To Build a School in Africa supporters, past and present,

A message from Build a School president Judy Lorimer:

Here is an update on our school building progress:  when we started in 2002, we thought we’d be fortunate to raise enough money to help build ONE school; we are now building our 10th and already have a good portion of the funds we’ll need for our 11th school (to be started in November 2013). We couldn’t have done it without the help of many individuals and groups.

In spite of the turmoil in Mali over the past year, we have continued with our project, and
just broke ground on our 10th school, in the village of Kounfouna, a short distance southwest of Sikasso. Their present classrooms are mud brick buildings with no windows, so the new school will be a huge improvement. The project started just a couple of weeks ago and the walls are already up!

I did cancel my January trip because of State Department warnings, but am planning to go in November to visit this school and see the kids in their new classrooms, and to attend the groundbreaking ceremonies for school # 11 (site to be determined). Original plans to build a school to serve 4 villages near MʼPessoba were put on hold when the communities started to quarrel about where to locate the school. Rather than get involved in the spat, we went to the next school on our waiting list.