Family Background
Mal (15) was born in South Sudan. He has two younger brothers and three sisters, two of which (17 and 18) are already married with children. His siblings are still in South Sudan, none of them went to school. Mal, however, is a very curious young man and keen on being educated. Therefore, three years ago (aged 12), he decided to move to Ethiopia so that he could continue his education.
After living in a refugee camp for a year, Mal’s uncle allowed him to stay with him and his families in return for the food rations that Mal receives from the UN.
Living situation
Their compound is far from Gambella town centre and it takes Mal a total of nearly four hours each day to walk to and back from school. They do not have electricity or water and there is no toilet. He sleeps on a mat in one of the huts together with four of his cousins.
His uncle has three wives and seven children in total, but no work to support the family. The wives collect firewood from the forest. Mal receives a sack of Maze from the UN every month which he shares with the whole family.
Education and Ambition
Despite the hardship, Mal is determined to reach high school, and then university. His dream is to be an engineer one day.
Currently in Grade 7, Mal scores an average of 91% and he ranks first out of a class of 83 students.
Our Plan for Mal
Mal will join the EEF programme in summer 2020. In order for him to be able to fulfil his potential, we must find him a place to live nearer to the school (to be shared with one or two other eef students). This place will have small desk space and electricity so that they can study together, as well as mattresses to sleep on and some other basic items.
We will also provide him with
- three meals per day: An egg, banana and bread (for breakfast), a traditional vegetable dish and occasionally meat (lunch) as well as their custom maze stew (dinner) which they will cook themselves.
- Some new clothes each year
- Study materials throughout his time at school.
Our support will be for grades 8 – 12.
After grade 8 (last year of primary school) there will be a review, based on his grades, to see if he will go to high school in Gambella, or if he will join our programme in Addis Ababa.
After grade 12 (last year of high school) he will go to university (our programme track record for university entrance is 100%) and we will continue to support him with a monthly allowance.
Sponsorship for Mal is only £400 per year. Please support him if you can!
I WOULD LIKE TO SPONSOR MAL !!
During your sponsorship we will send you
- His two report cards per year (March and July)
- Two short letters written by him each year (March and July)
- 1-2 short reports on his progress each year (March and July)
- 2-3 general EEF newsletters each year
- Lots of regular updates about our overall programme on our website and on Facebook.