At 60 years old, Rose Achen is the primary caretaker for eight of her grandchildren. Despite her challenging past, Rose finds new hope for her family through the Speed School program.
After her father was killed in the 1970s, Rose married a polygamist and had two daughters. Her first daughter had two children at a young age with an abusive man, leading Rose to care for them. Her second daughter was married and had five children; after her husband’s passing, Rose took in two of the children. When this daughter remarried, her new husband would not accept her children from her first marriage, so the remaining three also went to live with Rose. Later, her first daughter had three more children but could not care for them all, so Rose took in one more, bringing the total to eight. The father of Rose’s children, who renounced polygamy and is now practicing Christianity, denies both his children and grandchildren, leaving Rose to care for them alone.
Rose herself attended school up to Class 7 before her father’s death, instilling in her a deep respect for formal education. Unfortunately, poverty and her health challenges as someone who is HIV positive have made it difficult for her to ensure that her children and grandchildren receive the education they deserve.
After enrolling two grandchildren in Speed School, Rose has observed significant improvements in their learning, behavior, and confidence. She notes that these students have more knowledge and life skills compared to those in Class 4 of the government school.
“My first ambition,” she explains, “even if I die tomorrow, is that my grandchildren are self-reliant. I want them not to have to lean on anyone for anything.” Speed School is making that ambition a real possibility. Rose adds, “Even if life circumstances force a Speed School student to leave school again, they will still find success. Speed School teaches them to plant crops, buy and sell goods in a market, and care for livestock. They can survive well in the world, better than most.”
Rose also gains support from the Speed School program through her involvement in a Self-Help Group (SHG), comprised of the mothers, parents, and guardians of the students. Through the SHG, Rose can access microloans to buy fish and vegetables, which she sells at the market for a profit. This additional income, along with training in saving, financial management, and record keeping provided by the SHG, allows Rose to care for her own health while supporting her grandchildren’s schooling and other basic needs.
Reflecting on her journey, Rose says, “I always envisioned a miserable future for the children if I died. There is no one who will care for them when I am gone. I pray they will grow to stand on their own before I lose my life. Speed School is making me believe this is possible. They have become so strong.”
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*Names changed to protect the privacy of those involved*
* Speed School is an accelerated education program that delivers the first three years of primary schooling in ten months to bring out-of-school children aged 9 to 14 back into formal education. Geneva Global adopted the Speed School model from the Stromme Foundation in West Africa and has implemented the program in Ethiopia since 2011 and Uganda since 2016. The model’s learner-centered, activity-based pedagogy is augmented by the formation of Self-Help Groups which engage students’ parents (usually mothers) in conducting income-generation activities and group savings schemes to cover the future costs of their children’s schooling and undertaking direct actions to address the external, community-based barriers to participating in school.
(Names in this case study have been changed to protect the identity of those involved.)