The project's vision began with Shirley Lewis, a former member of our club, who has promoted literacy and library services in Ethiopia for more than five years. On her first trip to the country she witnessed its extreme poverty and the difficulty for girls to complete their education.

She began a Canadian charity, the CHEER Fund (Children of Ethiopia Education Relief Fund), which currently sponsors 26 girls to enable them to attend school regularly. In Jimma, a selection committee chooses the girls for sponsorship because families often give priority to schooling boys. These young women, from among the poorest homes, showed promise of achieving a higher education. When they reached the age of menstruation, however, they often missed school or dropped out entirely because of the woeful toilet facilities - three smelly stalls with no doors. Thus, CHEER's girls, among many others, were at risk of not completing their education. It was clear to Shirley that providing toilets would counter that trend. This past winter she went to Jimma to visit our project and to check on the sponsored girls at Gingo school. She herself returns to Ethiopia every second year to keep her thumbs on the various projects she has initiated.

To make the Jimma project a success, our club received enthusiastic and generous financial support from three other CFUW clubs: Orillia, St. Catharines and Scarborough, along with the Washago Bridge Club, individual friends and CFUW members. Mississauga's fundraising projects were two potluck meals, and a "Toonies for Toilets" collection at our annual banquet. Other donations brought the total to $3,149, more than enough to cover the bulk of construction costs. Building the latrines was a six-month undertaking, because time was lost during the rainy season.

A plaque on the exterior wall of the toilet facility will read, "Donated by Friends and Members of the Canadian Federation of University Women 2010."

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