There were pencils (one for each child, that's 550 pencils!), flashcards, stickers, erasers, pencil sharpeners, magnetic letters, foam letters, calendars, world maps, rulers and much more... it filled an entire suitcase. I was stopped at Dakar airport because they wanted to know what was in that suitcase (the lined-up pencils must have looked strange through the x-ray machine - or whatever that machine does), but in the end everything went fine.
I took all the supplies to the school in April, with also 550 animal cards my mother collected in Germany. I was accompanied by a French elementary school teacher who was visiting one of my friends.
First, I handed over the April money for the sponsoring fund. Then I asked to meet one of the needy families. We were led into the "quartier" behind the school and introduced to this family.
The father (left) is a respectable man in his 50s, he has no work but is involved with the local mosque. He has 5 children with his first wife (2nd from the right) and 4 with his second wife (in pink - just a note here: our visit was unannounced, it was the 2nd wife's day of cooking and cleaning, that's why she wasn't "properly" dressed). None of the children has gone to school. One of the older sons (in the middle, with the red cap) is a mason, and he worked for the school in the past. The youngest son (in front of the two women) is 13 and when Mr Diatta (the school headmaster, in brown) realised the situation last year he decided to offer him tuition for free. The kid is in first grade now.
The family invited us into their home, a very clean single room with a large double bed, a small chest of drawers and a piece of cotton fabric hanging on the unpainted cement wall. (On the picture, we're standing in front of the door to this windowless room.) This is the first wife's room, the second wife has another. They share a common kitchen and very simple bathroom facilities with a dozen other families.
A couple of other older men were sitting there, too, pillars of the local community, and then there was quite a lot of talking in Wolof that translated roughly to "thank you very much for what you're doing for our son" and "it's an honour to welcome you here". I then spoke of the importance of education and that the sponsors in France, Germany, America, England and Australia, that I represent, are happy to see that our money is going to a good cause. Then I adressed the kid with the parents and said we hoped he realised the opportunity that was given to him, that he owed Mr Diatta big thanks and that he should make efforts to benefit as much as possible from this chance he is given. Mr Diatta translated all this and it took much longer than what I said so I'm not sure if he just put all the necessary "flourish" to what I said or if he took the opportunity to pass a few more messages he wanted to bring across.
Then I said a few nice things in French to the boy, but he didn't understand much of it. After all, this is his first year of French...
Then, we went back to the school and unpacked the big bag of supplies from the US.
Mary Beth, they loved everything, but they were especially happy with the world maps. These are going to be framed and put up in classrooms. The pencils will be saved for when school starts in October, and every pupil will get one. I had to explain what flashcards are (and I must admit I had to ask an American friend how they are used, because they are not a common feature in the French or German systems either), and they will be used by grades 2-6. The headmaster didn't know yet whether they would be used in class or if they would put them in the library to allow the children to work by themselves with them. The flashcards will also only be used in the next school year.
The stickers and letters went to the little ones and their teacher:
I have a much nicer picture of this moment, but I can't figure out how to turn it around, sorry! Also Stéphanie (the French lady) took plenty of other nice pictures with her (much better) camera, but it was stolen the following day and she hadn't transferred the pictures to a computer yet... so this is all you get, sorry! (Especially Mary Beth, I'm so sorry - she had this great camera that took great pictures and now it's all gone, I know you were looking forward to these pictures.)
The pencil sharpeners will go one in each classroom, same for the calendars. The rulers and erasers and other supplies will be used as prizes for the end-of-year spelling bees.
They were very happy with everything, and I have been waiting so long to post this because I wanted to take pictures of the framed maps - but forgot to take my camera during my visit yesterday (I was picking up some of the old tables and benches to bring them to a center for mentally handicapped children, also a project suppported by DWG)... Next time! But I'm not putting off this post any longer.
Despite the huge success of this donation though, I have decided not to do this again. In comparison to the local supplies, the things from America were very fancy. I don't think I will ever forget the puzzled look on the headmaster's face when he unpacked the flashcards. *smile* Or when he realised that what he was holding were coloured erasers. And how the French teacher and I explained the concept of magnetic letters.
And while all these things will be treasured and used and appreciated, it took a lot of time and effort for Mary Beth and myself to get them here.
I think it will be easier in the future to send the amount of money that would have been spent there and to spend it here on local supplies. It has been explained to me that this also supports the local economy - makes sense, doesn't it?
I want to express a big, big THANK YOU again to Mary Beth who did a wonderful job choosing supplies for all the children and who has brought happy smiles to many young faces. The teachers also were glad to have new things to use. You are a wonderful, generous person, Mary Beth!
Also big THANKS to all of you who donated money for the sponsoring fund. It is soooo useful!
The family invited us into their home, a very clean single room with a large double bed, a small chest of drawers and a piece of cotton fabric hanging on the unpainted cement wall. (On the picture, we're standing in front of the door to this windowless room.) This is the first wife's room, the second wife has another. They share a common kitchen and very simple bathroom facilities with a dozen other families.
A couple of other older men were sitting there, too, pillars of the local community, and then there was quite a lot of talking in Wolof that translated roughly to "thank you very much for what you're doing for our son" and "it's an honour to welcome you here". I then spoke of the importance of education and that the sponsors in France, Germany, America, England and Australia, that I represent, are happy to see that our money is going to a good cause. Then I adressed the kid with the parents and said we hoped he realised the opportunity that was given to him, that he owed Mr Diatta big thanks and that he should make efforts to benefit as much as possible from this chance he is given. Mr Diatta translated all this and it took much longer than what I said so I'm not sure if he just put all the necessary "flourish" to what I said or if he took the opportunity to pass a few more messages he wanted to bring across.
Then I said a few nice things in French to the boy, but he didn't understand much of it. After all, this is his first year of French...
Then, we went back to the school and unpacked the big bag of supplies from the US.
Mary Beth, they loved everything, but they were especially happy with the world maps. These are going to be framed and put up in classrooms. The pencils will be saved for when school starts in October, and every pupil will get one. I had to explain what flashcards are (and I must admit I had to ask an American friend how they are used, because they are not a common feature in the French or German systems either), and they will be used by grades 2-6. The headmaster didn't know yet whether they would be used in class or if they would put them in the library to allow the children to work by themselves with them. The flashcards will also only be used in the next school year.
The stickers and letters went to the little ones and their teacher:
I have a much nicer picture of this moment, but I can't figure out how to turn it around, sorry! Also Stéphanie (the French lady) took plenty of other nice pictures with her (much better) camera, but it was stolen the following day and she hadn't transferred the pictures to a computer yet... so this is all you get, sorry! (Especially Mary Beth, I'm so sorry - she had this great camera that took great pictures and now it's all gone, I know you were looking forward to these pictures.)The pencil sharpeners will go one in each classroom, same for the calendars. The rulers and erasers and other supplies will be used as prizes for the end-of-year spelling bees.
They were very happy with everything, and I have been waiting so long to post this because I wanted to take pictures of the framed maps - but forgot to take my camera during my visit yesterday (I was picking up some of the old tables and benches to bring them to a center for mentally handicapped children, also a project suppported by DWG)... Next time! But I'm not putting off this post any longer.
Despite the huge success of this donation though, I have decided not to do this again. In comparison to the local supplies, the things from America were very fancy. I don't think I will ever forget the puzzled look on the headmaster's face when he unpacked the flashcards. *smile* Or when he realised that what he was holding were coloured erasers. And how the French teacher and I explained the concept of magnetic letters.
And while all these things will be treasured and used and appreciated, it took a lot of time and effort for Mary Beth and myself to get them here.
I think it will be easier in the future to send the amount of money that would have been spent there and to spend it here on local supplies. It has been explained to me that this also supports the local economy - makes sense, doesn't it?
I want to express a big, big THANK YOU again to Mary Beth who did a wonderful job choosing supplies for all the children and who has brought happy smiles to many young faces. The teachers also were glad to have new things to use. You are a wonderful, generous person, Mary Beth!
Also big THANKS to all of you who donated money for the sponsoring fund. It is soooo useful!
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