Ambo Girls

The Ambo Girls who helped with this blog- Tigist, Meskele, Lidiya, Dame, Mahlet and Megnot

Today, October 11, has been designated by the United Nations as "International Day of the Girl Child".  "The day promotes girls' human rights, highlights gender inequalities that remain between girls and boys and addresses the various forms of discrimination and abuse suffered by girls around the globe."

In my opinion, girls are the unsung heroes of Ethiopian society.  The girls here are absolutely amazing.  They are strong, sweet, and beyond their years in many ways.  From a very young age, girls are responsible for the upkeep of households and caring for younger children, usually while trying to get an education and dreaming of bright futures beyond their current circumstances.  Unfortunately gender inequality is a major issue facing Ethiopian girls.  Females, in general, are often treated as second class citizens.  I have witnessed and personally experienced this gender inequality countless times over my past 16 months in Ethiopia.  On the bright side, Ethiopia is aware of these issues, and there are many people working within society to bring awareness and equality for females.

One very common practice here is that of the seretanya.  A seretanya is a female servant.  Typically this servant is a young girl who leaves her very poor family to live with and work for another family, usually this other family is some sort of relative.  She is responsible for all the household duties including cooking meals, preparing coffee and tea, cleaning, hand-washing clothes, and caring for children.  In exchange for her work, she is given room and board and usually gets to go to school.  I have seen seretanyas as young as 8 or 9 years old.  Sometimes her mother has passed away and her father cannot care for her, so she goes to live with relatives.  Sometimes she may be a complete orphan or sometimes she may have both parents and siblings, but her family is just too poor to care for all of the children.  Seretanyas are generally not treated as one of the family.  They may not be mistreated exactly, but they are definitely considered to be "the help".  Often these girls struggle in school because with their household responsibilities, they do not have enough time for homework and studying.  As you can imagine, not doing well in school will greatly limit their futures. 

Despite all of the hardships facing girls in Ethiopia, they are incredibly resilient.  In society, girls are encouraged to be shy, to defer to men, and they often lack confidence.  As a volunteer, the work that I have done with girls has been among the most rewarding.  In encouraging girls to give opinions and by providing a safe environment for them to speak their minds, I have seen their confidence grow.  I am always amazed by the potential they show when they are just given a chance.  I hope the future holds great things for the girls of this country.

In honor of International Day of the Girl, my site mates and I worked together on an interview project to bring you the stories of 3 girls from our community.  If you want to read more, check out their blog at jenandjoshinethiopia.blogspot.com  I hope that these stories will help you to better understand what life is like here in Ethiopia, especially for girls.

Meskele

My name is Meskele, and I am an 11 year old girl.  I was born in a rural town called Wenchi which is about 45 minutes south of Ambo.  My family is very poor.  My parents are farmers.  I have one older sister, one younger sister, and two younger brothers.  Several months ago, I left my family in Wenchi and moved to Ambo to live with my cousin, his wife, and their baby daughter.  Now I work for them and help take care of the baby.  My parents told me that life was better in Ambo because the town is bigger and more things are available, and I would learn in a better school.  I miss my family, but it is not too difficult because I can talk with them on the phone sometimes and go visit them on holidays.

My day begins at 6:00am.  After I wake up, I wash up and start cooking breakfast for myself and my cousin’s family.  My school schedule switches each month.  For one month, I go to school in the morning from 8:00am-12:15pm.  The next month, I go from 12:30pm-4:45pm.  When my classes are in the morning, after eating breakfast and cleaning up, I go to school.  This year I am in 4^th grade.  My favorite subjects are language, math, and science.  After school I eat a snack and then do my chores around the house, like cleaning the house, washing dishes, fetching milk and water, cooking, preparing coffee and tea, and sometimes washing clothes.  My cousin works all day and his wife attends University, so I take care of their 3-year old daughter.  I feed her, change her, and play with her.  When I have free time, I like to study.  I try to spend about 2 hours a day studying and doing homework, but it can be difficult to find time for school work because of my responsibilities at home.

I dream of becoming a doctor someday.  My cousin’s family will support me to go to University.  After becoming a doctor, I hope to get married and have children of my own.   I want to complete school and become a good woman.  I want to help my family.  

 Megnot

My name is Megnot, and I am 17 years old. I just started 10^th grade at the public high school. I either go to school in the morning or the afternoon, depending on the day. I started school when I was 6 years old, and I was able to attend kindergarten, which not all children in Ethiopia are able to do. My favorite subject is civics because it is easy for me! 

My parents died when I was very young, but I don’t remember how old I was or how they died. After they died, my brother and I went to live with my grandparents. My grandfather is a truck driver who transports materials in the town. My brother is 23 years old; he went through 4^th grade but stopped because it was too difficult for him. Now he works at the local bread factory. My brother doesn’t like to do housework, so I wash all his clothes and cook for the whole family by myself. 

Every summer, I take a bus to visit my aunt in a rural town a few hours away, and I stay for 2 months. She has a husband and children, but she still supports me and buys me clothes and school supplies; sometimes my grandfather also buys these things for me. 

Every day, I wake up at 6am. First, I wash my face, then I clean the house, make the beds, and sometimes I make breakfast for the family. When I go to school in the morning, I don’t have to make breakfast – I just go to school. When I return home from school, I eat a snack, then clean the house, wash the dishes, fetch the water, wash the family’s clothes by hand, and do my homework. Sometimes my school offers tutoring sessions for girls, and I attend those in the late afternoon.  I try to study for 3 or 4 hours per day, which means I usually go to bed at 10 or 11pm.

If I have free time, I like watching television - especially Indian films! I also love American hip hop music, like Rihanna, Chris Brown, and Jennifer Lopez. I watch them on satellite television or listen to their music on my mobile phone. My dream is to become a singer/dancer, but since my family is poor, the dream is impossible.

I don’t like the traditional gender roles in Ethiopia, and I will help to change them by giving advice to others, like my brother. In our house, I am the only one who cooks and cleans, and my brother helps with very little. I will change his opinion about these gender roles and convince him to help with the housework. 

Since I cannot be a singer/dancer, my goal is to be a doctor.  My aunt will support me if I am accepted into university. I would like to go to Addis Ababa University, and then I would like to study in America. After that, I would like to return to Ethiopia. I will get to America and achieve my dreams by studying hard and prioritizing my education. Then I may get a scholarship to study in the U.S.  I also want to help girls who have to leave their families or who have no family, like me. This is important to me because I want to see them fulfill their dreams.

 Mahlet

My name is Mahlet and I am 16 years old. I live with my father, my mother, my older brother, and my three younger sisters. My father is a secretary at the power company, and my mother is a cleaner at the university. My older brother works in construction. Together, they provide the family’s income. My mother completed the 8^th grade, and she was about 20 years old when she had her first child. My father is a very hard worker and he advises us to be kind to others and to help people like beggars or stray (orphaned) children. My life is not very different from my siblings’ lives, since my mother and father decided that there would be gender equality in our house. Everyone helps with the household chores. 

I just started 10^th grade at the public high school. I started school when I was 5 years old, and my family sent me to a private Adventist kindergarten for 2 years before I started at the public elementary school. My parents prioritize my education, so they make time for me to study. Over the summer break, I studied ahead using the 10^th grade textbooks. On average, I spend about 5-6 hours a day studying.  My favorite subjects are biology and English. Biology is great because I can learn more about nature and about myself. English is very important because it is an international language. 

Every day, I wake up at 7am. Sometimes I cook breakfast for my family, then I get ready for school. After school, I do household chores, like cleaning and caring for my younger sisters. I usually go to bed around 9 or 10 pm. When I have free time, I like to watch films and study. I love studying and I often help my younger sisters with their homework, since I want them to be clever students.  

In Ethiopia, women usually work in the house, and they can’t do anything outside of the house, like plowing the field or expressing their ideas in a community meeting. In our society, women have no place. They don’t count as a male. Men do work outside of the house, such as farming the land or being a merchant. I would like to see these roles change in the future, and I think they can change if all girls have an awareness of the issue and convince themselves that they are important. They can even teach their families about their value. The government can also give women more importance in society.  

My dream is to be a scientist and to discover the cure for HIV. It is important to me because HIV is a dangerous, deadly disease that is killing productive citizens in Ethiopia. If I discover a cure, then every person can be free of HIV.