JRDC School in Shashamane, Ethiopia

The JRDC school began with private lessons given to the children of the pioneers in Shashamane by Karl Hamilton and Bro. Donald Leach [Bro. Flippins] in their home during the 1970’s. Bro Karl Hamilton taught basic English, Math and Bible studies. This supplementary education continued at this level until 1997 when Bro. Teach Issachar arrived with plans to establish an official school. He started his operation in a zinc shed on the premises of the The Twelve Tribes of Israel headquarters in Shashamane.

The school soon outgrew the limited facilities there and was transferred to a building renovated through the initiative of Teach Issachar. There an Ethiopian Amharic teacher was added to the staff and with Sister Janet McLaughlin from Manchester, England and Brother Joseph Leach born on the Land to pioneer parents, coordinated a school program with Chemistry, Physics, Geography, Math and Biology.

With the support of the Shashamane Foundation, Inc. U.S.A. and other concerned individuals, a new building was added and the school rapidly grew to over 150 children and eight teachers by 2002. The school was soon incorporated under the Jamaican Rastafarian Development Community, as the first phase of its larger Shashamane Community Education Skills Training and Recreation Center project. A Board of Directors was created for this school consisting of all members of the Rastafarian community in Shashamane including: The Nyahbinghi Order, Bobo Shanti, Ethiopia World Federation (EWF), and Twelve Tribes of Israel (TTI) and other individual Rastafarians. The school has been appraised and certified by the Education Ministry of the Federal Democratic Government of Ethiopia as an indigenous NGO project.

The operational budget of the school is approximately $25,000 US dollars annually. The school receives no government funding and relies totally on public support to finance its budget. Contributors are the Shashamane Foundation, Inc. USA, the Sponsor-A-Child Program, the TTI Houses in the USA, Manchester England, and Germany, NURO (a German NGO), the Rastafarian community in Connecticut USA and last but not least members of the international Rastafarian community and the wider community of persons of goodwill. Last but not least the Bob Marley Foundation Inc. and the Rita Marley Foundation Inc. has donated funds for the building of a modern restroom facilities and has sponsored 21 students. These efforts are being boosted through our sponsor a child program of eighty dollars ($80) per year for each child. We are asking individuals and humanitarian groups and supporters of Ethiopia / Africa to please sponsor a child, or groups of children, as this is a major source to meet the schools budget. The school premises also serve as the community headquarters.

Future improvement plans apart from completing the facilities for this school include fencing the property, leveling the playfields and acquiring more land for expansion. The task here mentioned is in keeping with His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie’s vision for this portion of land given to his people in the Diaspora. This is not a tremendous task for the many who identify with the red, gold, and green and the great cause of building a nation under God in Ethiopia.

For the past 5 years, the brothers and sisters in Hartford, Connecticut, in an effort to raise money to keep the school running, hosts a charity fashion show. In addition, they created a magazine called AFAR (named for a region in Ethiopia). The magazines which sells for US$5, contain articles on Africa and its leaders, healthy recipes, updates on the JRDC school as well as African fashions used in the shows. If you would like to support the JRDC school in Ethiopia by purchasing a magazine, please send me an e-mail: brijhy@sbcglobal.net. If you would like to speak to me directly to hear more about the school visit the website at www.shahsamane.org. One Love!