Back in France

I have to apologise for not posting on the blog for such a long time.

We moved back to France around Christmas and the readjustment to life in Europe has been a little difficult. 

In Dakar, Christiane A. has taken over my role as the sponsoring fund liaison with the school. She is the one who takes the money to the school every month, who gets the receipts signed and who checks the list with the students' names and their parents' signatures, to make sure they received the money.

We are in touch very regularly.

I still handle the donations and the dividing up the amounts and I tell her how much to take to the school every month.

Mr Diatta and I speak over the phone every 2 weeks or so and he tells me what's new at the school.

The very good news is that a Danish company based in Dakar wanted to sponsor educational projects and contacted Dakar Women's Group. The DWG Charity Committee steered them towards Ecole Ousmane Sembène and they liked the school. So they financed the school books for two grade levels. The school now has its own books for 6th grade and 5th grade. The students don't have to buy the books anymore, but they rent them from the school for 1/4 of the price. Mr Diatta thinks that each book can last four years and then there will be enough money to replace them.

Hopefully, two more grade levels will have books next year, and the two last ones the year after that.

The bad news is that one of the teacher has to have surgery. Mr Diatta sees it as his duty as his employer to finance at least part of this surgery. While it wasn't easy, he has managed to find the money for the surgery and it will be done very soon.

I am still trying to raise money for the sponsoring fund. Some of you will be reading this because you received my e-mail.

I will be selling things at our local "vide-grenier" (attic sale, or yard sale) on April 5. Anyone living in the Toulouse region can get in touch with me if they have things to donate that can be sold that day. There will be another vide-grenier in September and I will also accept donations for that.

Moraene's efforts (read below) are an inspiration and I will also organise cake sales, parties etc. over the summer to raise money.

Please feel free to contact me if you have other ideas, I am open to any suggestions.

Ideas

I want to express our thanks to Moraene R., who sent us a contribution for the sponsoring fund from the UK. Moraene had friends over for coffee and cake and her friends made a donation for the school. At Christmas, she made sweets and sold them to a few friends in order to raise a little more money. Moraene, I know you are not wealthy and your efforts are very much appreciated. Thank you!

It has been over a year now that I started the sponsoring fund. The first sums I received, I divided in 12 and handed them over to the school over the 12 months of 2008. That money is now gone. We have had other contributions, and some regular donors who send money each month, but our goal of having 2/3 of the tuition fees paid for the 24 poorest children of the school is not reached yet...

Oh, how I hate this asking for money! But maybe you could smoke one pack of cigarettes less, or take out a book from the library instead of buying it, or skip dessert once at your favourite restaurant... and send us that money instead? 

If you have a Paypal account, you can click on the button to the left of the main page of this blog. If you don't have a Paypal account, please contact me and we'll find a way.

The kids and their parents are grateful...

Thank you!

Janet O., who has been living in Dakar for a few years and will soon be moving back to the United States, is one of the DWG members who visited the school in May. She was so touched by what has been accomplished there that she gave us a donation for the sponsoring fund in June.

Now Janet wanted to give special attention to the school's teachers for the end-of-year holidays (Tabaski and Christmas) and has donated a "Holiday bonus" for each of them. Thank you very much, Janet! (and I won't forget that you had tears in your eyes when you gave me the envelope - you saw for yourself, you know it's a worthy cause)

Christiane A. came back from her trip to Germany in October with a contribution to the sponsoring fund. Thanks!

Janet P. teaches ESL as a volunteer in her county and has decided to give the collection her students gave her to Ecole Ousmane Sembène: "for textbooks and fun reading". Mr Diatta is supposed to write up a list of books but he just has not got around to it yet. As soon as I have the list, I will go and buy the books, Janet, and put up pictures on the blog.

Guy W. knows the school personally and is particularly devoted to getting the school a better computer equipment. He sent the printer in the summer and he hopes to send a larger donation and/or some computer supplies in the near future. I'll keep my fingers crossed, Guy.

Thank you very much! You all are making a difference.

But - and I hate to say this, because it sounds like begging and I hate that - it's not enough. Please, please, if you want to do something, send a couple of euros or dollars - for books, for dictionaries or for the sponsoring fund. It is needed and it will be very appreciated.

Antoine Diatta, me, Mrs Diatta and baby Patricia Christine

On the rails again

School started a month ago and the school is now full.

Many parents wait until November to send their kids back to school, because that way they don't have to pay the tuition fee for October when school only starts on the 13th or so. Mr Diatta was expecting about 500 pupils, he had 556 last Tuesday. Honestly, I don't know where he puts them! But he says it's so difficult to refuse the kids. So they're just as crammed into the classrooms as they were last year.

The flooding has gone back, as it hasn't rained again. There's only the odd puddle left.

The 12th classroom has been installed in a part of the library and a wall has been built to seal it off.

Mr Diatta has been very, very busy with the start of the school year, with the school's anniversary on November 11, but also on a personal level: his wife gave birth to a baby girl on October 21. 

I had been told to expect what followed then...: I'm proud and honoured to announce that I am a godmother again! Little Patricia Christine is a happy, pretty baby and I'm only waiting for Elke to send me her photos to put one up here.

It has now been exactly a year since I got involved into this project. The first donations to the sponsoring fund are coming to an end (I always divide donations into 12 equal parts for the following 12 months), so if you aren't going to spend everything on Christmas presents - think of giving a poor family the opportuntiy to lighten their load by helping pay for their child's tuition fees.

October 6, 2008

Today Christiane and I went to the school in order to hand over the money for the sponsoring fund of July, August, September and October.

We had bad news for Mr Diatta - unfortunately, the funding request for the pharmacy armoire has been rejected by my friend's company. They were looking for a more innovative project than a simple "école de quartier".

The school itself has not been flooded, but there is water on every dirt road in the area. In front of the library, there is a puddle that keeps coming back. The water seeps up through the cement floor, that's how high the ground water is over there.

In the school's main building are 6 classrooms, in the annex are 5. Mr Diatta had planned to use a separate room down the road for a 12th classroom. But this room is totally flooded. Now he is thinking he might use one of the two library rooms as a classroom. Seems a bit difficult to me, but the kids have to go somewhere!

The results of the 6th graders have come in. 77 pupils took their "certificat" (a test that marks the end of elementary school). 73 succeeded. 

Also, 69 out of the 77 pupils can go on to collège (middle school). Ecole Ousmane Sembène's goal is to train students efficiently, so that they can succeed in public collège and don't have to go on to private collège (where parents have to pay). While we were in Mr Diatta's office, a lady came to ask for advice. Her son passed the certificat but not the access to collège... he will have to do the year again and try again next year, if the parents don't want to put him through private collège.

News in October

I can't believe it's already October and I haven't written anything here since May.

Guy in the UK donated a CPU for the school. Unfortunately, some things went wrong and what arrived here in Dakar via Paris was not the CPU but a printer. Well, it will be used anyway.

Mr Diatta has been encouraged to put in a new funding request at Dakar Women's Group, and he has done so. The school is asking for school books for the 6th grade. Until now, the school books are bought second hand by the families. If the school has its own books and rents them out to the family for a small fee, the families will spend less money and the school will be able to renew the books little by little. But for this project to work, the school needs to buy the books. Hopefully, the DWG will be able to help.

I have also found a company that is considering a donation for a pharmacy cupboard. If the company doesn't follow through, I will have to find other funds for the pharmacy and first aid kit. 

I've received few donations since May. A couple of dictionaries, some money for the sponsoring fund. So far, the monthly contribution to the sponsoring fund is roughly 50.000 CFA (76€ or 105US$), which is more than half way to the 90.000 CFA/month I am aiming at. 

I must admit I'm not confortable at all with asking people for money. I tell them about the school, and if they offer to help, great. If they don't, I'm not going to beg.

We've been back in Dakar for over 3 weeks now, and we have witnessed a lot of deterioration. The rains have been heavy this year. The whole area around the school was flooded. Mr Diatta managed to protect the school buildings, but people's homes have been flooded several times. The floods are also the reason why I haven't driven over yet. I couldn't have accessed the school.

Also, food prices have gone up. In less than two years the price for rice has doubled - rice is the main food here in Senegal, the change of price is a huge weight in a family's budget. Many people are ill with malaria but don't go to see a doctor. That's why it's so important that the children attend school and get an education. 

Classes haven't started yet, but they will soon. The sponsoring money for July, August and September will help the families to buy their kids' school books. Next year, when hopefully at least two classes have books provided by the school, the summer money will go towards the school book fund.

I will finally be moving back to France this year at Christmas. But there will be a local contact here who will hand over the money every month.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.