My Family Needs Help!!!
Donation protected
My Name is Abdourrachid Sow, I was born in the Ivory Coast, West Africa, but fled war in 2002 to go to Mali when my family lost everything in a bombing, including our house.
Upon arrival in Mali, my family suffered a lot to establish ourselves in the new country. Eight years later my mom and my three siblings, including my baby brother went back to the Ivory Coast to visit my grandmother when another political war started and my mom saw her father and her younger brother being handcuffed and killed before her eyes. Then her baby got sick and died because there was no available hospital nor medicine.
After the war, she went back to Mali and did not want to return to the Ivory Coast, but my father had an accident, slipping on the floor and breaking his hip in three places.
At the time, the new Ivorian President called out to all the citizens living abroad to come home and rebuild the country. He promised free education and healthcare, so since my father needed an operation costing more than $14,000, which we did not have, we returned to the country. However, the president did not keep his promises.
Instead, he created an atmosphere of instability in the country. There was no free education, no free healthcare. By some miracle, over the years my father got better and can walk without crutches now. But he still has pain and needs medical attention.
Not only did the president not keep his promises but he also refused to pay the military who fought the war for him and brought him to the presidency. Thus, since last year the military has started to make demands for their money and threatened to use coercion if he did not pay them. Since January 2017, there has been a lot of violence against the population and there have been many shootings between military factions causing many schools, companies, businesses, and markets to close.
Right now there is so much violence, shootings, and food scarcity that my family can't cope with the situation any longer. This is how both the 2002 and 2010 wars started in the Ivory Coast and they have lost so much that they are traumatized and afraid. They recently took refuge in Mali.
Now that my family made it to Mali, they urgently need a place to stay and my 10-year old brother needs to start going to a good school. Since school will resume in early September and given that the education level in Mali is very inferior to that of the Ivory Coast, the only way to ensure that my brother can have a good education is to put him in a private school, which is expensive.
At just 10 years old, Aboubacar is very smart and dedicated. Last year, within the first three weeks of the start of school, he was promoted from fifth to sixth grade and was second in his class in the first quarter. He took the junior high exam and aced it. He has been chosen for his high academic performance and tremendous public speaking skills to give the end-of-year speech at his school every year since he was seven years old. Aboubacar has a true passion for learning and a burning desire for leadership that needs to be cultivated.
Therefore, it is very important for my family to live near a good school. Otherwise, my brother won't have the opportunity to be educated and his talent, intelligence and kindness could be wasted.
Right now they have a temporary place to stay at an acquaintance's house but it's just for a limited time and my family needs to find a place of their own.
With regard to my family's current situation, I am reaching out to all of you as human beings to help my family get a place to live and my brother a solid education.
Thank you all for taking the time to read this and for supporting my cause. I am happy to answer any questions that you might have.
Upon arrival in Mali, my family suffered a lot to establish ourselves in the new country. Eight years later my mom and my three siblings, including my baby brother went back to the Ivory Coast to visit my grandmother when another political war started and my mom saw her father and her younger brother being handcuffed and killed before her eyes. Then her baby got sick and died because there was no available hospital nor medicine.
After the war, she went back to Mali and did not want to return to the Ivory Coast, but my father had an accident, slipping on the floor and breaking his hip in three places.
At the time, the new Ivorian President called out to all the citizens living abroad to come home and rebuild the country. He promised free education and healthcare, so since my father needed an operation costing more than $14,000, which we did not have, we returned to the country. However, the president did not keep his promises.
Instead, he created an atmosphere of instability in the country. There was no free education, no free healthcare. By some miracle, over the years my father got better and can walk without crutches now. But he still has pain and needs medical attention.
Not only did the president not keep his promises but he also refused to pay the military who fought the war for him and brought him to the presidency. Thus, since last year the military has started to make demands for their money and threatened to use coercion if he did not pay them. Since January 2017, there has been a lot of violence against the population and there have been many shootings between military factions causing many schools, companies, businesses, and markets to close.
Right now there is so much violence, shootings, and food scarcity that my family can't cope with the situation any longer. This is how both the 2002 and 2010 wars started in the Ivory Coast and they have lost so much that they are traumatized and afraid. They recently took refuge in Mali.
Now that my family made it to Mali, they urgently need a place to stay and my 10-year old brother needs to start going to a good school. Since school will resume in early September and given that the education level in Mali is very inferior to that of the Ivory Coast, the only way to ensure that my brother can have a good education is to put him in a private school, which is expensive.
At just 10 years old, Aboubacar is very smart and dedicated. Last year, within the first three weeks of the start of school, he was promoted from fifth to sixth grade and was second in his class in the first quarter. He took the junior high exam and aced it. He has been chosen for his high academic performance and tremendous public speaking skills to give the end-of-year speech at his school every year since he was seven years old. Aboubacar has a true passion for learning and a burning desire for leadership that needs to be cultivated.
Therefore, it is very important for my family to live near a good school. Otherwise, my brother won't have the opportunity to be educated and his talent, intelligence and kindness could be wasted.
Right now they have a temporary place to stay at an acquaintance's house but it's just for a limited time and my family needs to find a place of their own.
With regard to my family's current situation, I am reaching out to all of you as human beings to help my family get a place to live and my brother a solid education.
Thank you all for taking the time to read this and for supporting my cause. I am happy to answer any questions that you might have.
Organizer
Abdourrachid Sow
Organizer
Topsfield, MA
