And now, for the featured act. After over a year of working on group projects, it's finally time for me to introduce my very own, big, intimidating, and hopefully amazing project: I'm creating a library for my school. It's a huge project, and an important one, and I need your help.
Kids almost never have access to books here. Out of my 130+ students, under ten have the textbooks they need for their classes, so they're left to study whatever they've managed to copy off of the blackboard, spelling mistakes and all. Most have never used a dictionary or even seen an encyclopedia, and the thought of reading a story for fun is about as foreign as I am. There are no books. I want to bring some here.
With school administration, I'll be creating a library where students and professors will have access to reading materials: textbooks, picture books, stories, magazines, reference books, and even maps and visuals for science classes. Giving the school a library will change the whole learning environment, not only for the students and teachers, but for the entire community.
So now that I've climbed the first mountain (writing the grant application -- getting budget numbers was like pulling teeth), it's on to Everest: fundraising. I need to come up with $2,824.89 by January. Here's the thing: I don't have that. (Weird, I know, for an English major not to be swimming in $100s.) Which brings me to my main point: I need your help.
1. Donate! (Please!!) The link is here, you can use credit or debit cards, and every single dollar will get us closer to CEG Daagbe's school library. I personally promise that every cent is going to the project, not to admin costs or organization fees. And I'll get the kids to send you a cute thank-you note, complete with marker decorations and frequent misspellings. :)
2. Advertise! I know it doesn't often come up in conversation, but if you can bring up the whole "hey-my-friend's-building-a-library-in-Africa-and-do-you-have-five-bucks-to-spare?" thing in conversations with family, friends, coworkers, and church groups, that'd help a lot. Facebook posts and emails would also be amazing.
3. Aprons for Africa! I'm coming home for Christmas, and I'm bringing 55 aprons with me. Each of them was made with African fabric (tissu) by my seamstress, who's a really close friend. I'm selling them for $15 plus shipping, and all profits (about $11 each) will go directly to the library. Can't guarantee a specific pattern (I only have 2-4 of each), but let me know if you hate yellow or only wear stripes and I'll do my best to oblige. To order, email my mom at glasgoc@gmail.com.*
Thank you so much! Tell your friends! And an even bigger thanks again, because without all of yall's overwhelming support (financial, emotional, spiritual), there's no way I could be here doing something this big, complicated, and community-changing.
Love love love,
Lissa
*Leslie, Tara and Alex, I have your orders already, but email Mom anyway just to double check.
No comments:
Post a Comment