About Us

Small contributions can make a big difference. Shashamane Sunrise was founded on this principle, inspired by the small request of a single student.  In 2005, founders Dr Rene Zazou Williamson and Markos Rose were visiting Ethiopia when they happened upon a life-changing encounter. In Shashamane, a rural community, the two were approached by a 12-year old boy who, unlike other young beggars, did not ask for money, but instead asked for a pen or a pencil.  The simplicity of his request prompted a visit to his school, the JRDC School where Williamson and Rose learned that the lack of educational tools such as pencils –insignificant and taken for granted in the developed world –in places like Ethiopia presented major obstacles to education.  Though neither of the two had a pen or pencil on hand to give to the young man at that time, on their return to the United States, they rallied friends and family to donate boxes of pencils, books, pens, rulers, and other school supplies, and returned the following year to donate the supplies to the students at the school.  Encouraged by the impact such a small donations were making, Shashamane Sunrise was formed to replicate that experience in schools across the Caribbean and Africa, places of great need often overlooked and forgotten by traditional charities.

The top ten worst places in the world to be a child in school are in Africa and the Caribbean.

• Worst places are: Somalia, Eritrea, Haiti, Comoros, Ethiopia, Chad, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe
• In sub-Saharan Africa, 48% of children do not complete primary school
• Key reasons that the poor do not enroll or stay in school includes:

–        Financial costs of an education (e.g., school fees, uniforms, books)

–        School location (few schools in rural areas, thus high transport costs)

–        Opportunity cost (i.e. child need to work)

–        Quality of education

–        Benefits of an education not apparent to parents

Research shows that getting all children into school has a direct impact on economic growth and brings poverty dividends

• Approximately 171 million people could be lifted out of poverty if all students in low‐income countries left school with just basic reading skills
• If every girl and boy in Africa received a primary education, 7 million cases of HIV/AIDS could be prevented in a decade
• An adult who has completed primary education is likely to earn 50% more than an adult who has never been to school
• Completing just four years of basic education makes a farmer an average of 8.7% more productive

Sources

1. “Back to School? The worst places in the world”, Global Campaign for Education, Sep 2010
2.  ”Education for all Global Monitoring Report”, UNESCO, 2010
3. “Poverty and Education”, The International Institute for Educational Planning and International Academy of Education, 2008

• Shashamane Sunrise is a 501(c)(3) registered volunteer organization founded in 2005 to support children’s education in the developing world, with particular focus on Africa and the Caribbean

• Shashamane Sunrise is committed to:

• –Working with schools in remote areas that are rarely the focus of international donors
• –Supporting high-quality education through partnerships with schools with high teacher involvement
• –Conducting vocational workshops that will help students understand how to apply school curriculum in their immediate surroundings
• –Conducting school visits to ensure school supplies are directly delivered to the students and capital projects are being implemented
• –Measuring the impact of donations on students’ education and overall school performance
• –Involving the community to ensure that the efforts are sustainable

Shashamane Sunrise’s mission is to help create healthy learning environments where children have access to the educational resources and mentorship they need to achieve their academic goals. We also promote volunteer work in the developing world.

Our vision is for a world where children are not limited by access to educational opportunities and are enabled to achieve their full potential.

Success at our mission will  ensure that each student is adequately equipped with the necessary educational resources to ensure a significant increase in school enrollment, attendance and graduation rate.  We believe that each student should have access to:

To execute our mission, Shashamane partners with primary schools in low-income areas and provide the school and students the necessary resources to implement school programs/curriculums, execute capital projects, sharpen teachers’ skills and address hunger/needs faced by students