Further enrollment of numerous children from the Fuga community – school materials , construction of classrooms

The Fuga community is most severely discriminated against politically, culturally, economically and socially; they are subjected to a low standard of living and in fact, an inhumane stigma simply because of their tribal identity and way of life. See the earlier detailed reports:

https://bachmann-foundation.org/2022/03/11/march-2022-ethiopia-the-fuga-a-socially-excluded-and-economically-disenfranchised-tribe/

Over 80% of the community’s school-age children have delayed or never started school. They lacked everything, especially money to buy school supplies. Finally, they were employed in child labor, in the processing of clay. Some were left with nothing but the fate of street children in nearby small towns. This is a violation of children’s rights. Article 32 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states, “Children have the right to be protected from work that is hazardous or harmful to their education, health or development.” So, when children are forced to work, they have the right to safety and fair pay.

PBF became aware of this situation. I visited the children and their families frequently. It was immediately clear to me that the commitment to this community is a core task of PBF. No school-age child should be kept from attending school because of the lack of school supplies. Fuga leaders, as well as others, helped motivate parents to enroll their children in school. This difficult work of persuasion required the dismantling of many prejudices on various sides, since the value of education was recognized only with difficulty.

Finally, it has become possible to pass on sufficient material for two school years not only to children from the Fuga Community, but also from the neighboring Demote-Gali School.

As the number of students is growing, the local authority urged us to build additional classrooms. PBF therefore built an additional block of four classrooms, which is currently being completed to solve the upcoming space problems. The Fuga Community is immensely grateful to PBF for providing them, and especially their children, with a dignified living situation. It sees God’s blessing and accompaniment in this. There is still a lot to do!