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Dubai cares for Ethiopian children

Each year, more and more children are facing the risk of dropping out of school in Ethiopia. Faced with poverty and hunger, there is little hope for children growing up in villages away from capital city Addis Ababa.

Some 130 kilometres from the capital, people go about their daily routine in the small-town of Butajira. Farmers carry their produce to the market and hope to make a little income to keep their families going. The place is unusually quiet given its proximity to the capital which is thriving with construction works and industrial development.

Little children carry water from the town centre to their villages with some of them having to walk as much as 10 kilometres every day. Sometimes when the load is too heavy to carry, mules pull carts loaded with jerry cans. Houses in nearby villages are made of mud and thatched walls and the basic structure barely holds enough space for a family of four.

Most people seem to have accepted the harsh living conditions as their best bet to survival. For others, their children bring a slight hope for a better future. While children have access to schools, the lack of food and water forces several of them to drop out of classes.

Faced with a crisis of losing their right to education, Dubai Cares has taken up the challenge of providing food to more than 30,000 children every day by supporting their health and nutrition needs.

The philanthropic organisation will invest Dh14.7 million over three years to support a Home Grown School Feeding programme in Ethiopian schools. Most of the money will be used to provide food for children attending schools while building on hygiene and sanitation facilities in some areas.

Tariq Al Gurg, CEO of Dubai Cares knows the problem very well and believes the contribution will help make a ‘real impact’.

“The sole focus of Dubai Cares is to provide access to quality primary education to children in developing countries,” says Tariq.

In some parts of rural Ethiopia, children are faced with the task of going to farms and helping parents cultivate the much-needed crop for survival. The looming threat of a drought is heightened with the lack of rainfall.

“Drought leads to hunger and in places like Ethiopia, when you don’t get rain, farmers are badly affected. Hunger and water plays a big role in addressing development challenges,” adds Tariq.

Praising Dubai Cares’ role in Ethiopia, Dr. Yousuf Al Sabri, the UAE Ambassador to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to the African Union said: “Dubai Cares’ philanthropic efforts in Ethiopia, as well as the humanitarian interventions led by the UAE, reflect the principles of the UAE people and express the government’s direction to provide support to those in need, and make a positive impact on the country’s diplomatic efforts.”

The initiative will support children in 50 schools with emphasis on reducing drop-out rates and improving the school enrolment rates.

According to the World Food Programmr, 66 million primary school-age children attend classes hungry across the developing world, with 23 million in Africa alone. Purnima Kashyap, Deputy Country Director for the World Food Programme in Ethiopia, knows the challenge very well.

“The ability of a child to learn is much better when they are well fed. These children live in areas where the food availability is limited and there is not enough food for everyone. Many children come to school from far-off areas and the only meal they get during the day is at schools,” says Purnima.

Meals provided by Dubai Cares are sourced locally and the children are fed with a nutritional blend of maize and beans.

“The more we encourage children to come to school, the lesser time they will spend in other tasks at home,” adds Purnima.

For Medina Mohammed, a 12-year old girl child studying at a school supported by Dubai Cares – the school meal is the best part of her day.

“We eat the same food every day but it still tastes better than what I eat at home. It allows me to focus during classes and not worry about going to an empty dinner table at home,” she says with a smile.

For thousands of other kids like Medina, the support from Dubai Cares brings a ray of hope to for a better future.

Reporting from Ethiopia