Rehabilitate School in Timbuktu for 80 students

Dear Donor to the Teshaq School Rehabilitation Project

This report is to update you on my recent trip to Timbuktu, including a visit to the village of Teshaq to see the results of the rehabilitation project which has been completed. I was very pleased with the results. The note below are my trip notes written around the beginning of April. Since then, the Malian Government has signed a peace deal, though a number of the Tuareg factions have yet to sign. While challenges remain, we can only hope that peace comes to the area. Please see my notes below...

I am happy to say that Timbuktu is on the road to recovery from the takeover of Northern Mali, including Timbuktu, by the Ansar Dine militants almost exactly 3 years ago. While there are still no tourists in the city and it remains heavily fortified by UN Peacekeepers and the French military, there is a feeling that things are returning to normal. Refugees have, for the most part, returned. There is much more life on the streets than one year ago. The people seem to be moving from a period of looking for basic needs to looking towards the future. There is a feeling that if only the MNLA (Tuareg leadership) would sign the peace accord, there could be a noticeable inflow of opportunities.

I was happy to visit the school that Caravan to Class built last year in the village of Tombouz. Though the students were on school break, I loved seeing the finished school, the new well next to the school and new block of toilets. Most of all, I loved seeing the writing on the blackboard from before the students were on break. In the 6^th grade classroom, there was a test on the blackboard with one essay question being “What was the role played by Djenne and Timbuktu in the 16^th century”. The head of the village of Tombouz was overjoyed to see me again and asked to send a special thank you to the donors who made the Tombouz school possible.

Today, I went with Jiddou and Hamadou to visit the Teshaq school. This visit was unannounced and Jiddou insisted that I where a turban, both for security precautions. Teshaq lies on the North-West road, unlike a number of Caravan to Class’ other schools, where most of the problems lie. I was very happy to see the school. It was very well built as you may be able to see from the attached photos. Today was the first day back from school break, so there were not as many children as there will likely be next week. Nevertheless, those in the village quickly assembled to give me a wonderful welcome, parents and kids

The school looked great and the village is so happy to see a renovated school in the center of their village. The head of the village specifically asked me to thank the donors who made this possible.

We are into our 6^th year with our partner NGO Nord et Developpement and its founder, Mr. Hamadou Toure. We took a chance on partnering with this small local NGO in early 2010 and this decision has paid off. Hamadou has an incredibly structured process for working with the villages and the authorities that keeps things organized and on track. He has managed to create a network of partners like Caravan to Class that operate in different sectors to uplift the villages where we work. The principal areas are Education (Caravan to Class), Sanitation, and Food Security. As for Sanitation, wherever Caravan to Class builds a school, the German NGO Arche Nova has built both latrines, provided daily sanitation supplies and training, and has drilled a well. In the village of Kakondji I was able to see a very successful food security project being implemented where network partner Arche Nova & Plan Mali purchased a large pump to bring water from the Niger inland, villages cleared field for planting grain and vegetables. The project also purchased seeds, oil and diesel (for the pump). The villagers pay 1/3 of their harvest back to the village to be able to continue the purchase of seeds, oil/diesel and machine maintenance.

Finally, we will be launching a new program in our 2015-16 budget…A Female adult literacy class. From our contacts with the villages we have realized that the more involved we get the parents, particularly mothers, with the schools, the more they support their child’s (particularly girls) education. We already have the classrooms, the solar for light, and the teachers…Thus, adding a few classes a week in the evenings for the mothers to learn to read and write in their own language(s), in a fun and well-structured way, would be very complementary to our existing work.

This note turned out a little longer than I expected. However, I want to reiterate my appreciation for your support for Caravan to Class. This is the time of year when I am busy writing grants to foundations for funding. We have received a Match grant opportunity from an existing foundation supporter which will match any new grants we receive up to $10,000. These funds will go towards our next school construction project in the village Kakondji. If you know any foundations which fund education in Africa, I would be grateful for the contact.

Sincerely,

Barry Hoffner

Caravan to Class