Education
We believe education is a pathway out of poverty. Every child should have a right to education regardless of their financial situation. One of Caleb Foundation’s main visions is “Education for All”. Our education for all program targets underprivileged and street children who cannot go to school due to different problems. Caleb Foundation does not discriminate by race, religion, or tribe. That means the only qualification to enroll in our Education for all programs is their financial situation. Any child in Wereda 14 and 13, who has financial or health issues to go to school can qualify for this program as long as our budget permits.
To find qualified kids for this program, we collaborate with the government offices such as the public school database and children’s affairs of the Yeka Wereda office. They give us a list of children that needs help and we can contact their parents or guardians directly. Once the child is enrolled in our program, they can come to our facility at any time in case of any need. We also have 4 programs through our the year, to give out clothes, food, shoes, school supplies, and so on. We also provide moral support to the children by awarding those with the highest grade.
Caleb Foundation also worked on an early education program for many years. The early education program was designed to provide a foundation for underprivileged kids at an early age in pre-K and kindergarten. In Ethiopia, public school education starts from grade 1st. Pre-k and kindergarten are privately owned and are very expensive to afford for low-income families. Therefore when the low-income kids join the public school system at 1st grade, they tend to fall behind since they haven’t got an early education as the rest of the privileged students. This caused a delay in education for underprivileged students. To avoid this problem, Caleb Foundation helped hundreds of children graduated from kindergarten for many years. Most of the kids who were supported in this early education program tend to succeed in elementary school as well as in high school.
Material and food support
In some cases, lack of materials and food can be the main problem why some kids are left behind from the education system. Some kids are obligated to stay on the street begging for food to eat. Some kids are obligated not to go to school simply because they cannot afford school supplies, uniforms, and proper clothing. In most cases, public schools have a rule not to let any student in without having the proper uniform. For many years, Caleb Foundation was able to provide uniforms, school supplies, and food support for thousands of children. Recently the Ethiopian government started to provide school supplies and uniforms to all the public schools. The government also started to feed all the students during school hours. We are grateful for this change. We now are only providing shoes and regular clothing to underprivileged kids.
