Needed: School Lunches!

In northern Burkina Faso, poverty is a major obstacle to the education of children.  Village girls who are able to attend primary school within a few kms of their homes (thanks to Association NEEED’s self-help Lambs Support Girls’ Education Project) must go to larger towns to continue their middle and secondary educations.  As most of these girls are unable to find someone to take them in, they look for what are often insecure places to live in small groups and they pool their meager funds to buy food.  Students of the Lycee Modern de l’Amitie (LMA - girls’ middle/secondary school run by Association NEEED) walk to school, 3 km from town, with no provision for food throughout the day.

To combat the nutritional challenges of the majority of children enrolled in the LMA, the school has made a major effort to ensure that its students have a meal (of beans or rice) in the middle of the day.

Thanks to the availability of what for some students is their only real meal of the day, coupled with the dedication of teachers and quality of instruction at the Lycee Modern de l’Amitie , the success of students of the LMA is well above that of other middle and secondary schools in the region and nationally.  Eighty-two percent of seniors in this secondary school in the literature/social sciences series (in the French educational system) passed national exams this year to graduate vs 30% of students nationally.  In math and life sciences, 100% of seniors in the LMA succeeded in national exams to graduate.

Food is essential to a child’s health and to their ability to function.  School lunches at the LMA depend upon donors.  A very small investment ($.45/day/student) contributes to the success of smart and determined village girls who have nowhere else to turn for their support. 

Young girls like those in this photo are most appreciative for your support.