By Marie Sheneman, Operations Coordinator Volunteer

Our Board of Directors help guide the work of Mali Rising and provide legal and financial insight. I recently interviewed Mali Rising’s Board Vice Chair, Marvin, by email. He is a dedicated and enthusiastic volunteer and is happy to share his experience with you.

In 2010, Marvin worked with another Mali Rising board member, Scott. Scott was building a school in Mali. Marvin helped Scott and another school donor, Mike, obtain 10 laptops for the school. He made two trips to Mali to install solar power for the laptops and get the computer systems going. These trips made him realize “we are opening up a whole new world to them.” He saw the power of education: “I also feel that the only way they will really get out of the poverty situation they live with is education.” This is the beginning of Marvin’s involvement with Mali Rising.

One of Marvin’s favorite parts about volunteering for Mali Rising is knowing that he is helping make the lives of children in Mali better. One moment that stands out for him is “when we played a video of astronauts floating in the space station and the entire class let out a collective gasp as they realized what was happening.”

Marvin wants you to know that Mali Rising is “working in an area that really needs to come into the ‘modern world.’” Other should support this organization because “We are now in a world together as this pandemic has shown us.  We need everyone to know how to help each other and ourselves.”

At the end of the interview, Marvin had some final words to share about Mali Rising:

“If the United States definition of homeless were applied to these villages, the entire village would be homeless.  We cannot afford to bring this third world country into our century but we can teach the its people what they need to know to lift themselves.”

Because the children have to work very hard to help the family survive, attending school is difficult for them, yet they work hard at school, when they have one, because they know its importance.  In spite of their very difficult life, they are happy.  We need to learn from them that happiness is not dependent on material things.

Interested in volunteering like Marvin? Check out this flyer about being a board member or our other volunteer postings.