Education is a Right, not a Privelege

Ok kids, here's the deal. I'm still hanging out in Guinea (18 months down, 8 to go). A year ago I started fundraising through Peace Corps to renovate the elementary school in my village. This thing was built by the French, back in the day when colonization was still in style. In the 50+ years since then, no repairs have been made. So basically, it looks like a bomb hit it. If it were in the US, it would be demolished as a public health risk. But this is Guinea. So the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders have class there. Cool, right?

So. My commnunity asked Peace corps for help. Around $8000 worth of help. Through a series of small miracles, a little less than $2000 actually came through. With that money, we took off what remained of the roof and built a new one that keeps the rain out (imagine that!) While extremely grateful for this, the job's not done yet. There's some $6225 of work that remains to be done. I tried going through Peace Corps to get it, but they said it's too much money. $6000. To renovate an entire school. $6000 is too much to think about spending for 365 kids.

You can see where this is headed. I need your help. My village needs your help. We want your money. Or your friends' money, we won't discriminate. I know most of your are underemployed or unemployed. I respect that. But do your best to scrounge up 5 bucks, okay? Sell some old clothes or DVDs or something.

So you're in right? Great! I knew I could count on you. All you have to do now is write that check, or camoflague some cash and send it to Nina. Email her at Nina DOT Savransky AT gmail.com to find out the best way to do this. When you do make your donation, be sure to include your name and address so the students can send you a thank you note. (Hope you speak French!)

There's a volunteer coming back to Guinea at the end of July and she's agreed to carry the money back with her. So please, try to get everything to Nina by July 25. If it's after that, still send it. Another person will fly to Guinea eventually. (No really, that one wasn't sarcastic.)

Someone stateside will update my blog for me as donations come in so we can see if we're making progress or not. In the meantime, check out the director of education talking about the school on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqSW-EKD8dk

Since $6225 is an odd amount to collect, I'm gonna chip in the first $225 myself. (I get paid about $200 a month, by the way.) That means only $6000 to go! :)

Merci a tout le monde and see you in 8 months!

~Sam

Corps de la Paix, PCV
B.P. 1927
Conakry, Guinea
West Africa
+224 64 63 40 34
samDOTlevinAtgmail.com

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Budget

• 60 Desks $1305
  
• Paint $315
  
• Cement $1522
  
• Sand $1305
  
• Transport $600
  
• Labor $200
  
• 9 Windows $587
  
• 3 Doors $391
  

TOTAL: $6225

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Contributions

1. $225.00 - Sam Levin
2. $225.00 - Vanessa Hsu
3. $100.00 - Claudia Martinez
4. $100.00 - David Weiss
5. $25.00 - Andrew Sofer
6. $10.00 - Masaya Uchino
7. $20.00 - Angela Kilbane
8. $20.00 - John M Sean and Deborah A Kilbane
9. $100.00 - Rupa Gupta
10. $10.00 - Michael Edgett
11. Allie Cook
12. Tori Roth
13. Paul Rabinovich
14. J-young Kim
15. Isaac Lieberman
16. Danielle Bero
17. You Could be next !

Still to be raised: $4000

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