The Sky is the Limit

Ahmed,14 is a grade 7 student in a town in the Afar district. He lived a stable and normal life with his parents, two brothers and one sister. He is the second child of the family after his sister. His father is a poor farmer struggling with a small plot of land to support a family of seven members.  Ahmed used to go with his father to the outdoors and collect firewood. Ahmed likes the subject civics more than any other taught in the class.

“ It teaches us how to be a  law abiding good citizen. It explains well about good ethics and bad ethics”

He is one of the 45 students in his class. He is a bright, funny, and kind student—Previously, Ahmed used to miss classes as he did not get breakfast at home quite often.

“Sometime, my stomach aches, I feel hungry, I cry and go back to the village to find something to eat” Ahmed recalls the past.

Everything changed for Ahmed now.  he started to receive school meal Monday to Friday. Today, this amazing 7^th grader walks the school compound with a confidence and youthful exuberance that evokes a sense of hope and optimism. But his transformation didn’t happen overnight. It is because of the school feeding and other interventions’ provide by the GPE funded CHILD-SFP such as teachers capacity development. His improvement required hard work and the constant support and nurturing of the Arado Primary teachers and staff. But now, instead of worrying about his food, Ahmed is looking to the future. 

“I want to fulfil my dream, and I have to do it. My firs dream is to be a scientist. My second dream is to be a lawyer. I have a lot of dreams, but these two are my biggest - to be a scientist  and a lawyer” “ Hard work is the way to success. I have worked to achieve good results last year and I did it; my rank was 5th out of 43 students”  said Ahmed proudly revealing some of his plans.

His teacher Fantaw has no doubt that the sky is the limit for this exceptional young boy

Written by Abdusemed Mussa