Building Schools, Building Hope
Since 2005, Build a School in Africa has raised funds and built a new school every year in Mali, West Africa. Currently only about 65% of Mali‘s children can attend school because of the lack of classrooms, so building projects are sorely needed.
We need your help: As we are an all-volunteer organization, with no paid staff, 100% of contributions go toward building new schools. Please consider making a contribution.
Requesting funds from us: We are receiving an increasing number of requests to fund school projects in many parts of Africa. However, we are a small organization with limited resources and fund-raising capabilities, and must confine our school projects to the Sikasso region of Mali, in partnership with Save the Children. For the near future, at least, we cannot expand beyond this region and cannot provide funding for other organizations. We wish you luck and success with your own projects, but are unable to provide any assistance. Thank you.
Benefit Horseback Ride
Popular among horse owners, our African Safari Benefit Horseback Ride will will be held in Groton, MA. on Sunday, August 22nd. Short and long rides of approximately 8–10 or 18–20 miles will be offered, with continental breakfast, on-trail snacks, and a home-cooked African buffet dinner after the ride. 50% of the proceeds will be donated to Build a School in Africa. For more information, visit www.nehorseandtrail.com or contact Judy Lorimer.
Events in 2011
In the spring of 2011, Build a School In Africa will produce its 10th Anniversary African Rythms show in the Boston area. This special event will feature traditional and contemporary music and dance from the African Diaspora, including traditional West African dances, Hip-hop and Afro-Fusion. Check back for dates and location.
Malaika Thorne in Dansa, photo courtesy of the Harvard Post.
Fifth School Under Construction
Cinder blocks for the new school; the first school building is in the background, for grades 4, 5, and 6; the new school will house grades 1, 2, and 3
Judy Lorimer from Build a School in Africa visited Mali in November with our annual contribution to help build our 5th school. Save the Children hosted a ceremony on November 18th to lay the first brick for a new elementary school in the village of Mounkonkoro. Our project this year was helped greatly by the Binnie family from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Their two sons, Adam and Dylan, with their Dad Bill's support, raised $10,000 this summer. This donation, plus the $9,000 raised by Build a School In Africa, will provide about 2/3 of the funding for the new school building.
Mounkonkoro is a village northwest of Sikasso, populated by the members of the Senufo ethnic group. Last year Save the Children built one three-room school in the village, and this year we are adding 3 more classrooms, so they will have a complete primary school for grades 1 - 6. At the Binnie's request, the new school will be named for Christine Laidlaw.
Read more about the new school (plus photos)!
Your Support Will Help!
In addition to our regular fundraising activities, we have received extraordinary support from individuals, schools, and colleges. Schoolchildren have raised money running spaghetti suppers, car washes, doing neighborhood jobs and yard work, bake sales, talent shows, and other fund-raising ideas. It’s a great project for kids to work on, since 100% of the money they raise goes into the construction fund. We’ll send you a picture of the school when it's finished.
For more examples of how you can help, fundraising ideas, and more, visit our Fundraising page.
Fourth School Finished in 2008
Here is a photo of the recently completed school in Diaka, completed in 2008 with funds from Build a School in Africa!
School in Diaka, completed in 2008 with funds from Build a School in Africa
History
In 2002, Kyla McKenna, a senior at the Bromfield school in Harvard, Massachusetts, needed a topic for her Senior Humanities Project. Knowing that Judy Lorimer, a teacher at the elementary school, made frequent trips to Mali, West Africa, bringing supplies to schools there, Kyla decided to raise money to help build a school. She raised almost $10,000 the first year, and each year another student has taken over the project. Ms. Lorimer mentored the project, and by the summer of 2005 they had raised about $20,000.
Build a School in Africa has helped build a new school every year since 2005! In a partnership with Save the Children, Ms. Lorimer took $10,000 from the project’s account when she went to Mali in November, 2005 spend a month as a volunteer in the Kolondieba District in the south of Mali. Save the Children provided the additional funding, and construction on a new three-classroom middle school began November 10th. By the end of January, the building was finished, and will enroll students in the fall of 2006.
Encouraged by the success of the first building project, Build a School in Africa‘s goal is to continue fund-raising to build more schools in collaboration with Save the Children, an A-rated international charity with an effective school-building program in southern Mali. Currently only about 65% of Mali’s children can attend school because of the lack of classrooms, so building projects are sorely needed.
Each spring one of the main fund-raisers is an exciting performance of African dance and music, called “African Rhythms”; other fund-raisers in 2005 included a two-day “African Safari” trail ride, an Oxfam Hunger Banquet, and sale of African jewelry, crafts and drums.
Ms. Lorimer (also known as Korotoumou Coulibaly in Mali) is available as a speaker for your club, organization, or school, and can provide DVD photo-journals, masks, textiles, and other African art objects, and demonstration of a traditional dance, as well as information about the school project. For more information, please send an e-mail to jmlorimer@juno.com or call 978-433-2384.
