Our family lived in Dakar, Senegal from 2009-2013 and had the good fortune of having Marie Yvonne Manga working in our home during that period. She's an amazing person - kind, patient, funny, strong, and accomplished, and a speaker of five languages.

Employment is hard to come by in Dakar, and many people - like Grandma Yvonne - have relied on Western expatriates like us for domestic work, cooking, cleaning, and helping raise children. Yvonne did these jobs for decades, saved some money, raised an extended family without a partner, and is now at an age where she hopes to retire.

But she needs help making it happen.

Her plan all along has been to return to the village of her childhood in Senegal's southern Casamance region to be surrounded by family and a more tranquil, rural atmosphere in her older years. Her family has land and a home there, and she's been dreaming of returning to it.

Several years ago, though, Casamance was struck by horrendous flooding that caved in the roof of Yvonne's family home. They have not been able to save enough money to fix it. In the meantime, Yvonne is in limbo. She has left Dakar for Mbour where she sells fish at a street stall, often clearing less than a dollar a day, and struggling to make the rent on her apartment.

Yvonne has never asked for help. When she gets in touch, it is to inquire about our family. When we visited Senegal last year, she had us over and made a beautiful meal. But we know she needs assistance to get to her retirement. And we can't think of anyone more deserving than this lovely woman, who has done nothing but support others her whole life.

When I asked her about her home in Casamance recently, she said she and her sisters had recently planted some fruit trees around the property in the hopes they would one day return to enjoy them... but that they had made little progress in saving money to fix the home. "I think of nothing else," she wrote.

Please help us to make Yvonne's return to Casamance possible by contributing to her home reconstruction fund. A little goes a long way in Senegal, so every dollar helps.