Two Single Mothers Earn Teaching Certificates Through Lelt Programs

Tihitina and Selam graduate with teaching certificates

In February 2025, two women in our region arrived at Lelt’s offices with a specific request and a clear plan. Selam Assefa, 28, and Tihitina Fikre, 29, had identified a ten-month childcare training program at the nearby Alexander Early Education and Childcare Institute, and were determined to complete it. The one obstacle standing between them and enrollment was financial.

Both women were raising two children independently, without financial support from the fathers of their children, and each was navigating circumstances that extended well beyond economic hardship.

Selam had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and her husband left when she fell ill. She was living in a single rented room with her two children, unemployed and relying on her brothers for basic support. Tihitina was making ends meet however she could, picking up work as a laundress and bread baker, while raising a child with a heart condition alongside her other young child.

Despite those circumstances, both women had arrived at the same conclusion: childcare was a field where their experience as mothers was a genuine asset, demand for early learning centers in Addis Ababa was growing, and a teaching certificate represented a meaningful path toward self-sufficiency. Referred by governmental aide office, they made their way to Lelt Foundation, which operates just a short distance from their homes.

Lelt Provides Full Scholarship for Teaching Certificates

Following a thorough household assessment, Lelt Foundation made the decision to fund their training in full. Each woman received full tuition to cover the cost of the ten-month program at the early education training center. It was a meaningful financial commitment, and equally, an expression of institutional trust in two women who had the drive to succeed and simply needed the opportunity to do so.

Selam and Tihitina enrolled, attended, and completed every requirement of the program. On August 22, 2026, they graduated.

“We are grateful that Lelt trusted us to complete this critical training. Thanks to them, we can now take care of our own needs without outside help.” ~ Selam Assefa

What Comes Next

With certificates in hand, Selam and Tihitina have already begun applying to early learning centers in the Kara Kore area. Both are optimistic about finding positions as preschool teachers, and both have a longer-term goal in mind: to gain experience in the classroom, build their pedagogical skills, and eventually open a childcare center of their own.

The vision is as practical as it is ambitious. Operating their own childcare center would provide Selam and Tihitina with stable, sustainable livelihoods while allowing them to remain present for their own children. It is a model that transforms adversity into purpose, and it begins with the foundation that Lelt helped them build.

Lelt Foundation’s commitment to women like Selam and Tihitina reflects a core conviction: that with the right support at the right moment, vulnerable families can build a lasting and sustainable solution to cyclical poverty.

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Lelt Foundation provides scholarships, skills training, and holistic support for vulnerable women, youth, and families in Ethiopia.