Friday, May 20, 2011

The Children of Mali

"From here to Timbuktu", a popular statement, but do you know where Timbuktu is? Is Timbuktu even a real place? Yes, Timbuktu is a real place, where gold, salt, ivory, literature and knowledge used to be traded. Timbuktu sits on the Niger River, on the edge of the Sahara Desert, in Mali, a large Northwestern African country, about the size of California and Texas combined. Much like the US, Mali provides free public education to all children between the ages of 7-16. So why, with a population of 14.5 million people, are only 61% of the Malian children attending school, and why is the national literacy rate somewhere between 27-46%? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/mali)
Though families do not have to pay school tuition, the cost of uniforms, supplies, books, and other fees to attend school, are unattainable for many Malian families. According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/mali about half of the population of Mali lives below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day.
Additionally, access to schools, teachers, and supplies is limited. Especially in Mali's northern regions. Situated in the Sahara Desert, the climate is harsh and water is scarce. The nearly 1.5 million people occupying these lands are primarily nomadic. They regularly move from one location to another, in search of food and water for their families and livestock. Often the children of these nomadic families are constantly on the go as well as working in order to help care for their families. Constructing, staffing and supplying a permanent school can be problematic in such an environment. Considering the circumstance, would children even be able to attend school if there was one?
There are organizations who are trying to make a difference. One such organization, Build a School in Africa (www.buildaschoolinafrica.org). Build a School in Africa has built at least 7 schools in Mali since 2005. Their goal is to build 1 school per year. According to their web site, they can get a middle school large enough to accommodate 200 children built for only $30,000. Mali needs more organizations, or at the very least, more people to care about its people, to help provide a basic education. In America, we don't even thing about not having an education. Kids complain daily about having to get up and go to school, and the children in Mali be to go to school, but many can't.
Information for this article was obtained through the following web sites:

Friday, May 6, 2011

What It's Like to Be a Homeless Mother

Mother’s day affords us the opportunity to reflect on, and appreciate, all the hard work and sacrifices mothers make for the sake of their children. What does a mother do, however, when she finds herself homeless? The following article published in August 2010 on change.org offers a powerful glimpse into life as a homeless mother. Click the link below for the full text. It is an incredibly powerful and moving story.