Chekole Menberu, now 27, had high hopes when he graduated with a degree in chemical engineering two years ago in Ethiopia.
It was a moment to savour, considering the years of toil and the difficulties he had gone through to reach this moment. For years, he had cleaned shoes on the streets in order to pay for his upkeep. From an early age, Mr Chekole had to look for work on the streets.
His father died when he was still young, and he had moved in with his grandparents in Fogera in the Amhara region. His mother remarried.
‘I kept nagging to go to school’. He really wanted to go to school but his grandparents could not afford the fees and other expenses.