Groovin' for Guinea: GKEF Gets By With A Little Help From Our Friends

Guinea Kids Education Fund would like to heartily express our thanks to Mandjou and Maya Kadakia of Mandjou Mara Djembefola who held a trio of fun events in Madison, Wisconsin to benefit GKEF in late October! Groovin' for Guinea -- A Benefit for the Guinea Kids Education Fund was comprised of 3 opportunities to give:

1. Maya Kadakia's West African dance class
2. An African music show at the High Noon Saloon with music by Chafo, Limanya, Kikeh Mato, and Tani Diakite
3. A West African Dinner at the Slow Food University of Wisconsin kitchen, including a performance and Guinea style dance party led by Limanya Drum and Dance Ensemble!

All the proceeds from these events went to GKEF! Well, that deserves a trio of cheers! Hip Hip Hooray for Mandjou and Maya Kadakia and for Madison, Wisconsin! Thank you to everyone who organized and came out in support of children's education in Guinea. Together we are making a difference.

Please visit Mandjou and Maya Kadakia at http://www.mandjoumaradjembefola.com/giving_to_guinea.

Spotlight on a Guinea Kid

Sia is a young girl who now attends Nimba Elisa School in Conakry, Guinea with the help of GKEF. She is one of the new students who started school last January. For Sia, the opportunity to receive an education is a special gift.

When Sia's mother was young, she was taken out of school to get married. This was not her personal desire, but was what her family chose for her at that time. Sia's father was not unsympathetic to his new wife's grief at not being able to finish her education. And so, when they had Sia they tried their best to send her to school. But as is the case with so many families in Guinea, these caring parents live in poverty and could only afford to send Sia to school sporadically. In addition she had been placed in a level at school that was too high for her. Both of these circumstances could hardly create a successful educational experience for Sia.

The day Karim Koumbassa of GKEF came to Sia's house to tell her parents that we want Sia to go to school with a GKEF scholarship, her mother cried with relief and gratitude. Sia's father expressed his gratitude as well, acknowledging that it was "because of him" that his wife had been unable to continue in school. We hope this most deserving family can rest a bit more easily knowing that their much desired education for their daughter is now possible.

With the assistance of Karim and Soumah, GKEF's after-school tutor, Sia was placed into the right level for her and is getting ready to begin her first full school year in the 5th Year Class. The school year in Guinea starts this month.

GKEF invites you to join us in celebrating the start of our 4th school year supporting children's education in Guinea later this month! Please RSVP to the Guinea Kids Open House to let us know you are coming!

Back To School Preparations

The school year in Conakry, Guinea doesn't start back up until October, but the Guinea Kids' students began their summer tutoring this past week in order to begin gearing up for another year at the Nimba Elisa School.

Tutoring in session.

Most of our students are doing very well in school and passing onto the next level. All of our new students who just began schooling this past January will be continuing on at the same level in the fall so that they can each get the full year of education in their respective levels. Our dedicated tutor, Soumah, will spend the rest of August and September helping all the children prepare for the year ahead.

Soumah with some students in the homework/tutoring place.

For several of the students, school is an extra challenge set within the harsh reality of life in Guinea. Seydouba, a preschool-age boy, was very sick for a while this year and missed out on a lot of school. He is doing much better now and will be back in school this October. Another young girl, N'mah, stopped going to school because her mother never went to school and didn't understand the value of it until Karim spoke with her.

One of our students, a 13 year old boy nicknamed Bosana, has been struggling for months to focus on school after the tragic death of both of his parents. Bosana is a very smart boy, but attending school has just not been important to him in the light of his loss. He has been avoiding going and instead wanders around the neighborhood. While Karim was in Guinea, he kept close tabs on Bosana and spoke earnestly to him about the importance of school and his responsibilities to attend as a member of Guinea Kids.

GKEF member extraordinaire, Alya Koumbassa, arrived in Guinea last week for a long awaited return visit to his homeland and will be conducting some important business for GKEF while there. One of these business items will be to continue the efforts of encouraging Bosana to remain in school. All of us at GKEF are truly rooting for this young man to find his way, take courage, and become inspired once again by the possibilities of an education.

Against all odds, we continue to hold a candle of hope for these vibrant and talented children to stay in school, obtain an education, and see opportunity and possibility open up for themselves and for their families and communities. May being a part of this project someday bring each of these children the self-confidence and knowing that they have been a part of something larger. And may they be inspired to give back to their communities each in their own way.

Many of the supplies that your donations provide!

While Alya is there he will also be overseeing the purchasing of new school year supplies, uniforms, and shoes for the 25 students. Alya will also continue to provide further managerial training to Yamousa, Francoise, and Soumah who have all been doing an excellent job for GKEF. Alya will support Francois and Soumah to meet with parents to share with them their children's grades and progress and continue to stress the importance of school. We are very grateful to have such a team of caring and trusted people supporting our program and making all of our dreams for these children a reality in Conakry.

Below is a very short video of the big street crossing on the way to school for the Guinea Kids. The road may be littered with obstacles, but we get by with a little help from our friends. Don't ever give up!

GUINEA KIDS GETS A MAJOR TUNE UP!!

PART DUEX

The Homework Place Gets An Upgrade

The big project that was accomplished this year was the renovation of the Homework Place. The space in the front yard of the Koumbassa home where the GKEF students gather for tutoring 4 days a week was formerly made from partial walls and a partial roof. It was not protected from Guinea’s intense rainy season or from the distracting noise next door. Above is a photo of what the Homework Place used to look like.

Karim organized workers and neighbors and even the kids helped in building a new structure.

The children in the neighborhood really enjoyed aiding in the construction of their own homework place. Imagine how good it must have felt to them to have the quality of their educations matter enough to have their own place built. Imagine their satisfaction and investment in helping to build their new Homework Place.

According to Karim many of the children were quite hilarious in their construction efforts. Once it took five children to attempt to lift a wheelbarrow full of cement, sand, and gravel, then they were mixing the wrong things together, and finally ended up throwing sand on each other! Needless to say, they had some fun!

Complete with three concrete walls and a full roof, the Homework Place is now a permanent building protected from rain and external sound.

Two new chalkboards, closets for teacher and student supplies, and custom made bench-desks were also added to enhance the use of the space.When the children first came to see the Homework Place after it was finished and the chalkboards and desks were arranged, they were all very surprised by their “fancy” new seats.

Karim asked them, “What do you think all these chairs are for?”
The answer he received was, “Are you going to open a movie theater?”
“No! They are for you!” The children were overjoyed.This is your place, kids. Enjoy it.

GUINEA KIDS GETS A MAJOR TUNE-UP!

PART UN

GKEF member Karim Koumbassa recently returned from Conakry, Guinea where he spent 3 months at the Koumbassa home with his family in the Enco-5 neighborhood. There he was living and working among his family and community which includes all of the Guinea Kids' children. Much of that time he used to assess, improve, and refine the GKEF project.

Most importantly for Karim and all of us at GKEF that means checking in with each of the children. How are they? Are they healthy? Happy?

Are they going to school everyday and doing their homework? Are they eating?

As I looked through all the wonderful photos taken in January (thank you Scott Tucker for these!), Karim’s personal care for these children really comes through. We are so grateful to have someone on our team here in the States who can go to Guinea each year and touch base with the kids on behalf of all of us.

New Guinea Kids Added!

Thanks to all our donor contributions, GKEF was able to meet one of our goals of increasing the number of children in our program. Guinea Kids has enrolled 5 more children into the program for a total of 25 students now being sponsored by our donors. Assessment of the funds raised last year and the current capacity of the program in Guinea has indicated that GKEF can support additional children. So, while Karim was there he selected 5 more children in the neighborhood to join the growing family of Guinea Kids!

Here they all are gathering for school early in the morning at the Koumbassa home. An older and very responsible boy, Yousouf, gathers them and is in charge of their breakfast and lunch money.

Each morning all 25 children make their way through their neighborhood of Enco-5 to their school, Groupe Scolaire Nimba Elisa.