Refugee Children Returning Home and to School!

I am so excited to tell you the good news........ families, students, and teachers of northern Mali are finally returning home from the refugee camps, where they have been seeking safety for two years now! There is a new President and parliament in place, Timbuktu and other large towns are beginning to thrive again. Don't get me wrong, there continues to be conflict north of Timbuktu, but the news I bring you comes from those on the ground in Timbuktu and other towns and villages, news you are unlikely to read about....

Many village and city  schools are back in session, overcoming challenges such as, finding the teachers that have returned and offering a salary to get them back to work (many working for food and lodging for now), and providing water and meals to the students.

 

Our project manager is back in Timbuktu and his family has just arrived from the camps as well. He has some outside work and keeps us informed. Many NGO's and aid organizations have re-established bases there. Families continue to arrive daily.

So, let the work begin! This week, we are starting our re-assessment of the village we halted work in two years ago, about 3 hours from Timbuktu in a 4x4 vehicle, to provide the school there with clean water, solar lighting, and sanitation programs for the students. We will begin work on implementation next month. Yippee.

So, HELP us KEEP GIRLS IN SCHOOL, and Give the Gift of Education to begin the New  Year. DONATE by clicking the donate button on the right margin of this BLOG, or do to our Facebook Cause page at: https://www.causes.com/NomadHope

I’ve seen how important it is for girls and boys to stay in school, giving them choices for their future. This 2014 EDUCATION campaign in more important than ever, with very little infrastructure in place, parents moving home and looking for work, and organizations like NomadHope beginning to improve the remote village infrastructure; children returning home need to restart their education and be in school every day. I want to give these children a better future, to avoid ever having to run to a refugee camp again, and after 14 years working in remote villages of northern Africa , I know it starts with schools.

Thanks to Rotary International, we are able to fund the infrastructure of this remote village school through a large grant, providing clean water, solar lighting, and latrines. This enables your donations to go solely to the needs to the students and teachers, for school supplies, uniforms, and temporary donkey transportation of clean water to the school. Every dollar you donate will immediately benefit students in classrooms, while we do the heavy lifting for sustainable solutions. I made my donation; can you take the journey with me?

Thank you for your patience and continued support of NomadHope, as we give girls and boys an education and a better future.

 Please click on our DONATE button to make your contribution! ... and pass the word, we're back.

Happy New Year,

Keely McGeehan

President of NomadHope

PS - as the assessment report rolls in, we will share more photos. Lots of work to be done, for example, the sand has encroached on the wall we built to surround the school, but the wall kept it out of the school building! So we need to do some sand re-distribution so the donkey's can't peek over the wall. LOL