By Merritt Frey, Executive Director
From November 3 to November 18, Mali Rising's U.S. staff joined our Mali staff for a whirlwind tour of 18 of our schools, visits with scholarship students, meetings with potential new villages and so much more. This is the post is one of a series of blog postings featuring parts of that trip.
If you want to really understand how much we take for granted our school system in the United States, stop and think about the fact that many schools in Mali have no textbooks.
Not one.
And even where there are textbooks, it is extremely common for three or four (or more) students to share one textbook. Just imagine studying subjects like algebra, chemistry, geography, and a foreign language without a textbook.
Thanks to Mali Rising's generous supporters, we're changing that dynamic at our schools. With gifts from the amazing donors who attended the 2017 Soiree, this November when the U.S. staff visited Mali we delivered 1,483 textbooks to thirteen of our twenty-one schools.
The kids were excited. The teachers were overjoyed. And even the parents celebrated. These simple gifts will help hundreds of kids learn each year, and they'll continue to serve hundreds of kids for the next ten-plus years.
We still have a long way to go to make sure that every student has access to a textbook in each key subject, but with your help we're getting closer every year.
Inspired to help? Just think, with a donation of just $10 you can help a child overcome algebra, chemistry, French....and extreme poverty. Donate to the Book Fund.
