By Merritt Frey, Executive Director

Over the last few weeks Mali Rising’s U.S. staff and Mali staff traveled together in Mali to visit our schools and partners. Over the next week or so, we’ll share stories from that trip on the blog.

There is really nothing as joyful as celebrating something like a new school with the partners — now friends — who worked together to achieve the goal. The sense of camaraderie, achievement, and hope for the future simply cannot be beat.

So we were very glad to celebrate the opening of Kafara’s new Mali Rising school — The Mindful Bunch Middle School — with the leaders, parents, and children of the village on October 27. There was dancing, music, many (many) speeches, and a wonderful skit put on by the students. Ilias, the donor who inspired a whole group of friends — The Mindful Bunch, to sponsor the school was there to celebrate too.

Now we’re glad to report that The Mindful Bunch Middle School classrooms are full of students and our partnership with the people of Kafara is off to a great start. Explore the photos here to get just a small taste of the joyful beginning of that partnership!