From Nov 14-25 2024, I joined a group of donors and supporters on an amazing trip to Ethiopia, organized by our partner and grantee Girls Gotta Run Foundation (GGRF). In the decade that we have been partners I have not had the chance to travel to this beautiful country to see the programs that we support, so this was quite simply the trip of a lifetime for me!

After a few days in Addis Ababa the capital, where we took part in the Great Ethiopian Run (an annual 10K race through the streets of the city), we travelled to Bekoji, a rural, farming community about 9,300 ft above sea level. This is a place considered the ‘land of runners’, because so many of Ethiopia’s elite distance runners come from there, such as Derartu Tutu – the first Ethiopian womn and Black African woman to win an Olympic gold medal, and Tirunesh Dibaba – the youngest female athlete to win individual gold at the World Championships.

The GGRF program in Bekoji includes about 60 adolescent girl athletic scholars – who receive support to stay in school, to train under a female coach, and to attend lifeskills classes. This helps them to delay marriage, gain an education, and develop their physical and intellectual strengths. In addition, GGRF also supports the mothers of the girls, by organizing Savings Groups and seed money for income-generation projects.

We joined the girls at their morning training. The terrain is uneven and hilly and after just 5 minutes I was huffing and puffing.

Drills…UPHILL! (It really hit home at this point why Ethiopians are so dominant in distance running!)

The girls run to and from their training – often several miles back and forth. Here they are running alongside our bus to meet us. Many of them were actually faster than our bus.

(Below) Coach Fatiya leading a warm-down stretch session. Once a promising professional runner, she had to give up her career after serious injury. Her abilities as a coach and a strong role model have become legendary, so much so that boys and younger girls have started joining her training sessions for the GGRF athletic scholars. The boys are welcome to join as long as they are respectful and recognise that the training focuses on the girls. This allows them not only to learn from a strong female leader, but also experience first-hand what gender equality is about – that girls are just as strong, just as committed and just as valued as boys.

After training, the girls walk/run home to change, and then they meet at school to have lunch. This is cooked by 2 of the girls’ mothers, who amongst themselves take turns everyday going to the market to buy food and then cooking for the entire group. Because of rampant inflation, cutbacks have had to be made on the protein the girls get, so they may not get meat every week. Pictured together are Desta Ragasa who cooked today’s meal and her daughter Kume Gamachu, 15, who’s in the 6^th grade. The lunch the girls get everyday is essential, given their rigorous training, and the fact that they attend school in the afternoon. (In Bekoji, the sheer number of students versus the limited availability of schools means there are 2 separate school sessions in the morning and afternoon in order to accomodate everyone.)  

Below is the rudimentary kitchen where the girls’ meals are prepared by their mothers. Essentially a large wok on a ‘stove’ made of rocks in a windowless shed. The work is literally backbreaking and unhealthy because of the smoke that fills the small space. GGRF is working on building a new kitchen (almost complete!), which will be life-changing – a proper cooking set up in a bigger space with ventilation (next photo). 

The warmth and love that we received from the girls, despite only spending time with them over 3 days, left an indelible mark on our hearts. Siddise Mekonen (first photo below), who is 15 and in the 9th grade, is a talented athlete and dancer who also wants to be a doctor. Her mother, Mihret Tesfay, is a member of the Mothers Savings Group. She grows vegetables on her small plot of land enough to support her family but not quite enough to sell at the market, so the support from the GGRF program is much needed – “With GGRF I felt my life change from darkness to sunshine. I want to be like Derartu Tulu,” Siddise told me.

Like her, Aster Dejen (second photo below), 15 and in 6th grade (because she started school late), also aspires to be an elite runner and a doctor. She told me that she didn’t know anything about running at all before she became a GGRF athletic scholar. Now, her life is different in many ways, “I have enough food, I can afford sanitary supplies, I get gear to train and I’m even learning English which I love. I want to be a doctor and a famous runner when I’m older.”

In the photo below is the GGRF team in their brand new office space. Left to right: Samrawit (admin), Arbora (Senior advisor based in the US), Sukare (program manager in Bekoji), Blaine (Executive Director based in the US and Ethiopia), Fatiya (athletics coach and life skills mentor).