In September 2025, Hazel’s Footprints Trust paid a grant of £8,172 to the Workneh Dechasa Education Foundation (WDEF), a small London-based charity building a new primary school in Oromia, Ethiopia. This is a capital grant for one building: the pupils’ rest and refreshment block, known on the site plan as Block C, where children will eat and rest during the school day. A year on, the block is finished and the school has just passed its official inspection.
A school built in blocks
The school is being built in phases by WDEF’s local partner, the Workneh Dechasa Development Association (WADA), whose members visit the site every month. Classroom Block A came first, followed by our Block C and a toilet block, with a second classroom block, Block B, following behind. WDEF’s trustees in London follow progress through WADA’s photographs and reports, and visit when they can.
From roofing to finished
In January 2026 one of WDEF’s trustees, Teferi Degeneh, took time out of a family visit to Ethiopia to inspect the site. He found the four classrooms of Block A complete and our Block C at the roofing stage, and praised WADA for managing the build well despite the logistics: the journey from Finfinne involved a minibus to Ambo, a three-wheeler to Guder and a final leg to the site.
By May, WDEF’s vice-chair Siobhan Crawley was able to send us a video of the completed Block C. “Olana and the team have done a fantastic job,” she wrote, “very thorough and professional.” By August, Block B was nearing completion too.
“It can serve as a school for grades 1 to 8”
On 6 and 7 October 2026, officials from the Tokke Kutaye District Education Office inspected the site and judged the buildings to be above the standard set by the Oromia Education Bureau, recording that the site “can serve as a school for grades 1 to 8”. That verdict starts the handover to the local education authority, which will connect the school to mains water. WDEF hopes the school will open to children in the new year.
Remembering Hazel
WDEF asked whether we have a standard plaque for buildings we fund. We do not. Some schools have had a plaque made, others have painted our logo on a wall, and we are happy for each project to choose its own way. WDEF plans to commemorate Hazel above the door of Block C.
Why the Trustees said yes
This project ticks the boxes we look for in an Educational Project Grant: a grassroots UK charity with low overheads, a registered in-country partner managing the build, a specific building we can follow from foundations to roof, and a school that will serve its community for decades. We look forward to photographs of the children using Block C once the school opens.
For further updates on the project, including photographs of the build from the first foundations to the finished blocks and the inspection letter from the District Education Office, visit the Workneh Dechasa Education Foundation website.
