Over this week, we are continuing to share stories from our newest school — Christiana Norris Middle School in the village of Banko. The second student interview story which we share today is from a young woman, Sanata, who dreams of wearing a doctor’s white coat as a result of her studies!
Become a Mali Rising Volunteer Today!
I don’t know about you, but more and more these days I’m looking for ways to be of service and feel connected to the larger world. With more time at home and alone, maybe it has made me value our interconnectedness a bit more….or maybe after a year at home I just need something DIFFERENT to do with my evenings! Do you feel that way?
A New Principal for a New School
During a recent visit to our new school in Banko, I got to talk with the new principal for the brand new school. The principal is Mr. Mahamadou Diallo. He is thirty-four years old and the father of two children. Mr. Diallo as a principal is new to the village of Banko, but he has been a principal at another school for about five years. In fact, Mr. Diallo started his teaching career years ago far north (about 260 kilometers!) of Bamako. In addition to being principal, Mr. Diallo teaches French in all the three grades in Christiana Norris Middle School of Banko.
Celebrating a New School for the Children of Banko!
We are overjoyed that the new middle school for the children of Banko — Christiana Norris Middle School — is now open in Mali and serving kids. Alas, for now we cannot do the typical ceremonial opening with the Norris Family, who generously sponsored the school. Instead, our staff brought a video from the Norris Family to share with the students and interviewed students, staff, and parents about the new school. Over the next week, I’ll be sharing stories and interviews from that trip. The first interview story today is from a young man, Bakary, who was able to return home to his family now that the village has a school for him!
Do You Miss International Travel? Boy, I Do.
In preparation for our May 13 Get to Know Mali Volunteer Evening, I’ve been digging around into information about Mali that might be of interest to those of us in North America or Europe. As a side-effect of that research, I’m positively itching to be able to travel again and missing the sights, sounds, and smells of Mali! I figured some of you might be laboring under the same problem so thought I would share a snippet here about 5 places in Mali I wish I was exploring today:
Help! Virtual Volunteers Needed for 2 Special Projects
By Merritt Frey, Executive Director
Well, the good news is that we have been totally overwhelmed with responses to our new Volunteer Campaigns. The bad news? We need some help to manage the influx!
We are looking for two people willing to tackle some support help for our Read to Mali and Notes of Encouragement Campaigns. Each role can be done from anywhere in the U.S. as long as you have a good internet connection and will average about 1 to 3 hours a week.
For the Read to Mali support volunteer, we will ask that you review short (5 to 15 minute) videos from our volunteers to make sure they are kid-friendly and of good quality. You do not have to judge the volunteers’ work — we just need someone to check each video to make sure nothing untoward goes on and that the audio/video quality will work in our classrooms (you do not have to be a video tech — we are just wanting to be sure one can hear the volunteer, etc.). Specs and support will be provided.
For the Notes of Encouragement Campaign, the support volunteer will review notes submitted by volunteers — again making sure that there is nothing untoward in the notes (sometimes young volunteers might think it is funny to add an “exciting” word or two) and that no contact information is shared. The notes will all be scanned into pdf files, so they will be easy to review. Again, specs and support will be provided.
We are hoping whoever steps forward can take on their role for at least a two or three months staring in mid-April. Interested? Email me today please! And thank you…
Great Girls Read Makes Learning Fun...With Cake
Get Involved to Help Our Students (Online) This Thursday!
Want to help our students? Why, thank you! We have a fun, easy way you can volunteer to help our kids by sending them encouragement during this tough year. On April 8, you can come learn how to do it at our online April Volunteer Evening. At this online event, we will get you started with our Notes of Encouragement Volunteer Campaign. Notes are just short messages to encourage our students as they work hard in school.
One Science Teacher Hones His Skills
Teachers in Mali come together, have long tea-drinking sessions, and go to visit other villages as a group, but it is rare that they come together to learn from each other. Because we believe teachers are key to success for our students AND that teachers can really help each other, Mali Rising Foundation hosts Teacher Peer Meetings where we bring teacher together to learn from each other. In late March, we hosted a teacher peer meeting in the big town of Ouelessebougou. This meeting brought together five science teachers who were all thrilled to participate. Mr. Souleymane Koné was one of the participants. Mr. Koné is a science teacher in the village of Fadiobougou, which is home to the Entrepreneur Organization Learn for life Academy.
