Like many of us experienced, 16-year-old Danochew has high expectations on his first day of 9th grade. This fall he is attending the new Robit High School Glimmer just built. While in the United States a teenage boy might look forward making the school’s football team, here in rural Ethiopia Danoachew looks forward to something much more basic. This new school means he will get a full stomach and community support, while his family socks away a little savings.

Without this school, Danoachew’s family would pay about $35/month (or half a month’s salary) to send him 11-miles away to board during the week to attend the Kola Diba High School. Plus, he would go hungry.

“When we go to Kola Diba, we get hungry because we do not have enough food because my family does not have enough. Every weekend they would walk home to Robit to get food. Sometimes because of our shortage of food my sisters and brother would miss Friday classes to come home early and then they would get behind in their studies,” says Danoachew.

Danoachew also wants to learn in Robit because it’s a place where he feels accepted.

“The locals in Kola Diba marginalize us because we come from a remote rural village, and treat us as inferiors. It’s better to have school here with my people who will treat me like one of them.”

Today the future of this rising star is looking up. While he attends Robit High School, Danoachew will get a steady supply of his mom’s cooking to fuel his learning in a place where he feels supported by his community. His family will get to save a large amount of money. And since his new school is just around the corner, Danoachew will have a short commute giving him more time to study. Which he is going to need, since he wants to become a doctor.

Going to college to become a doctor may be an ambitious goal in rural Ethiopia, but Danoachew definitely has the brains and the drive. While he ranked 3rd out of his class of 64 students last year, he plans to be first in his class this year! And unlike many high school boys he seems to have his priorities squared away. With his bigger-than-life smile and charismatic personality, we just had to ask if he had a girlfriend.

“I do not want a girlfriend,” he proclaims, and reminds us that “I want to be a doctor!”