We are pleased to announce that our next school building project will be in Kongoliko, Mali, a small village between Bougouni and Sikasso. We’ve almost reached our fundraising goal — right now we have $14,500 — just about $500 short of our annual $15,000 goal.
If you’ve thought about giving in the past, now would be a great time! We just need a $500 boost to put us over the top!
School #10 is finished! Here are recent photos of the new school buidlings in Konfouna.
Now we’re making plans for the next school project. We already have about 85% of the funds we need to reach our $15,000 goal for the next school. Our collaborators in Mali are putting together community profiles so we can choose our next site. There’s a village near Niena, along the Bougouni-Sikasso road, that looks promising. We’ll keep you posted! Volunteer Judy Lorimer is currently planning on a trip to Mali in November, insh’Allah.
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.
Our friends at The Dokotoro Project invite readers in Northern California to a house party that will feature fantastic Malian music, food, and drinks.
The Dokotoro Project is raising funds to translate and publish the book “Where There Is No Doctor” in Bambara, a national language of Mali, West Africa. It is the world’s most widely used guidebook for community health, published by the Hesperian Foundation in Berkeley. We’re celebrating the completion of our first two chapters at a friend’s beautiful home in the Berkeley Hills.
We’ll be featuring a DJ playing African classics, and live music by Karamo Susso from The Gambia, master of the kora, a 21-stringed African harp. More surprises TBA! More details and RSVP below.
Join us to celebrate the completion of our first two chapters at a launch party hosted at a beautiful home in the Berkeley Hills. Fantastic bay views, crisp autumn air, great company, live kora music and delicious West African food and drinks.
Rides will be available from the North Berkeley BART. A donation request will be made at the event.
For those of you who cannot attend but still want to support this effort, please make an online donation.
Links:
http://dokotoro.org
https://www.facebook.com/DokotoroProject
As many of you know, a crisis has been unfolding in Mali for several months now. In March 2012, a group of military officers staged a coup, dissolving the current government, and sending the president into exile just weeks before elections were to be held. The coup has been widely condemned by many Malians, and by foreign governments in Africa, Europe, and the West. In April, a group of Touareg rebels and Islamist militants captured three of Mali’s regional centers in the north (Gao, Timbuktu, Taoudenni).
The Tuaregs are an ethnic group in Mali’s north, and groups of Tuaregs have staged a number of rebellions against the central government over the past century. However, it seems that the Touareg revolutionaries have largely beens swept aside by Islamist groups Ansar Dine and Al Qaeda in the Magreb who seek to impose a strict form of sharia law heretofore unknown in Mali.
Islamist groups have engaged in jihadism, terrorism and arms trafficking, and committed atrocities in the northern Malian cities of Timbuktu, Gao, and Douentza. Recent reports have indicated widespread human rights abuses. The UN reports that as many as 450,000 Malians have fled their homes for refugee camps in Mauritania and Niger, or to seek shelter with friends or family in southern Mali. In October 2012, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution urging a military action to remove Islamists that are terrorizing the population in the northern Mali.
First, rest assured that none of our volunteers or collaborators is in harm’s way. Our current school construction projects are in the Sikasso region, well away from the violence in the north. For 2012, we are planning to break ground on a new school in the southern part of the Segou region, which is also far from the violence.
Second, we plan to continue our fundraising and construction projects as usual. We feel that our work is more important now than ever. Following the coup, most non-governmental organizations and foreign governments have withdrawn all aid other than essential humanitarian aid. This has meant the loss of jobs for many, and impacted local economies.
Our president and super-volunteer Judy Lorimer usually travels to Mali in November each year. Due to the current situation, she is postponing her trip annual trip until at least January, while keeping tabs on the situation and talking to our friends in Mali. While northern Mali is unsafe for travel, in the capital and southern regions, for many life goes on as usual. There have been several protests in the capital Bamako, mostly peaceful, although there have been a few instances of violence. In fact, one recent article indicated that gold and cotton producers (two of Mali’s largest exports) are doing well due to high prices on the international marketplace.
The conflict has created a refugee crisis. While many northerners have fled to cities in the south, many others living in refugee camps across the border in Mauritania and Niger. Each of these countries is dealing with food shortages, and conditions for refugees are extremely difficult, with poor sanitation that can lead to outbreaks of cholera and other diseases. Please consider making a donation to one of the organizations that is providing aid directly to refugees:
Build a School in Africa is holding its 7th Annual Benefit Trail Ride on Sunday, August 26th at Willowbrook Farm in Groton, Massachusetts. Horseback riders from all over New England trailer their horses to the farm to enjoy a 12- or 18-mile pleasure trail ride over beautiful woods, trails, and farm fields along the Nashua River.
After the ride, hungry riders enjoy a home-cooked four-course African buffet dinner, featuring dishes from Mali, Morocco, Kenya and Tanzania. This year’s ride is also offering a raffle for a variety of donated prizes. The ride is affiliated with New England Horse and Trail, and 50% of the proceeds will benefit the Build a School in Africa Project. For more information, contact Judy Lorimer at 978-433-2384, jmlorimer@verizon.net.
We are busy laying the groundwork for the tenth school we will help build in Mali, West Africa. We are planning to build a new school near M’Pessoba, which is between Bla and Koutiala on the north/south paved road between the major cities of Segou and Sikasso. There is a cluster of small villages that currently send their children to school in M’Pessoba, but kids have to walk from 5 – 11 km (3 – 7 miles) to get there, along the busy highway.
Several teenage girls have been assaulted walking to or from school. Our plan is to built a centrally located school that will serve the villages Boudibougou, Fantala, Kemesorola, and Sobala, as well as other settlements in the area.
We need your help to make this a reality. Please consider contributing today!
Our trusted collaborator in Mali, Monsieur Abou Coulibaly, recently sent us some photos of our 8th and 9th schools, in Sossoro and N’Galamatiebougou. The school in Sossoro was finished in February, and N’Galamatiebougou in March.
Malaika Thorne in Dansa, photo courtesy of the Harvard Post.
March 24th, at 7:30 p.m.
Cronin Auditorium at the Bromfield School
14 Massachusetts Avenue (Rte 111)
Harvard, MA, 01451
Since the spring of 2002, the Cronin Auditorium in Harvard, Mass. has rocked to the rhythms of high-energy dance and music of West Africa. In recent years, the repertoire has been expanded to include music and dance from the African diaspora, contemporary as well as traditional dance forms, including hip-hop and Afro-fusion selections.
Performers this year include: Teriya Dance Company; Troupe Teranga, under the direction of Alice Heller; the “Hip-Hop Mamas” from Sudbury, led by Elizabeth Bernstein; a group of senior women called Dance ‘n Feet; and Latin, jazz and contemporary dance groups from the Movement Center in Acton and the Harvard Academy of Dance.
Malian Master Drummer Moussa Traore
A fantastic group of drummers will be led by Malian Master Drummer Moussa Traore. The program includes traditional dances from Mali, Guinea and Senegal, plus dance and music from the African diaspora – Hip-Hop, Break dance, Jazz, and more! Ticket are available at the door : $15 adults, $5 students, kids 4 and under are free.
All the proceeds of these two shows go directly to our new school projects scheduled for the fall of 2012.
As of November, our 8th and 9th schools are currently under construction in the rural villages of Sossoro and N’Galamatiebougou. Our first 7 schools were built in a very successful partnership with the international charity Save the Children. However, Save the Children has shifted its focus, at least temporarily, to concentrate on teacher training programs, and is no longer building many schools. But school buildings are still desperately needed, with many children attending classes in windowless storerooms, crumbling mud-brick buildings, or temporary shelters.
As a result, Build a School in Africa has teamed up with a trustworthy construction company in Sikasso with extensive experience building schools to government standards. Generally a village is able to raise enough money to build just one classroom at a time, but with help from Build a School in Africa, the community will get an additional one or two classrooms, plus latrines and an office/storage building.
To celebrate our sixth full year working in Mali, our partners designed this wonderful new logo for us!
