Ibsa Jamal Ahmed is an 11-year-old grade 4 student at Kumbi primary school, one of the 60 target schools in Harena Buluk District supported by EAC’S Leaders Educators and parents (LEAP) Project Target Schools in the Oromia, Bale Zone.
Ibsa dropped out of school for one year because there was no one to support him and his three siblings; all currently being raised by his grandfather. When the LEAP project began, trained parent teacher associations identified Ibsa as an orphaned and vulnerable child during a door-to-door campaign, his parents had died when he was only six years old.
“Imagine1day allowed me to find the purpose of education and helped me write my future again from scratch. I got different scholastic material supports like an exercise book, pen, pencils and imagine1day even bought me a goat” Ibsa shares. After a year, he sold the goat buying a cow and selling the calves to support himself.
When he’s home from school Ibsa helps his grandfather keep the cattle.
Ibsa was identified through the implementation of education campaigns, out-of-school children tracking of retention and enrollment, community mobilizations, capacity building for PTAs and religious leaders, skill trainings for teachers, and scholastic material provisions.
“I am very grateful to EAC and imagine1day for ther help. I have been able to continue my education because of their support. In the future, I want to become a human physician. Because many people are dying of simple treatable diseases without a physician, I must serve them” Ibsa tells us wisely.