We help children in Tigray, Ethiopia, return to learning, starting with every Grade 1 child at Chánadug Elementary School in Adigrat.
Paint Your Dreams, Adigrat, 2015Kisanet Foundation was born from a belief that every child deserves the chance to learn, grow, and reach their highest potential. Our work is rooted in compassion, dignity, and the power of opportunity.
Our founder grew up in Adigrat, in Tigray. We work there in a deliberately focused way: one school, one grade, one group of children at a time, making a measurable difference before we grow.
A generation of children whose schooling was interrupted by war.
From 2020 to 2022, war in Tigray killed, injured, and displaced people on a devastating scale. Its effects are still felt across the region today.
Children have carried much of the cost. Many schools were damaged or closed for long periods, and many classrooms still lack the most basic teaching tools. Without help, a generation risks losing the education it needs to rebuild.
Adigrat, our founder's hometown, sits near the Eritrean border and has lived through conflict many times in its history. It is where we begin.
Two programs, one aim: children in Adigrat who can picture a future and have the tools to reach it.
Planting the seed of ambition in young minds.
A creative program that helps children picture their future. Delivered in schools and with partner organizations caring for vulnerable children, where art offers a safe way to express what is hard to say.
Read about Paint Your Dreams
Start them right. Stay with them.
A complete school kit for every Grade 1 child at Chánadug Elementary School, and a promise to return for the same class each year.
See First Day RightEvery Grade 1 child at Chánadug Elementary School starts the year with a full backpack, a uniform, and shoes that fit. Then we come back for the same class, grade after grade.
Exercise books, pens, pencils, colored pencils, a sharpener, an eraser, and a ruler.
A backpack and a water bottle for the walk to school.
A school uniform and one pair of shoes, so every child arrives ready and equal.
A complete kit for one child.
Until our campaign page opens, pledges come to us by email.
First Day Right begins in Grade 1. Each year we return for the same children as they move up.
Our first program, since 2015. Planting the seed of ambition in young minds.
Paint Your Dreams was designed to plant the seed of ambition in young minds. A child who can picture a future is more likely to work toward one.
In 2015, Kisanet brought the program to the classrooms of her hometown, Adigrat, with drawing books, watercolors, and pencils for every child in the room. On the chalkboard, the team taped up photographs of people at work: a pilot, a doctor, a teacher. Then each child painted what they wanted to become.
Alongside our work in schools, we partnered with organizations that care for children in the most vulnerable circumstances, including children who have experienced abuse and neglect. For these children, painting became a way to communicate what is hard to put into words. Every session was held in collaboration with our partner organizations and their staff, who know each child and their needs.
Whether in a classroom or a care center, the idea is the same: give a child the tools to express themselves, and room to imagine a different future. First Day Right builds on that idea. Once a child has a dream, they need the tools to pursue it.
First Day Right is where we start. As resources grow, we plan to support the whole school experience, and then more schools.
Complete kits for students, starting with First Day Right.
Stocking school libraries with engaging, age-appropriate books.
Scholarships and mentorship so girls can stay in school and go further.
A nutritious meal every school day. Hungry children cannot focus on learning.
Computer labs, devices, and digital learning tools.
Equipment for hands-on experiments and discovery.
Space and materials for creativity and expression, building on Paint Your Dreams.
Repairing and renovating classrooms damaged by conflict.
One school in Adigrat. First Day Right for every Grade 1 child at Chánadug Elementary School.
More schools in Adigrat, and more program areas in each school.
Schools across Tigray, with teacher training and vocational pathways for older students.
A proven model for helping children return to learning after conflict.
Kisanet Teklehaimanot Gebregziabher
Kisanet grew up in Adigrat, in northern Ethiopia, in a large family. The town has stayed at the center of her life and her work.
In 2015 she was crowned Miss World Ethiopia and represented the country at Miss World in Sanya, China, placing in the Top 30 for Top Model and reaching the semi-finals in Sports and Fitness. That same year, she brought Paint Your Dreams to the classrooms of her hometown.
Her career has spanned representing Ethiopia's textile and garment industry, business etiquette consulting, and data analysis. She moved to the United States in 2022 and now lives in California. That background in data shapes how the foundation runs: every gift tracked, every purchase invoiced, every result reported back.
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A primary school in Adigrat, set among long single-storey classroom blocks beside Agazi Secondary School.
First Day Right serves the school's Grade 1 classes: the children beginning their education this year.
Photographs from Paint Your Dreams in Adigrat, 2015. Select any photo to view it full size.
You should be able to see exactly what your gift bought, and for whom.
Our partner store in Adigrat issues an invoice for every kit. We share them with donors.
Campaign funds sit in a dedicated account, apart from any personal money, with a receipt for every purchase.
Our local partner hands out kits at the school and photographs the day, so you can see your gift arrive.
Anything else, write to Kisanet@Kisanetfoundation.com.
It buys one complete kit from our partner store in Adigrat: school supplies, a backpack, a water bottle, a uniform, and a pair of shoes sized to the child. The remainder of each $50 covers payment processing and delivery to the school. The store's invoice is the record of every purchase, and we share it with donors.
We don't choose. Every child in Grade 1 at Chánadug Elementary School is included, so no child in the grade is left out.
We return for the same children each year as they move up. Needs grow at each stage of school, so we fund each stage before we promise it. Our commitment is to walk with these children as far as we can take them.
After the kits are handed out, we share the store's invoices and photographs from distribution day at the school.
Not yet. Kisanet Foundation is in the process of becoming a US 501(c)(3) public charity. Until that status is granted, gifts are not tax-deductible. We will let every donor know when it is.
Because doing a few things well is how trust is earned. We start with one school, make a measurable difference, report it openly, and grow as resources allow.
It is our founder's hometown. Working where we have deep roots means we know the school, the families, and the local partners we rely on.
$50 equips one Grade 1 child at Chánadug Elementary School with everything they need to start school.