At the end of November, I was fortunate enough to be able to take a short trip to Addis Ababa to visit Arabella and Mikele at Arakele. It was an interesting time to visit as the school is currently working to get College status (update: as of 2018 this has been granted!!). I met some new key staff members, being Hadush the General Manager and Maki who works in Marketing and PR. Maki also happens to be Mikele's wife - they were married during the summer. She is taking all the courses available in order to familiarise herself with the school.
I had a tour of the upgraded school including the new digital library and the computer aided design room with an impressive plotter for printing out patterns once they have been designed. Some of the classrooms were being renovated to make them compliant with the regulations for becoming a college. This allows Arakele to offer levels 2, 3 and 4 to students rather than just level 1 as is being currently offered. On top of this, the school is going to move to production to provide school uniforms for children who don't have them and items for resale.
The school currently has 76 students: about 80-90% of these are female and comprise many girls who failed their Grade 10 exams. Attendance at Arakele gives them a vocation and keeps them working while studying to retake their exams. Without this the likelihood is that they would be told by their families that they have to find work to support the family and they would never get around to retaking the exams. Classes run for 4 hours in the morning, 4 hours in the afternoon and 2 hours in the evening. Part of the course involves work in a local textile factory which often leads to full-time work after the course but many girls set up on their own and work from home. At the end of the course, the student will sit an exam to obtain a "Certificate of Competency" which is required to get a job.
The following day, I visited a small business called LOMI. This is made up of 3 young women who were in the first graduating class of Arakele. They now work together designing, making and selling their own designs. It was really wonderful to see the results of the school courses and the clothes were of good quality and attractive. All in all it was an interesting visit to be able to sit in on some of the classes, meet the people involved in the project and see some of the daily running of the school. I wish Arakele much success in their new venture as a College.
