Interview with Yemisrach Worku
| In this month’s newsletter, we are featuring Ms.Yemisrach Worku, Country Director, the chief person who is responsible for executing all of Ethiopia Readsprojects in Ethiopia since 2017. Below is an interview with the amazing Yemisrach. Board Member Dr. Laurie Curtis who chairs Ethiopia Reads’ Book Centered Reading Committee regularly works with Yemisrach and has found her to be a joy to work alongside. Dr. Curtis notes that “Yemisrach provides strong leadership for her energetic staff and is moving forward the vision and mission of Ethiopia Reads. Whether in meetings at the Ministry of Education or in schools, it is evident that she is well respected by those she encounters. I have learned so much working alongside Yemisrach! She is intelligent, articulate and fully committed to getting books into the hands of children and to well-trained librarians to be prepared to help students reach their full potential.” Please tell us about your education and background. I graduated with a bachelor degree in Agriculture from Alemaya University and a Master Degree in Project Management from St. Mary’s University. Prior to coming to Ethiopia Reads, I worked as a training facilitator with the Digital Opportunity Trust, a youth and technology-focused international nongovernmental organization. Initially, I joined Ethiopia Reads in 2011 as a Project Officer and then as Program Coordinator. I worked on many Ethiopia Reads library, training, educational and books projects. In 2017, I was promoted to the Country Director. What do you like most about working for Ethiopia Reads? Our mission is to create a culture of reading in Ethiopia. I am very pleased to be a part of this mission. We do this by facilitating and establishing libraries for Ethiopian children, by supporting libraries with books, and by training librarians and educators. I am honored to carry out the mission and work of Ethiopia Reads because my true passion has always been to engage in community work involving education and children. Even now I love to see and work with the children who come into our libraries. The work is very meaningful because it has a significant impact on the next generation of Ethiopians. We have the potential to encourage and grow these children into book lovers and good readers which in turn will help them to become leaders in their future life endeavors. We always say, “Readers of today are the leaders of tomorrow!” How do you like working with your coworkers? I’m happy to call my coworkers my teammates. They are amazing people. Everyone believes in our mission and our work with high team spirit even when we are presented with the most challenging situations. Everyone supports and respects one another. Our team happily gives all we have in order to see successful projects come to fruition. Everyone works hard to meet our goals with an incredible amount of energy and smile because we all believe in the work that we do and can see the bigger picture. Our team would like to contribute in whatever way that they can to the community and these kids. It really is one big family and I’m humbled to be part of this excellent team. |
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| What is your favorite ER project? My all time favorite project is the Mobile Libraries as it is unique and very innovative to solve the challenge of the lack of libraries and books in the deep rural areas of the country and urban areas of the city. We provide successful services for children by going directly to where the kids are located. The Mobile Libraries go right to their neighborhoods. The kids always get excited to see these mobile libraries and are motivated to seek out and hold books in their hands. In Ethiopia, we do not traditionally allow lending so children are not allowed to take the books home with them. By going to where they live, the children can borrow the books and sit down with their chosen books right then and there. What is something new that intrigues you? Currently, one of the exciting projects that we are piloting is “Increasing Children’s Literacy via Social Media.” We are able to reach parents and the general public via social media and YouTube to address various issues like how to read to kids and with kids by providing important tips and tools, family competitions and so on. I’m so excited to see how this pilot project will turn out! |
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| We know that you were invited to the US by the US government. What was your favorite part of the US and what did you learn? In 2019, along with many African leaders, I was invited by the US Embassy in Ethiopia to participate in the US State Department’s program called the International Visitors Leadership Program with the theme on ”Youth Empowerment through Workforce Development” and attended a learning tour of successful youth projects in the US. I was able to visit universities, colleges, government offices and projects of the Department of Education and Department of Labor, as well as projects run by mayoral offices of different states, businesses led by youths from different backgrounds in different states in the US. Also we visited the Capitol region areas including the very interesting Library of Congress in Washington, DC and the head office for USAID. Through this experience, I learned that public-private partnerships in any field can positively impact the lives of communities if it’s done correctly. I also learned how to increase parental involvement with reading, work on lending books, provide after school and summer programs and engage the children at every level. I was able to meet some of Ethiopia Reads‘ most active donors and bring that enthusiasm back to Ethiopia. |
