HMA Status Update

Dear Friends,

Our Haile-Manas Academy team and leadership is deeply touched by the outpouring of support and concern about the situation in northern Ethiopia. Many of you have called or emailed to ask about the well-being of our students, faculty, and staff. Gratefully, we want to make sure you are updated on our status and plan for ensuring the safety of our community and school facilities.

After reports that the conflict zone had expanded to within approximately 150 kilometers from the Academy in Debre Birhan, we responded to the concerns and wishes of numerous parents and moved to remote learning. The school facility is secure, and our students are now home with their families and/or friends. Faculty and staff are either on campus, in Addis, or, in the case of international faculty and staff, temporarily outside of the country. We are assessing the situation daily, and intend to reopen our campus fully as soon as we deem it safe and appropriate to do so.

We fully acknowledge the situation is a challenging one, and it is a testament to the exceptional flexibility and resilience of our faculty, staff and students that we have been able to quickly and deftly pivot to this form of teaching and learning despite the challenges of connectivity in Ethiopia. Our local students in Debre Birhan continue to come to campus each day to attend classes remotely together, our Addis students are convening in our Addis office, and students in other areas are likewise connecting with one another as much as possible in their respective homes and Internet cafes.

Thanks to your support, each student has access to an iPad they could take home for use in remote learning. While this is a very challenging period for Ethiopia, we hold optimism that better times are ahead. Those who are so inclined can use this link to make a special gift to help with the response to this unique circumstance. Your support at this time will help students in transition, and provide needed flexibility for faculty and staff relocation.

We hold fast in the belief that this difficult moment validates the premise on which we launched HMA, and we remain more determined than ever to provide a world class education to a new generation of leaders in Ethiopia. We take great comfort in your friendship and in the knowledge that our students will be an integral part of building the country’s peaceful and prosperous future.

In peace,

Rebecca Haile
Executive Director