Wish Description:

If you have ever dreamed of helping to build a school in Africa, this is your chance.  What’s special about this school construction project is that:

• the villagers have already contributed by buying the bricks
• there is a matching donation (wood for the roof) by our partner
• the village is in a very sensitive location, and this aid can have a larger political and security impact (see below)
• the village is in Chad, one of the very least literate countries in the world, so the educational impact can be large

This Wish will build a primary school for about 200 students in one of the following villages in the Ouaddai region of eastern Chad, Africa: Bahkita, Faguire, Kinouane, Kodolok, Koundoulba, Lira, Mobouguine, or Rataye (all eventually need schools).  Currently, these villages only have temporary grass shelters, which have a terrible flaw: they are eaten by animals.  Also, they are not large enough, not sturdy enough, and animals can enter them and make a mess in the desert “floor” that is difficult to clean.

These are horrible conditions for schoolchildren who are already at a tremendous disadvantage.  Chad is a country with a poor educational infrastructure.  Its adult literacy rate (25.7%) is the third worst out of 177 countries, according to the United Nations Development Programme, and its women’s literacy rate (12.8%) is the absolute worst.

Economically, these villages have been tremendously stressed — and they were destitute to begin with — by the massive influx of refugees from Darfur, just across the border in Sudan.  They are near three large refugee camps home to nearly 70,000 Darfuris, which have received much more international aid attention.  The villages are, in many ways (such as schools) worse off, and, as a result there have been major tensions between the villagers and refugees.  This is especially problematic because aid workers helping both communities rely on the cooperation of the Chadian authorities for their security and to accomplish their humanitarian mission in this dangerous region.  By helping to build a school for a village, you will help to reduce these tensions, improving the political and dependent security environment. That’s an important byproduct of the main goal of improving education.

How The Money Will Be Spent:

Donations will be used to purchase zinc and nails for the roof (our partner will match by contributing wood), cement to hold the brick walls together, cement for the floor, and doors and closing windows to keep out animals.  The villagers have already purchased bricks, but cannot begin construction until these items are funded.  All supplies will be purchased locally (the nearest town).

Your donation will only be used to purchase these items.  We do not charge an overhead fee, and are staffed entirely by unpaid volunteers.

Our implementing partner, 42-year-old U.K.-based charity CORD, has been at the forefront of emergency relief work in Chad since 2004, and manages educational programs in the villages and nearby refugee camps as an implementing partner for UNHCR and UNICEF.

Go to their wish page on MTDN, remember every little counts, the amount is not important, is the intension that matters.