More Schooling

BBC World Service journalist, Nick Baker, follows the story of APEEDs global network to Australia and Fiji, tracing the connections APEED president Barth has made whilst working in an internet cafe in Parakou in seeking support for APEEDs students. Barth’s networking skills, personality and charm has turned encounters with people in an internet cafe into solid support and long term relationships. Nick was taken by Barth and his success. Rising from a position as a school boy being forced out of school due to financial hardship to helping hundreds of students continue their schooling. Nick’s story the Internet Cafe Hobo can be viewed online parts 1 and 2 of the radio piece are being aired on BBC World Service currently. The third and final installment will be online on March 11th.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/documentaries/2009/12/091217_internet_cafe_hobe_doc2.shtml

 

The BBC World Service journalist, Nick Barker interviews APEED founder Barth in Parakou. The interview, part of a global story on the meetings that occur everyday in internet cafes, focused on Barth meeting key supporters for APEED whilst at work in an internet cafe.

Stories from the blog will be aired on BBC World Service Radio and later in the year form part of a 3 part TV documentary. This is hopefully a sound bite of more to come…if you’re feeling inspired leave a comment on the site.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/worldservice/internetcafehobo/

Cheers to all who came down to the Living Art Gallery last wk. $3500 was raised to contribute to this years purchase of school materials and the partial paying of school fees for the 120 students of APEED, Benin.

The money is raised to coincide with the beginning of the school year in Benin where APEED holds an event each year to distribute the essential school materials to each of APEED’s 120 members. We will be posting photos and a report of this event soon.

A special thanks goes out to Masmoudi Artapis, owner of The Living Art Gallery and rug designer, thanks for opening your gallery to us and for your enthusiasm for the event. And to all the auction bidders and auction prize donors, a big thanks to you.
and…. to Papa Mbaye for an awesome Senegalese percussion performance, certainly added to the vibe.

Thanks again and see you next time!

 

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Living Art Gallery, 1 Meagher St, Chippendale 6.30-11.30pm

$15 with auction on the night

An immense evening of fundraising, rugs and highlife music at the beautiful Living Art gallery in Chippendale. The Beninoise Solidarity Spectacular will introduce you to the music and the wonders of the west african nation of Benin, wow you with some beautifully woven Tunisian rugs from Masmoudi Artapis (a percentage of artworks sold on the night go to More Schooling) and last but certainly not least, lighten your wallet in aid of the educational NGO, More Schooling.

Re-stock! The library has been replinished with multiple copies of texts and novels for the yr 7-12 curriculum. This increase in copies will allow for books to be taken out on loan overnight. This is the first installment of the library upgrade project. In addition to new books, two new shelving units have been built to library specifications large enough to allow for the next round of stock. The project was funded by 2008 fundraising activities, totaling to $1200.  

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check out photos from the cruise and from the book distribution ceremony online:

www.moreschooling.com

News for NOV/DEC :

Fundraising Success:
The boat cruise was a success, raising £1640, of which £1, 191.38 has gone to the Annual Distribution of School Books, which was held on October 8th. The remaining will be put to paying the salary for the librarian £30 monthly and to re-strocking library total cost coming to £1624.

Fundraising Goal- Re-Stocking the library:
Since its conception in 2006 it has not seen any additional purchases, by January next year we are looking to restock texts and novels for all secondary grades. The aim is to buy 2 copies of each text to allow students to borrow and take books home to study. Total cost coming to £1624.

School Fees:
This year each student had 3/4 of their school fees paid by the Association. The students in the school Lycée M. Bouké, pay school fees of £15 per year, £11.5 of which was paid by the Association. In the other schools the fees come to an average of £16.50 per year of which the Association paid £12.50.

This was funded by a private donation from a London Family who have a family connection to Benin and More Schooling.

Further Activities:
The Asssociation sees further activities funded by its Steering Committee, established as an adult advisory group to the Associations activities, based in Benin. This involves administrative costs aiding the development of the Association and broadening its funding base. The main cost being a series of ‘investigations’ into students to establish their eligibility as members, this occurs each year at a considerable cost of money and time to travel to each of the 100 students homes and school to meet with parents and teachers to confirm the need. This year this cost the association £190.

This blog has been set up by the UK collaborators of More Schooling as a way of generating awareness and funds to support the works of the association which take place entirely in Benin and are lead by the following people:

The People:

More Schooling Members November 2008

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Hi everyone,

Join us for a night on the River Thames to raise money for More Schooling. Tickets are £33 - email Sam at sam.porter@citi.com if you would like to come. Feel free to leave a comment or two as well…..

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Hi, we are in the process of developing this site. Due to launch 20th JUNE 2008!!

In the mean time…a brief glimpse of more schooling below….

A group of young at-risk, secondary students got together in Parakou, Benin (West Africa) in 2004, and gave themselves the name MORE SCHOOLING or l’Association pour l’Education des Enfants en Difficulté. They realised they could be stronger together in lobbying for support to help them through their education. For the last three years, MORE SCHOOLING has had a membership of over 100 secondary students. They are still all in school, apart from the founder-chair who is now 26 years old. MORE SCHOOLING’s one hundred members are all secondary students. The students are teaming with a group in the UK looking to help them in the advancement of their cause.

This Association promotes solidarity not charity! Get on board and learn a little about other people, perhaps get involved in promoting education opportunities for students or by donating or raising awareness in your community.