Local teacher Muday Mitiku had just opened a private preschool named Fresh and Green Academy. Kotebe, located just north of Addis Ababa, is home to more than 300,000 people, most of them living below the country's poverty line. That's saying a lot in a country where most people get by on less than $1,200 per year.
The preschool was a success. However, educating and feeding only the children whose parents could pay the tuition fee left Muday feeling frustrated and sad. There were still so many children were begging on the streets outside of the school.
She started teaching and feeding the local street children along with her already-enrolled students. After a few months, the parents of the paying students decided that they did not want their kids to study with street children. One by one all the paying students left.
In 2012, Muday formed The Muday Association, a registered charity in Ethiopia. It is a partnership of NGOs whose combined efforts are able to feed and educate 400 students, age three to fourteen.
Muday has taken many pre-school and kindergarten-age children into her care that were previously begging in the streets and living in at-risk conditions in poor families. As part of her project, she decided to provide each child with three meals per day, clothes and all school materials needed for a successful education. Today, many of these children are affected by HIV-AIDS, either directly or indirectly within their households. These children live with either their immediate families or extended family members.