Bet Marya school in Geblen, Tigray

Going to school in Geblen, Eastern Tigray

Hi, my name is Catherine and fundraising for the community of Geblen, in Eastern Tigray.

Like the whole Tigray Region, people in Geblen were for two years engulfed in a catastrophic war which, in successive episodes of active fighting and ‘de facto siege’, lasted from 4 November 2020 to 2 November 2022. People try to rebuild their lives in a devastated economy, however little has been done to rehabilitate critical but heavily damaged infrastructure, such as schools. A severe drought in 2023 added to the hardship, leading to children having to work to try and help their household, or simply being too hungry to attend school. As a result of these and yet other factors, today just half of Tigray’s primary school age children are in school whereas at least nine in ten attended before the war.

Geblen, a dry and harsh environment even in ‘good years’, was catastrophically affected by the 2023 drought. During the war its three schools were occupied by armed forces who destroyed or damaged infrastructure and equipment. Two of these schools are lucky, NGOs are helping them. The third school, Bet Marya, hasn’t been lucky thus far. It is also the hardest to reach. The school is heavily damaged, most classrooms do no longer have a roof, some walls are crumbling, and very few desks and blackboards are left.

I have know Geblen for more than 15 years. I was back there for fifteen days in June 2024. The community is doing all it can for the Bet Marya school, providing labour and local materials, rebuilding makeshift mini-classrooms with what is left of iron sheets etc. But they clearly need help. Today, on behalf of the whole community of Geblen, I am fundraising to rehabilitate Bet Maryam school in Geblen. The funds will be transferred on the school account and will be used by the parents-teachers association to purchase iron sheets and other priorities as will be decided by the PTA. It is a drop in the ocean. But all drops matter to give hope. I hope the community of Geblen can rely on your support.