Building and opening a new school is one of the most exciting activities at Mali Rising Foundation. However, once the school is complete we turn the building over to the local village to own and manage. This is a big responsibility, and maintenance requires skills. That’s why one of the ways we work with our partner villages is on-going maintenance trainings. To keep the schools safe and comfortable, we train School Management Committees – which are kind of like the PTAs in the U.S. – in various skills. I recently trained the Committee at both Lareen Mellor Middle School and Gary Hudson Elementary School.