100 school benches for a Technical School in Mali, 50 euro per piece

Mali is a developing country and needs well-trained technical people to further this development. The dutchman Johan Wachter who lives and works in Mali has, with the help and donation of friends and acquaintances, built in the past year a technical school. The school works with and answers the demands of the country and will give many young people (women as well as men!) a future instead of merely a chance to search around in the ‘El Dorado’’of the West.

The Malian government has given a guarantee that they will accept the complete costs of a minimum of 30 students per class, as long as they have the required entrance exam diploma D.E.F. (Diplôme d’Education Fondamentale), which means that you have finished a succesful three years of Middle School. The state purse gives a sufficient income to a good running of the school. The students, who have not gotten D.E.F, shall –after a test- also succed in going to the technical school, but then with their own money, that is to say without the purse. (For less wealthy students, as considered by this life, there will be a special study fund.)

The complete training takes three years. There are now nine classrooms and there is one shed for practicals 30 metres close to the school. The first year has three classes which contain three different more technical subjects: plumbing, car mechanics, and farm machinery. English and I.T. are part of the mandatory subjects for everyone.

The buildingwork is finished, the teachers are there, the students are running to sign up. Now there is only a great need for another 100 school benches (aside from the already made: 30). The costs are 50 euros per bench. The price of iron (sturdy corner irons!), that must be gathered from the coast (1400 km), has in the past year almost doubled. The price of quality wood, that needs to be taken from another country, the Ivory Coast, is also higher due to transportation expenses. Due to this the benches are relatively expensive but still good quality so that they can last many years.

Total € 5000,-- 

adopted by the general fund of Moments of Joy

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