One of the things that drew me to Blue Kitabu was its emphasis on sustainability. While studying abroad with Boston University’s International Development Program in Niamey, Niger in West Africa, I was able to work at Centre Koubia, a school and food shelter for street children which is very similar to Blue Kitabu’s free school project in Asebu, Ghana. However, unlike Blue Kitabu’s project in Ghana, I quickly learned that Centre Koubia was not sustainable.
As of 2009, Niger is ranked last on the United Nations Human Development Index, which takes into account life expectancy, education and adult literacy rates of each country. The capital city is full of non-governmental organizations dedicated to improving human development in Niger. Another Blue Kitabu intern, also named Emily, and I decided to do the Community Placement aspect of our study abroad program at VALPRO, a Nigerien NGO which runs Centre Koubia and another similar school named CASE-D. Both of these schools were extremely well-run, had amazing and charismatic teachers who never discriminated based on gender (sometimes a problem in Niger), and served delicious food for the mid-day meal (though sometimes a little too spicy for my weak American taste buds). Their only problem was funding, or the lack thereof.
VALPRO had recently lost funding from UNICEF but luckily, a former BU Niger Alumna helped VALPRO obtain funding from Berklee College of Music here in Boston. When we started working at Centre Koubia towards the end of September, an average of 80 children were attending on Tuesdays and Thursdays and receiving lessons in math, literacy, and hygiene and lunch of rice and beans or rice and fish. However, towards the end of November, we noticed that the number of children showing up at Centre Koubia had been cut in half and the mid-day meal wasn’t always being served. We found out that due to dwindling funds, the NGO could no longer afford to open the school to all children, so classes for only the youngest group of children were being offered and lunch was only served once a week. When we asked what they were going to do next, we were told that we must now wait patiently for more funding. To me, simply waiting didn’t seem like the right solution. If this NGO could create a plan to generate funding for itself, it could go from being a really good program to a great program.
Blue Kitabu promotes sustainability as an essential element to educational development. Our project in Rwanda is a huge success and our Asebu Free School Project in Ghana aims to provide 200 orphans with a self-sustained, year round school complete with vocational training. The school will be used as an Internet café and community center after school hours and the profits will fund the project. We hope to hand the project over to the people of the Asebu community and end the cycle of foreign aid dependence. I hope that someday the schools at VALPRO may be funded by a sustainable project to improve its efficacy.
As of 2009, Niger is ranked last on the United Nations Human Development Index, which takes into account life expectancy, education and adult literacy rates of each country. The capital city is full of non-governmental organizations dedicated to improving human development in Niger. Another Blue Kitabu intern, also named Emily, and I decided to do the Community Placement aspect of our study abroad program at VALPRO, a Nigerien NGO which runs Centre Koubia and another similar school named CASE-D. Both of these schools were extremely well-run, had amazing and charismatic teachers who never discriminated based on gender (sometimes a problem in Niger), and served delicious food for the mid-day meal (though sometimes a little too spicy for my weak American taste buds). Their only problem was funding, or the lack thereof.
VALPRO had recently lost funding from UNICEF but luckily, a former BU Niger Alumna helped VALPRO obtain funding from Berklee College of Music here in Boston. When we started working at Centre Koubia towards the end of September, an average of 80 children were attending on Tuesdays and Thursdays and receiving lessons in math, literacy, and hygiene and lunch of rice and beans or rice and fish. However, towards the end of November, we noticed that the number of children showing up at Centre Koubia had been cut in half and the mid-day meal wasn’t always being served. We found out that due to dwindling funds, the NGO could no longer afford to open the school to all children, so classes for only the youngest group of children were being offered and lunch was only served once a week. When we asked what they were going to do next, we were told that we must now wait patiently for more funding. To me, simply waiting didn’t seem like the right solution. If this NGO could create a plan to generate funding for itself, it could go from being a really good program to a great program.
Blue Kitabu promotes sustainability as an essential element to educational development. Our project in Rwanda is a huge success and our Asebu Free School Project in Ghana aims to provide 200 orphans with a self-sustained, year round school complete with vocational training. The school will be used as an Internet café and community center after school hours and the profits will fund the project. We hope to hand the project over to the people of the Asebu community and end the cycle of foreign aid dependence. I hope that someday the schools at VALPRO may be funded by a sustainable project to improve its efficacy.
- Emily, Intern
