By Barry Hoffner | Founder and Executive Director, Caravan to Class
Dear Supporters of our Bantam school construction project on Global Giving:
I wanted to send you an update on our Bantam school construction project of 2016/17, Caravan to Class’ 10th school construction project in village around Timbuktu since 2010.
As I mentioned in my last update, Timbuktu, which was once one of the world’s most literate places, and more recently an important travel destination for the intrepid traveler (it is hard to believe now that Bono was in Timbuktu only 4 years ago) is, today, a surreal place of ancient UNESCO World Heritage sites, pastoral scenes of camels and donkeys transporting agriculture and more than 3,000 UN Peacekeepers. There are military checkpoints everywhere in a heavily militarized environment void of tourists and non-UN foreigners.
Despite Timbuktu being on the front lines of the world’s fight against global extremist violence, residents are adjusting to life in this fabled place. There is still much work to be done by the Malian government, the UN, and NGOs to create more opportunities, particularly for the youth, which will lead to a more secure situation.
The Bantam school will be completed before the end of the 2016/17 school year, hopefully by March 2017 and will bring education to more than 120 children who never had the chance to go to school. On behalf of these children, I thank you for making this happen! The village of Bantam was created in the 1600s by a Tuareg woman (as the story goes) who moved from the Gao region of Mali to find a place on the side of the Niger river not far from the trading town of Timbuktu. This village of close to 700 residents is composed of ethnic Songhays, Peuls (cattle-herders), Bozos (fisherman) and Tuareg. The principal economic activity of the village is fishing and animal herding. Sixty percent of the population is under the age of 30 years. There has never been schooling of any kind in this village.
Together, with your support, we have accomplished a lot since we built our first school in 2010. This past year, 2016, was a very productive year for Caravan to Class: 1) completing our 9th school in the village of Kakondji (which I felt fortunate to be on hand to inaugurate in February, 2016) 2) implementing of our first Female Adult Literacy program in the village of Tourari (which directly lead to a large grant from Dining for Women to expand this program into ten villages where we currently operate), 3) becoming a sub-contractor of USAID to fund the building of a school in the village of Kabara San Fils, in 2017.
While all is not perfect, by all means, in Timbuktu, we are hopeful that with UN support and pressure from France and the U.S., Mali can better serve all of its population and that we will see a more peaceful north. Nonetheless, our work continues and we are better established on the ground in ten villages than before the conflict began and thus our ability to promote literacy is strong. In fact, through our work in education, Caravan to Class has become an important for the revitalization of one of Africa’s most historically important places.
Sincerely,
Barry Hoffner
Founder and Executive Director, Caravan to Class
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