(2019) Yeamlak is 8 years old and deaf. Bisrat, her father, travels 20km to school with her by bus every day and stays until school is over.
The school operates a shift system to cater for over 4,000 children and is the first school in Adama to have special needs education and teachers, supplemented by a Deaf Teaching Assistant, Melaku. Yeamlak attends morning school, so they get home in time for lunch and for Bisrat to open his barber shop, where he works late on school days and through the weekend to support the family.
Bisrat has become part of the school and the campaign for more inclusive education. He took Melaku’s sign language lessons along with other parents, and is grateful to be able to communicate with his daughter and support her in her education. He is so proud of Yeamlak, and to see her learning each day alongside her peers.