Help fund a classroom for kids in rural Angola

Thank you for contributing to our “Help fund a classroom for kids in rural Angola” project. We have met our goal to build one classroom in the 8-classroom school at Njele in the Bie Province. The additional amount donated will give 19 more kids the chance to go to school. We could not have done this without you!

Funding for a school gets sent when the full amount to build a school has been raised. So, in an effort to provide a school for the many out-of-school children at Njele, we have begun a new project aiming to raise enough to give 100 more kids the chance to go to school. We hope you will continue to help us see this through. Additional funds from other RISE fundraising events have been raised and earmarked for the construction of the school at Njele. We continue to get closer to our goal to give 800 kids a building where they can attend class and receive a primary education.

You are making a difference in the lives of families in Angola. Thank you for your generous support of RISE!

Links:

• School at Njele

Thanks again for your contribution to our project: Help fund a classroom for kids in rural Angola. Our Schools for Angola program began in 2003 with the construction of 5 simple design schools made of mud blocks. In 2007, we began to build larger, more permanent structures made of cement block, accommodating more students. To date, 159 schools have been built, bringing the opportunity for education to over 106,000 kids.

Once a site is identified to receive a school and full funding is reached, construction begins. It generally takes 4-6 months to build, and culminates in a dedication celebration, turning the school over to the community and Ministry of Education (MOE). The MOE provides desks, chalkboards and textbooks, and hires and pays the teachers. Students are enrolled and begin learning.

It is very rewarding to return to Angola and visit school sites where kids are in class, with a teacher engaged in teaching a lesson. We are met with smiles from the children, and expressions of gratitude from the community, for giving them hope for the future.

Please join us in carrying our work forward. There is another gift match opportunity on July 12. GlobalGiving will match donations made to our project at 50%. We are confident we can reach our goal to fund a classroom at Njele and give more kids the chance to go to school. We are grateful for your partnership!

We are so close to our goal of $35,000 to fund a classroom in the school at Njele. This 8-classroom school will get underway when full funding is received. Our GlobalGiving project will fund one of the 8 classrooms. Other fundraising events have brought us almost half-way to the $280,000 total we need to build a school for the kids at Njele.   

We are grateful for your contribution to our project and for the impact it will have. You have an opportunity to help once again by participating in the Little by Little Matching Campaign running from 9:00:01 EDT on April 3rd to 23:59:59 EDT on April 7th. GlobalGiving will match donations up to $50 per unique donor at 50% until the $50,000 in matching funds runs out!

Small donations add up to BIG change - you can make a difference in the lives of the kids at Njele.

Thanks so much.

Thanks to each of you for your support of RISE and your help in funding a classroom for out-of-school children in Angola. The cost to build a classroom has increased to $35,000, which means we need just under $5,000 to reach our goal. A classroom accommodates about 50 students in 2 sessions a day, that's 100 students per classroom, at a cost of $350 per child. Students will be using the classroom for the next 25 to 30 years, which actually breaks down to $14 per student per year - an incredible return on investment! 

More than a decade after the end of Angola’s 27-year civil war, rapid post-war economic growth based on oil production has halted with the extreme drop in oil revenue. Over 40 percent of the population lives below the poverty line of $1.25 a day. The situation across the country remains difficult for most, worsened with the current economic crisis, posing enormous challenges to daily life and survival. 

The population of Angola has doubled since the end of the war, currently at about 26 million, nearly half under 15 years of age. Estimates of children with no opportunity for education range from 513,000 to several million… for them, there is no classroom, no teacher, no curriculum, no learning. Yet, every child should have the chance to go to school, to learn to read and write. 

We would like to apply the funds raised through GlobalGiving to build an 8-classroom school at Njele, in the Bie Province. There are more than 2000 children in the region, with access to education for only a few in tin rooms. The principal, teachers and community leaders are burdened by the plight of their children, pleading for a school, with hope for a better future. Our work continues and we hope that our partnership with you will as well. Together we can give these kids the opportunity they deserve.

Links:

• more info on Njele

We appreciate your partnership in helping to give more kids in Angola the opportunity for education. Thanks to your generosity, we are moving closer to our goal to fund the construction of a classroom in a new school. So many children are anxious to have the chance to learn to read and write and with your help, we will make that happen.

RISE's Executive Director, Lynn Cole, just returned from a trip to Angola. She shared, "We visited many areas that desperately need schools, each with thousands of kids. Many locations have never had a school, one was a destitute refugee settlement, and at another site, flooding washed away a mud block government school, and now 840 kids have no place to go. Classes of children, sitting on small plastic chairs they carry, meet in open structures made with pieces of corrugated tin. A chalkboard, stored elsewhere, is carried to the "classroom" each day. At Njele, a place with more than 2000 children, a group gathered to meet us - the principal, teachers and community leaders shared the plight of their children, pleading for a school, with hope for a better future."

Upon witnessing enormous need, she was delighted to see places where RISE has built schools and children are in class learning. Tomas Ferreria, a school with 24 classrooms, was dedicated last month and students are now attending class. 159 schools have been built since 2003, giving over 103,000 kids the opportunity to receive an education.

Let's continue bringing a hope for the future to the children and their families in Angola. Together we can make a difference.

Links:

• School at Tomas Ferreira