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.

3rd Annual Guinea Kids Benefit Concert

We had a record turn out this year at the 3rd Annual Guinea Kids Benefit Concert on October 17th. Over 200 friends, families, and community members showed up to celebrate the rich culture of Guinea with us and help Guinea Kids Education Fund (GKEF) move forward on our mission to enrich the lives of so many young people and their neighborhood in West Africa.

EVENT HIGHLIGHTS

Amidst a room decorated with African fabrics, masks, and drums, everyone sampled fried plantains and ginger juice and shopped in the gorgeous African marketplace while Karim Koumbassa serenaded us with music on his ngoni, a West African string instrument.

The highlights of the show included:

- a sparkling dance performance from the 4 and 5 year olds in Marissa's World Dance class from New Discovery School

- an inspiring video

presentation about Guinea and GKEF

- more traditional dancing from Guinea including an acrobatic and humorous performance by Karim and Abdoulaye Sylla, a former member of Les Ballets Africains.

We ended the afternoon with a community dance-along and lots of happiness!

See more event photos on Facebook
photos courtesy of (c) Ilona Berzups

HELP US REACH OUR GOAL

Thank you to all those who came to the benefit and who have contributed to GKEF's fundraising effort this October. Because of your generosity, thus far we have raised over $8500!

We want to reach and exceed our goal of raising $10,000 this year! If you weren't able to attend the fundraiser or didn't turn in your donation at the event, now is your chance to make a difference!

Here is how Guinea Kids Education Fund is making a difference for children and families in Guinea: for the children that enter our program, we pay for tuition, book supplies, uniforms, shoes, lunch, and tutoring. For these children, we have completely changed the trajectory of their family’s futures along with the futures of the generations to come.

During the concert, our MC, Sarah Lee Koumbassa, shared the touching story of how this past year the parents of these sponsored students pooled what little money they had and bought a beautiful carved wooden statue as a symbol of their appreciation for the immeasurable difference we are making in their lives. The statue stands tall, slender, and proud and is of two people, both holding a book in front of them and a globe over their heads. Every meeting that the board members have, this statue is present to remind us of the difference we are making.

As we move forward and are clear about our mission, we have 2 goals in mind:

1. To fund the complete education of the twenty children currently enrolled.
2. To increase the number of kids enrolled in our program.
   

We invite you to join us in fulfilling these goals by making a financial contribution.
HOW TO DONATE

• Go to: http://www.firstgiving.com/gkef and donate securely online.

• If you took a donation card home, you can mail it in. Just fill it out and remember to make checks payable to: Fabric of Life.

• If your employer will match funds, here is the information they will need:
  
  Fabric of Life Foundation
  PO Box 547
  Edmonds, WA 98020
  www.fabricoflife.org
  
  Fabric of Life is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Tax ID 91-2172230

THANK YOU
We would like to send thank you's out once again to all of our volunteers who supported this event with their time, energy, amazing talents, and kindness. We watched a room transform before our eyes and a beautiful multimedia show full of talented performers filled our senses.

We would like to thank all of our board members for their countless hours of love and dedication. Huge thanks to our Guinean members Karim, Alya, and Yamousa Koumbassa who handle managing the project in
Guinea. Thank you to the student's tutor, Sumah.

Lastly, two important thank you's. One to all the donors who have and continue to support this project and keep it going. And, lastly, thank you to the GKEF students and their families in Guinea who work hard, persevere, and have hope.

Wonawali and Wontanara,
(Thank you all and We Are All Together)

The GKEF Team:
Marissa Baratian, Ilona Berzups, Kim Copeland, Jill Jameson, Alya Koumbassa, Julia Koumbassa, Karim Koumbassa, Sarah Lee Koumbassa


Watch GKEF's inspiring new video at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M70FkEl46E

Help us reach our goal of $10,000 and/or if you couldn't attend the fundraiser, please consider donating at:
http://www.firstgiving.com/gkef

Stories Of The Guinea Kids

At a recent GKEF meeting, Karim Koumbassa shared some news about how the Guinea Kids students are faring in their new school, Nimba Elisa.

Youssouf, Karim's 14 year old brother, asked to speak on the phone to Karim. After just a few months in his new school, Nimba Elisa, Youssouf began speaking in French, not Sousou, to Karim. He then said, in French, "Brother, let's talk. Can you speak English?" Karim was moved to tears that Youssouf was so proud of his new learning that he wanted to talk with him. About school, Youssouf said, "If we had started at school earlier, it would have been so great." He really likes his teachers and says, "They are good at teaching. They don't shout at us."

Kheraba is a quiet boy who didn't know how to read. He is shy and doesn't say much. Guinea Kids has been funding his schooling for a year and a half. No one in his neighborhood had any idea how smart he was! Out of all the children GKEF is sponsoring, Kheraba is doing the best in school and appears to have surprised everyone with his blossoming!

In this photo, Soumah, GKEF's new tutor, reads with Kheraba in the Homework Space. Soumah is working with the children this summer to get them caught up and ready for the next school year. So many of these children who have attended very little school or who have never been to school before GKEF's sponsorship have much extra work to do to be learning at the level of their age group peers. Providing quality tutoring for them has been and continues to be essential for their success and confidence in school. GKEF is so proud of all the work they are doing and is grateful to have a dedicated tutor in Soumah.