We’re $2,500 away from changing lives!

In the village of Koro N’Tossoni, Mali, children are waiting for their new school to be completed. We broke ground two weeks ago, and construction is proceeding well. Unfortunately, due to inflation and exchange rates, we need to raise another $2,500 to complete the construction before the school year starts in October.

The fact that costs went up so fast caught us by surprise. In March 2025, we built a new primary school in Tionso for $21,000. Now, in August 2025, the cost is now $25,136. One reason is inflation, The cost of building materials has gone up, particularly for cement and steel. Another reason is exchange rates. Six months ago, we got 620 West African francs to the dollar, and now we are getting around 540 F. 

At the beginning of August, we disbursed $22,700 to purchase materials and pay for transportation and for skilled laborers. The community has already mobilized to collect sand, gravel, and stones. Dozens of young people who have showed up to help transport supplies, build the foundation, and mix concrete. Our volunteers say this is one of the most motivated villages they have ever seen.

If you have ever considered making a donation, now is the perfect time! Click here to donate online, or visit our Contribute page for our address if you prefer to send a check.

All the funds will go towards transportation of materials to the village and to paying the masons, metalworkers, and painters. 

On behalf of all of us at Build a School in Africa, thank you! 

We’re very excited to share this video highlighting an April 2025 visit to two schools we’ve recently helped to build in Mali, West Africa.

The first visit is for the grand opening of the new primary school in the village of Dintiola. Next, our delegation, led by Abou Coulibaly, visited the new primary school classrooms in the town of M’Pessoba.

The video concludes with a visit to Tionso, where we kicked off construction of a new primary school in May 2025. This will be the 35th school we’ve helped to build!

A huge thanks to Andal Média (find them on Facebook), a web TV producer in Mali, for allowing us to share this video, and to ‪Coleman Donaldson at An Ka Taa for the fantastic subtitles in Bambara, English, and French.

To learn more about our projects, and how you can help us build our next school, visit our Contribute page.

Construction of the new elementary school in the village of Tionso is well underway. Workers recently took a week’s vacation for a major holiday. In West Africa, they call it Tabaski, but most of the Muslim world calls it Eid al-Adha. This week, the work resumed and things are moving ahead nicely.

Thanks to the principal of the school in Tionso, Monsieur Cissouma, for sending these great photos! These photos are a great illustration of the community mobilizing to help build the school. This is one of the ways that we build new schools quickly and inexpensively. Young people in the village transport materials like sand and gravel, and provide plenty of labor.

The new three-room schoolhouse will replace an existing mud brick building that was in poor condition. As a part of every school project, we also fund the construction of a storeroom/teacher’s office and a block of latrines for boys and girls. The school enrolls 440 children, so these new classrooms will help ease overcrowding. The bright, airy new classrooms also help the village to recruit and retain teachers.

We can only build schools with your help! Visit our Contribute page to learn more.

All of the materials were delivered to the site of the new primary school in Tionso and construction has begun. The pictures below show some of the materials required to build the school and the initial steps to constructing the foundation.

On April 14, 2025 a representative from our organization, Abou Coulibaly, traveled to Dintiola to participate in the opening ceremony of the newest primary school. He was warmly welcomed by the local village. Below are pictures of the ceremony where the keys are handed over to the village chief. Several types of dances were performed during the ceremony, including the Minanka mask dance, the Koredouga, the Bara and the Niogo.

A local television station covered the festivities. Stay tuned for the video. We’ll post it after we have subtitles added, since the video is completely in the local language, Bambara.

We are thrilled to announce the opening of the new elementary school classrooms in the town of M’Pessoba, Mali. This community of 12,000 people already had 6 classrooms, but some of them were in poor condition and the school was overcrowded, putting a strain on teachers.

Thanks to the support of the Australian Ripple Fund, construction started in November 2024. As always, we work in partnership with the community, which keeps construction costs low. In addition to the 111 girls and 109 boys in the village, the school also hosts children from smaller villages in the area. M’Pessoba has around 250 households ready to accommodate all the students who will come from other localities.

When our representative in Mali, Abou Coulibaly, visited M’pesoba in April 2025, the classrooms were filled with children who are benefiting from a beautiful new learning environment!

There has been great progress to the primary school in Dintiola over the past month. As you can see the construction is well underway and will be nearing completion soon.

Before long this structure will be home to many eager to learn children!

These are the eager students who will benefit from your generosity. They are in clear need of a safe place to learn. The new school will include three classrooms, one office/book storage room and a set of two latrines. At least 97 children (60 boys and 37 girls) will be enrolled at this school. The Village of Tionso is also willing to share the school with surrounding villages in need. If the infrastructure is built, the local board of education will be able to provide teachers to educate these students. Please consider helping as any donation goes a long way for this community!

Good news from our collaborators in Mali! Construction has begun on the new primary school in the village of Dintiola. This will be our 34th school! According to our volunteer Abou Coulibaly:

The project in Dintiola is off to a good start. Much of the procurement is completed, the team has started making the cinder blocks.

During the last week of October, our volunteer Abou Coulibaly visited the village of M’Pessoba to kick off the construction of a new elementary school. Here, Abou is meeting with members of the community and the vice-mayor.

The plan for M’Pessoba is to build 3 classrooms, an office/storeroom for the teachers, and two blocks of latrines. We estimate that the new school will enroll 220 children — 111 girls and 109 boys.

Currently, the children attend schools that are either overcrowded or far away from their village. As a result, the classrooms serve “double shifts” and children only attend for half the day. Other children have to walk several miles and cross a busy road, which puts them at risk of accidents. The new school will alleviate the overcrowding and provide a safe environment for learning.