Impact of first project being felt throughout Dembi Dollo and beyond
The Berhane Yesus School in Dembi Dollo has a longstanding reputation for producing some of the brightest minds in Ethiopia with many of its graduates going on to become doctors, engineers and educators.
One former student – Dr. Negasso Gidada – even went on to become president occupying the country’s equivalent of the White House from 1995 to 2001.
Despite its history, the years had not been kind to the school and by 2000 it had fallen into such a state of disrepair that it was no longer fit to accommodate its 500 elementary and middle school students.
Without any conceivable means of raising the funds needed to build new classrooms, the school’s administrators made the difficult decision to shut it down – the 2000-01 school year would the school’s last.
Around this time, a fledgling A Glimmer of Hope Foundation was in the early stages of selecting its first projects in Ethiopia when the situation at the school was brought to the attention of founders Donna and Philip Berber.
They decided something had to be done and by January 2001, Philip went to Dembi Dollo to visit the site that had been earmarked for the new school.
“Sitting in that rocky field, I realized what the impact would be if we didn’t help turn that empty space into a school,” he said. “All of that promise would be lost and the community, the region and even the country as a whole would pay the price. One thing was certain, if help didn’t come from somewhere, that field was just going to remain a field.”
Work began almost immediately on new buildings that would include classrooms, a library, a laboratory and a staff room. S ix months later, Philip returned to Dembi Dollo with Donna to inaugurate the brand new Berhane Yesus School in front of more than a thousand people.
Since that day, according to director Amanuel Tesfaye, the new school’s impact has been profound.
“We were able to reduce the number of students in each class to an average of 60 compared to the national average of 100 to 120,” Amanuel said. “This makes it much easier for the teachers to do a better job and allows them the opportunity to involve the parents in helping to improve the students’ academic standards. Almost all of these students will eventually go on to attend university with some even going on to study overseas in America and Europe.”
In a country where only about a third of all children even get the opportunity to go to school, the fact that so many Berhane Yesus students go on to graduate from university is staggering.
Earlier this year, when members of A Glimmer of Hope were touring new projects in the Dembi Dollo area, Philip took some time out to visit the place where it all began.
“This is a unique spot for A Glimmer of Hope as it was the very first project that we ever took on and completed,” he said.
“It has a special place in our hearts and to come back here, five years later, certainly marks a watershed in the history and evolution of the foundation.”