The Little Heroes Academy I Middle School of Mana has more than one hundred students. The school has many challenges to address. One of the main challenges is how to keep kids healthy and be able to attend school. Mali Rising is doing our small part to help with that challenge, by providing hygiene education classes. One student, Aminata, really took the lesson to heart!
Healthy Kids = Learning Kids
There are many challenges facing Malian students. In addition to an on-going teacher shortage, water issues, a lack of teaching tools, and overcrowded classrooms, many students miss school due to avoidable illness. Through our Health Project, we are working to reduce that particular problem for our students!
Prevention is Better Than a Cure
Impact of Coronavirus on Living Conditions in Our Partner Villages
Just like everyone around the world, we have been working hard to understand the impact of COVID-19 on our lives and our work. All of the Mali staff or Mali Rising have been gathering information weekly from our 23 partner villages. We also recently reviewed the results of a national survey carried out in June 2020 by the Malian government in collaboration with the World Bank. I wanted to share what we understand from the national survey and discuss how that information may affect our future work.
One Teacher’s Take On Preventing COVID-19 In Kassela
Your Donations In Action! What a Hand Washing Station Means to a Village
By Adama Kone, Teacher Project Coordinator
The coronavirus is a disaster for the entire world, including Mali. Mali Rising is working hard to help students and students’ parents stay healthy in our partner villages. We are trying to make the villagers more aware of measures of prevention in order to be safe during the virus. We are also providing them tools like hand washing stations, educational flyers, and health lessons.
Recently I talked with a member of the school committee at Ross and Marilou Moser Middle School in Nieguekoro. His name is Modibo Doumbia. Mr. Doumbia is 43 years old and has 6 kids.
Modibo Doumbia shared with us what his village has been doing to prevent the virus. He told us they are very concerned about the coronavirus outbreak in Mali when we asked him about the village’s health.
I asked him a few questions:
Adama: What do you think about the Covid-19, Modibo?
Modibo: We have heard about the COVID-19 killing many people in many other countries and many people believe it is true even though some still do not here in Nieguekoro. Most people in my village are very sad and worried about it too, especially because the number of infected people is incredibly increasing every day in Mali. Because of the virus here, many people in Nieguekoro have changed behaviors in terms of hygiene. They use soap and water very often now and encourage their children to do as well. I can tell you that I have been avoiding crowds and I have been using soap and water myself. I also encourage many other families to respect these measures in order that we are all stay safe during this virus. I truly believe that the virus is a reality and it is very deadly! I know that in Mali many people died from the COVID-19 too. Here in Nieguekoro some people think they should see those dead bodies, so they can believe it. But that is not possible because the virus is very contagious and very hard to be treated. So, I personally think the dead bodies need to be hidden which can really prevent it from spreading so bad.
Adama: How do you think you will use the Mali Rising Foundation hand washing stations?
Modibo: I am very happy to have the two hand washing stations from Mali Rising Foundation. They will be used in a proper way by the whole village and I am sure they will be helpful because there were none here before except those who have smaller ones in their families. I am very thankful to Mali Rising for this donation!
Adama: What do you think of school being cancelled during this outbreak of Covid-19?
The situation is pitiful because we do not know what to do about it! School is shut down and the children need help. The only thing we tell them is not to forget their textbooks and a few lessons they have seen before the outbreak. But the kids do not seem motivated anymore because they have not gone to school for longtime. At least we want them to stay safe over the outbreak of COVID-19. We hope this crisis will end soon and our children can go back to school and teachers as well.
Thank you to all our donors who sponsored hand washing stations and the Health Project! You make this work possible. You too can support this work!
Mr. Doumbia inspects one of the new hand washing stations donated by Mali Rising supporters.
Wow! Our Generous Supporters Made This A GREAT School Year!
Auction for Action at Thursday's Soiree
We've all done it -- got carried away at a charity auction and come home with a strange trinket we can't fit anywhere in our house or a gift certificate for an adventure we can't imagine ever taking. We shrug and tell ourselves the funds went to a good cause. So why not just directly decide where those funds will go and spare yourself donating the dusty trinket to the thrift store two years later. That's the concept behind the Auction for Action at Mali Rising's Soiree this Thursday.
