and reproductive health, home economics and harmful traditional practices. When asked what topic has been most interesting for her, she instantly responded that early marriage has been the most interesting for her. She realized that she had made a mistaken getting married so early and regrets dropping out of school. As a result of the discussions, she is eager to start her education again and space out her next birth to make this possible.
Peer to peer discussions teach important decision-making skills
Tamarfelege Zenebe is 19 years old, and is in 11th grade. Because the village he lives in (Dao Kombulcha) is so far away from Deneba, he rents a house in Deneba. He has participated in the peer to peer training for 12 weeks, and during this he has learnt about peer pressure, STIs, family planning, HTPs and life skills. At home he lives with his mother, father, two brothers and two sisters, and he has taken it upon himself to teach his family about the things discussed in the focus groups. He also feels that the discussions on peer pressure have taught him decision-making skills, and he is also advising his friends to correct their behavior, especially some of his friends who are chewing khat.
Peer to Peer discussions led to Dejen and his wife talking freely about SRH issues, and encouraged them to use family planning.
Dejene Lemma is a 24-year-old male, who has been participating in the project for the past 12 weeks, and seems a very eager participant in the peer-to-peer discussions. He went to school until 10th grade, which was when he dropped out, and now he works as a framer. He has a wife and together they have one child who is one year and two months old. He explains that from the discussion he has learnt more about issues such as family planning, home economics, sexual and reproductive health, harmful traditional practices and the importance of education and health. He wants more children, but only if he is able to make enough money to support them, something which was noted as important in the discussion on home economics. Dejene’s wife also takes part in the peer-to-peer discussions, and they talk freely about the issues discussed at home. The discussions have encouraged them to continue using family planning, and his wife has been using a contraceptive referred to as the Norplant Implant, to delay birth and to space the births of their children. Dejene also sees it as his role to pass on the knowledge that he has gained to his family.
If I didn’t live here, I might have dropped out from school and run away to a big city to look for other opportunities’//Safe Home keeps Zerfe in school
This is Zerfe Asfar. She is 17 years old, and started receiving support from Hiwot Ethiopia in 2015. Her family members are all farmers and were not supportive of her going to school, and instead wanted her to get married. When she was in grade 3 and 7 years old, her parents arranged her engagement.
By chance, when her aunt came to visit, Zerfe told her about the engagement. She then left her family and went to stay with her aunt, where she attended school until 5th grade, after which she went back to live with her family. Her father – a tailor – started losing his sight around this time, and wasn’t able to make as much money as he was before. This made it hard to support her education as she was renting a house in Deneba, where the school is, which was necessary since her village is 30 km away. This remained the situation until 9th grade, which is when she heard about the safe home from her friends who were also staying there. She was accepted, and has been receiving 200 birr/month, sanitary pad training, and life skill training ever since. Furthermore, she has been involved in the peer-to-peer discussion about SRH.
She expressed that she thought the sanitary pad training was very useful, since pads are hard to find in rural areas. She has been able to share what she has learned with other girls. The support she has received has allowed her to learn like other girls, and develop more confidence. She said ‘If I didn’t live here, I might have dropped out from school and run away to a big city to look for other opportunities’, so she’s very happy that she’s able to live at the safe home.
Attending class with full confidence!
Sosina Efirem is one of the young women receiving support from Hiwot Ethiopia and is visually impaired. She’s 24 years old and was born in Deneba, the woreda town. Her parents got divorced when she was very young. Her father abandoned her and her mother and even they don’t know where he is living. When Sosina was three years old, they moved to a neighboring town where she attended school until 10th grade, when she moved back to Deneba. Her mother does not have the ability to afford expenses for educational materials and even Sosina’s basic needs including house rent. When she heard that Hiwot Ethiopia offered help to girls like herself, Sosina presented her case to the safe home committee. Ever since 2016, she has been one of the beneficiaries. The support she receives allows her to attend school just like other girls about which she said: ‘If I didn’t have the monthly financial support from Hiwot Ethiopia, I wouldn’t be able to attend school.’ Furthermore, she has received a cane, stationary materials, schoolbooks and financial support, which has helped to attend her class confidently. This has resulted in her recent completion of grade 10, and she is currently awaiting the national exam result. In the future she wants to be a journalist.
The safe home gives me relief to focus on my education!
Etagegn Tamre is one of the girls living in the Denba safe house in the Siyadebirna Wayu district. She is 18 years old and has been receiving support from Hiwot Ethiopia for three years. She was born and raised in a village called Chefe Amba Geregenib, which is 12 km from the center of Deneba where the secondary school is located. Her father unfortunately passed away, and since she has two sisters, her mother had no capacity to afford the costs of their education. This situation made it difficult for her to continue her education. She stayed in Chefe until she was in 6th grade, at which point her mother started pressuring her to get married. Her mother even forced her to sign an engagement; however, Etagen told her uncle about the engagement and he took her to Deneba. She stayed with her uncle until 9th grade, but this got too expensive. While she was in this situation, she was informed by SRH discussants of Hiwot Ethiopia that the organization has been helping girls like her. She then forwarded her case to the safe home committee and was accepted to join the safe home in 2013 to attend grade 10.
She expressed that living in safe house has given her considerably more time to study in a quiet environment, and that the reference books available in the safe home library contributed a lot to her educational achievements. The monthly financial support enabled her to afford school fees, and basic needs like food and clothing. Furthermore, she expressed that the trainings from Hiwot Ethiopia have been very useful. The basic life skills training made her know more about herself and has taught her to be confident. The SRH trainings have helped her understand reproductive issues and how to protect herself from sexual violence. The sanitary pad training has taught her how to make her own pads and she uses them herself. In addition, she has learned good habits from living with the other girls and sharing experiences at the safe house. She stated that, “Without Hiwot Ethiopia’s support, I would not have been able to attend TVET.” She is now a proud graduate of surveying level three from TVET College.
Asrat Werkagegnehu
Thanks to finanical and sheltor support, Asrat – who was able to escape early marriage. Thanks to Hiwot Ethiopia, Asrat attends college
This is Asrat Werkagegnehu. She was born and raised in the Senketana wukir kebele, which is 30 km from the center of a woreda called Deneba in which the secondary school is located. She attended elementary school in the village she grew up. After she completed 8th grade she was expected to join grade 9 in Deneba secondary school. After she completed grade 9 her family tried to make an early marriage arrangement for her. Contrary to the arrangement, Asrat got away from the situation and went to live with her brother, and she tried to continue attending grade nine with his support. However, he could no longer continue supporting her, because he did not have permanent income-generating job. While she was facing this challenge some schoolgirls informed her that the organization Hiwot Ethiopia helps at risk secondary school girls. She then brought her case to the safe-home committee and she was able to join in 2015. Even since, she has been one of the beneficiaries of the safe house and is currently attending TVET College level one.
She expressed that the trainings provided on SRH, life skills and local sanitary pad preparation contributed to her life in different ways. Furthermore, the monthly financial support also enabled her to fulfill some basic needs and helped with paying for her school fees.
Kalkidan Aderajew age 14, Feven Lemma age 14, Zayad Melkamu age 15 and Berke Belay age 16 are students composed from 7th and 8th grades who have easily made sanitary pad by themselves at Libe Fanna primary school. As most students come from poor family, girls at the school cannot afford to buy sanitary pads from the market. Kalkidan, and others said that before the CSE&I project intervene at their school, they did not have adequate information and knowledge on sexuality education and even sanitary pad preparation and utilization. Their parents do not support them as they have no skill and relevant awareness and knowledge on SRH issues and alternative solutions including how to make homemade sanitary pad. They added that it is difficult to talk about sexuality issues with family at home and with friends at school because of misconception about menstrual cycle. At times they were forced to stay absent from school during menstruation as they have no one to understand their situation to support them.
After they received SRH related information and homemade sanitary pads skill training, Kalkidan, and others have easily made sanitary pad that portray easy access to all girls at the school and also to their family members. They are all exited while making the pads by just simply using any type of cloths they already have at their home. They are now shared their experiences and skill for other peers at school and at their village. Kalkidan and others further said: “We are grateful to Hiwot Ethiopia and the CSE&I project. The CSE&I project increased our knowledge on sexual and reproductive health issues and that made easy and affordable access to sanitary pad at home and at school including open discussion about menstruation with peers and parents and use of it without any fear. We are able to regularly attend our education with confidence. Our gender club members are skilled with sanitary pad making that made easy to train others. Above all teachers are skilled to make sanitary pad with the application of sewing machines. Hiwot has availed sewing machines and materials to produce sanitary pads at our school. We have started to make sanitary pads guided by our lead teachers to enable easy access and use by our fellow girls.”
Feven Lemma is a 14 years old and grade 8 student (with nice drawing skill). She is a peer educator for CSE&I project of Hiwot Ethiopia and a member to the gender club at Lebe Fanna primary school. After her experience, she said (translated from Amharic into English) ‘‘Before the CSE&I project was implemented in our school, I was afraid to discuss SRH related matters with my friends and even with my family, because I a am afraid as I consider it a taboo. Of course before the peer educators training that I received, I didn’t have intensive information and knowledge on issues of sexual education, adolescent sexual and reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, STIs and life skill.
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By the time the peer educators training was organized, I was chosen by the gender club leader to attend it. The training changed my knowledge and understanding of adolescent sexual reproductive health, STIs and my skill to communicate with others including my family. Ohoo…I am proud to get the opportunity as peer educator that I am able to be part of the positive outcomes in my school. For the last five months with full confidence and skills as a change agent, I have conducted discussions and taught quite a number of school friends through peer to peer discussion approaches. I also facilitated sessions for discussion with my parents on sexual reproductive health, STIs and HIV/AIDS. Now students at our school have obtained relevant information and aware on SRH issues and life skill approaches. They are openly discussing the issue among themselves and with teachers and parents. We girls are benefiting from it that enable us to feel safe from SRH related hazards, able to develop confidence to protect ourselves from any SRH related harms. We are now feeling safe and able to attend our education. I am determined to continue my contribution. Thank you for giving me such opportunity.”