Project
Dimtu Hambela High School and Preparatory School
Following the successful completion of Kilenso Rasa High School, the Costa Foundation started work on its second Ethiopian project in November 2008. Dimtu Hambela High School opened its doors to over 900 students in February 2010, and, since then, over 10,000 students have graduated from the school.
Dimtu Hambela High School was the first high school in the region and, thanks to the Costa Foundation, it now boasts two classroom blocks with a total of eight fully furnished classrooms, plus sanitation blocks. These have positively changed the lives and aided the learning of all pupils and the 14 full-time and 4 part-time teachers.
Our high school projects in Ethiopia all operate a two-shift lesson system whereby half of the students attend lessons in the morning and help their parents on the farm in the afternoon and the other half attend afternoon lessons having helped their parents on the farm in the morning. This is why the schools are able to educate up to 960 children per year.
The pupils attending Dimtu Hambela high school come from 16 different feeder schools within a 21 mile radius. For many of the parents living within this community, their children can now enjoy opportunities that they themselves never had and, as a result, many parents have attended adult evening classes to make up for lost time.
The Costa Foundation has continued to invest in this community and, in November 2019, a new preparatory school was opened within the grounds of Dimtu Hambela High School. Previously the nearest preparatory school was 12 miles away and only 5% of students were able to attend it.
The new preparatory school offers the equivalent to the UK’s A level qualifications, enabling students to prepare for further education or vocational training. The target is that 75% of students will now go on to attend Dimtu Hambela Preparatory School, with the aim of reducing preparatory school dropout rate from 95% to 25%. The new eight-classroom preparatory school boasts two science labs, a new admin block and sanitation.
Hambela Warana lies 447 km (277 miles) south west of Addis Ababa within the Oromia Region. With a population of circa 2,300, it is a coffee growing region producing fine Arabica coffee supplemented by bananas, maize and inset. All the farmers within this community own less than one hectare of land.
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Before the latrine was built and the hand wash facilities extended, students were suffering from sanitation-related diseases – which meant them missing classes and even having to drop out.