According to reports by ADAA and WCAT, thousands of children have been prevented from and also released from child labor and are in the school system from the start to the end of Kinderpostzegels supported project. ADAA reported 885 children (601 boys and 284 girls) such children while WCAT also reported the number of children prevented as well as released from child labor being 3,679 (1,934 boys and 1,745 girls). Those children are reported to have been integrated into the education system by both organizations. Setting her child free from labor bondage We are educated against child labor by ADAA. There is no more child labor now. My own child was sent to Bale by my husband a distance about 300 Kms. away from our home. After being a members of the IGA, getting education on child labor and making some money, I went to Bale, paid the contract money back and brought back my son who was very weak. He was looking after the cattle of his employers. Today, he has gained wait and goes to school. Following what I did, others parents in my area have brought their children back from where they had hired them to distant places. Leaders and members of two womem IGA groups (Ijole Tegna, and Biftu Genema in Siraor) , invariable admitted that they used to engage their children in hard work such as fetching water from long distances. Now, they stated that all the children go to school. What they added was more notable where they said, let alone their children, they themselves as mothers don’t do the hard work of carrying water from long distances. They proudly said they buy water from those who fetch and sell with the money they make from their IGAs. It is important to recognize that while the overall awareness level of the project area community is the major factor in substantial reduction of children labor, the role of IGA groups established in this regard was very critical especially in allowing poor families to release their children from bondage in hiring them out as herders and other tough work mostly away from parents. The box story in this text under the title “setting her child free from labor bondage” is a good example of how much the project intervention through IGAs has impacted positively on reducing child labor. 45
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