Making the Grade: Hope for African Youth

Congratulations so our hard working University student, Abebayehu, who scored a 4.0 in his first semester! Abebayehu is a fully unsighted (blind) student. We are so completely proud!

UPDATE:
On January 26, 2026, Ethiopia officially declared the end of its first-ever Marburg virus disease (MVD) outbreak, which began in November 2025 in the South Ethiopia and Sidama regions. The outbreak resulted in 14 confirmed cases, 9 deaths, and 5 recoveries.

We are thankful that this crisis is over and our students and friends can get back to their normal lives!

Getting to Know Making The Grade’s NITSU Project

MTG has had historic success with the Lagaba Bayene School for the Blind academically. We set out on a social enterprise mission to allow for the program to become self-sustaining. Enter: NITSU project.

Lack of clean water and sanitation infrastructure is significantly lacking in Ethiopia. 60%-80% of communicable diseases are attributed to limited access to safe water, and inadequate sanitation and hygiene services.

Nitsu solves this problem for one group of students by building showers adjacent to the Ligaba Bayene School. MTG has partnered with the Ethiopian Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education to bring to bring Nitsu to life which hygiene and thus increase school attendance. In the process, locals can use the showers for a small fee, allowing for a sustainable business run by the students and staff at the school.

Getting to Know Making the Grade’s GOJJO Project!

About 36 million children in Ethiopia lack access to basic services in at least 3 basic dimensions: access to housing and sanitation being the most acute. 94% of the children in rural areas are deprived compared to 42% of those in urban areas. Across Ethiopia’s regions, rates of child poverty ranged from 18% in Addis Ababa to 91% in Afar, Amhara, and SNNPR.

Gojjo project is currently in Addis, SNNPR and Amhara regions. It aims to resolve the issue of housing and fulfill the basic needs of young people by providing housing, food, and sanitation so that students may remain in school.

We are looking forward to what is possible in 2026! 2025 brought greater Esther services, famine relief, Le'lswa project, new business started, graduates employed, 85 students succeeding.
It only gets better from there! Bring it on 2026!

2 days to donate for 2025. Check out our medical programs. Children saved. Students with medical issues treated. Long term medical intervention for our students with chronic conditions. https://makingthegrade.info/medical-services

https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/2289763

making the grade: hope for african youth inc Help me spread the word about making the grade: hope for african youth inc. Together we can make a difference.

3 more days to donate in 2025. Please consider us. Read about our projects on our website. Check out our education project, called Yaneta.
https://makingthegrade.info/yeneta

Make a tax deductible donation at https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/2289763

making the grade: hope for african youth inc Help me spread the word about making the grade: hope for african youth inc. Together we can make a difference.

Only a few more days to donate for 2025! Take a look at our famine relief video and see what you can be part of!
https://makingthegrade.info/famine

https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/2289763

Making The Grade: Hope For African Youth Esther Project Teaching young women the skills that lead to self-determined lives through educational funding, while also providing essential support in housing and nutrition, as well as access to medical services for overall well-being.

Wishing you and yours a happy Christmas and New Year! Most of our students celebrate Christmas on January 7th- the orthodox date of celebration. Please send good wishes to our students and we will make sure they get your messages! Just leave a message in the comment section.