It Takes a Village - Djati - mid month update

old Djati school bench

Maritza drove an hour and half to a saw mill, with the objective of getting the best for less. Instead of purchasing the logs, as was originally planned, they were looking into buying the ready cut boards.  The sawmill in Quebo was located inside the army compound. They had not counted on the machine being taken out of Quebo by the army. She is not sure who had owned it (if it was privately owned or not), or if the army brought it in, yet things had changed. It was gone!

With the machine now gone, things were more complicated. Maritza spoke with the people from the sawmill and explained what we needed. They are figuring out if they can give us a good price for each board...or not. In any case, Maritza will do her best to stretch out the money that has been sent ($2,000). No answer is expected as to exactly how much the boards will cost until sometime Monday afternoon.

We remain hopeful, and as it stands 50 desks and benches can be built. As a last resort we will need to add more later on.

new bench

new desk

The original plan was to have at least 75 desks done, at a cost of $40 each (it's about $20 for the bench and $20 for the desk = $3,000).

one of our Djati students

I've been thinking that perhaps I can start a separate donation drive just for the desks. I saw that Lawrence O'Donnell of MSNBC had a VERY sucessful drive called K.I.N.D. to raise funds for desks in Malawi.

The K.I.N.D. fund, Kids In Need of Desks, is still going strong. As of tonight, our joint program between MSNBC and UNICEF to outfit classrooms in Malawi with desks, has raised $3,532,012! We're so gracious for your continued support. Source: MSNBC

That shows the power of television. Also Rachel O'Neil, from Little Dresses for Africa, has delivered dresses to Malwai and built a school.

Unfortunately Guinea Bissau is not on the media circuit and only has "us" to help.

With your help we can do this! If you would like to help, by purchasing a desk/bench with a $20 or $40 contribution, please contact me by email , or leave me a message in the comments section and I will let you know how to get the money to our Djati desk fund. We would also like to provide school Tshirts for all the children which are only $4 a piece. ANY donation is appreciated.

Our trip to Djati is only ONE MONTH away.

Maritza says "Freddy has been in an out of djati for the past weeks, this week he left at eleven a.m. with a truck load of materials, the truck broke down and they spend the night on the road, arriving in Djati the next day...yet full of joy and happiness, the people of Djati are amazed, thankful and absolutely amazed. I wish I could go there more often :)"

I know I speak for myself, It Takes a a Village Project team and the people of Djati when I say THANK YOU for your help!!