Support Kids Education in Malika

In a town on the outskirts of Dakar, Senegal – with the occasional goat roaming by -- boys and girls from both Christian and Muslim families attend school together.

The Ecole Privée Saint Jean Baptiste De Malika is a small community school with 203 students: 92 boys and 102 girls.

The children range in age from 2-13 years old. Their parents work in the surrounding area, as drivers, domestic workers, office clerks, teachers, sales agents for mobile phones, street vendors, tailors, informal recyclers, or are unemployed. Some of the children have families working (and living) on the nearby local open dumpsite, known as Mbeubeuss. 

Improving the quality of education is critical to the future livelihood opportunities for both boys and girls. UNICEF reports that girls as young as 8 often leave school and go to work as domestic workers in Dakar, and the Agence Nationale de la Statistique et de la Démographie (ANSD) reported that, as of 2001, 32.7% of children age 10–14 had already begun their working lives.

A good percentage of people living in the area are quite poor: as of 2011, about 38 percent of Senegal’s population was living on $1.90 or less a day. 

Education in Senegal is theoretically free. In reality, the government only provides curriculum guidelines and Ecole Saint Jean Baptiste de Malika has raised the funds itself to build the school and fund its operating costs. 

As you can see from some of the photos, the children at Ecole Saint Jean Baptiste Malika do much of their work on slates with chalk. This makes it impossible for the children to keep their work to review it, or to take it home to show parents. Teachers fund some photocopies as they can afford it, but it isn’t cost effective to pay for copies one set at at time from a local shop. (In these photos, the children are using donated art supplies.)

 Ecole Privée Saint Jean Baptiste De Malika desperately needs a photocopier. They can get one in Dakar for approx. $1200 US ($1500 CDN).

Please will you make a donation to support these enthusiastic kids in their education?

With a photocopier, teachers can make better use of the state-provided curriculum thereby improving the quality of the education the children receive.

Imagine the pride of the students when they can bring schoolwork home to their parents, and the ease with which teachers can provide lessons if they have a photocopier on site.

 Most fundraising appeals celebrate the little “overhead” costs – this appeal is all overhead, every glorious and deeply necessary cent! We’re counting on donors to understand that basic operational costs are needed to provide for a quality education, which is the right of all children everywhere…

AND YOU CAN HELP MAKE THAT HAPPEN FOR THE CHILDREN OF ECOLE PRIVEE SAINT JEAN BAPTISTE!

Please do give as generously as you’re able, and would you also share this appeal with your friends on social media?

 If you work at a company or organization, would you consider joining together to help support the kids of Ecole Saint Jean Baptiste with a more significant gift?

Please be generous and do what you can to connect with these amazing kids in Malika, Senegal to help provide them with a quality education -- an education that will make a real difference in what the future may look like for each individual child.

THANK YOU! MERCI!

P.S. If we raise more than the $1500 CDN required for the photocopier, we will go wild and buy TEXTBOOKS and LIBRARY BOOKS with any additional funds, possibly even a SHELF or TABLE for the classroom. (A list of further needs is available for anyone interested: just ask!)

Please give what you can now and be a part of providing the children of Malika, Senegal with a quality education.