Workinesh: “I like to study mathematics. When I grow up, I want to study and become a teacher”

Workinesh* is ten years old and a third-grade student. She lives with her family in village at Ziqualla district. She has one brother and four sisters. Workinesh is the fifth child in her family. Her family sells charcoal and also farms. But the land is rocky, so it is not productive. Her family faces significant challenges, including the health conditions of her siblings and her elderly father’s diminished capacity to contribute to labour. Her mother is 45 years old and the whole family responsibility rests on her.

To support her family, Workinesh’s mother engages in selling water and coal mining. In addition, her daughter, Workinesh, was compelled to drop out of school and work elsewhere. The small amount of money she earned from this work was given directly to her mother to help cover the household expenses.

Now I go to school every day and then go home after school. I also help my family by fetching water with my friends. But before, I used to babysit in another village far from our village; my family used to take the payment

— Workinesh

In 2024, when our local partner, Mahibre Hiwot for Social Development (MSD) conducted a survey, it was revealed that Workinesh at just 10-years-old had been engaged in child labour, including  babysitting and caring for  baby for a few months. 

Based on the information gathered from house-to-house interactions and advice received from neighbours, the decision was made to visit their home for a direct conversation. During the visit, Workinesh mother’s openly discussed the challenging circumstances that led to her daughter working. When asked whether support could be provided to help her child return to school, Worknesh mother’s agreed. She expressed that if supplies like exercise books, pens, clothes, and ongoing discussions about education were provided, she would ensure Wrokinesh was taken out of her current environment and provided with what she needed.

I sent Workinesh to another village nearby to babysit; we used to get four hundred a month. The MSD social worker came to my house and said, “Why don’t you send your child to school? We will provide the school supplies. That’s when I brought my child from where she was babysitting.”

— Workinesh´s mother

According to the promise, after the project team spoke to the school, Workinesh’s mother took the girl out from where she was, so that she could continue her education.

Workinesh mother: “While I was in this situation, MSD came to our area and spoke to us and provided us with support. They provided us with a grant of twenty-one thousand birr (335 Euro). With the support they provided, I have bought school supplies and clothes for my children, we have also bought food for our house worth 3,000 birr and we have also used it for medical treatment.”

Workinesh is now back in the third grade, the class she had previously been forced to leave. Her mother describes her daughter’s renewed sense of hope: “She is very happy to be back in school. Receiving school supplies has motivated her even more to continue learning.”

Currently, both Worknesh and her mother are living happily together, and Workinesh now sees a bright future: “I like to study mathematics. When I grow up, I want to study and become a teacher.”

The Ethiopian Joint Response is a three-year project that aims to save lives and give support for recovery and rehabilitation by improving access to food, water, sanitation and health facilities for those most affected by the war and drought in four different Zones in Ethiopia. Terre des Hommes Netherlands creates safer environments by addressing child protection and gender-based violence concerns and uses multi purpose cash as a preferred modality. 

*Name changed to protect the identity of the project participant. All people involved in this story gave informed consent to participate.