More Schooling

The highlight of the year for APEED in Benin is the annual book-giving ceremony, held at the start of each school year. The 2009-10 ceremony was held on October 14, 2009 and involved one hundred students each receiving a package of exercise books, stationary & school uniforms. This package enables these students to effectively participate in secondary school, maximising the value of their education and relieving the financial pressure on their families. Without this assistance from APEED, many of these students would not be able to attend school, limiting their education and life opportunities.

The attached pdf is a report of the ceremony, as written by the students of APEED.

Book-giving ceremony (Eng)

Book-giving ceremony (French)

For all those who have donated money in the past twelve months, this ceremony is a direct result of those efforts. The money raised at the Beninoise Solidarity Spectactular in Sydney last September provided the funds to support APEED in providing educational materials to its members. A BIG BIG thank you again to everyone who was involved.

Check out http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/documentaries/2009/12/091217_internet_cafe_hobe_doc2.shtml for the interview with Barth (fast-forward to approx 10 mins for the section on Barth).

An article I found on HIV in Benin, you can read the full piece at:

http://www.worlded.org/WEIInternet/features/breaking_silence.cfm

Summarised….

Although the pandemic was slow to reach Benin, it is growing at an alarming rate - close to 4% of the population is infected and in certain regions, up to 10%  This is a worrying trend for APEED, Parakou and Benin. The Beninoise Government has brought out some progressive policies with regards to HIV/Aids, however it’s resources are limited. Sex education is not on the agenda in primary schools and can sometimes face opposition from parents even in high schools (much like in parts of the US).

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FUNDRAISING SUCCESS £1, 191.38 spent on ANNUAL BOOK DISTRIBUTION

posted by:
The Secretary Okasse Malick

The President Barthelemy Sodansou

The fifth Annual distribution of School Books took place this year at the College Mr. Bouké de Parakou on the 8th October 2008. Each of the 100 members of More Schooling received a special kit of books and essentials for the 08-09 school year. The ceremony was attended by students, parents, teachers and special guests from the community.

L: Pascaline, Student Representative (Centre)
R: Barth, President

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Hi everyone - a quick update on MS. As you can guess from my language skills above (did i hear someone say babel fish?), the new school year in Benin is upon us. This promises to be the most exciting school year yet for More Schooling and it’s supporters in the UK, Oz & around the world.

As everyone knows, an education is the greatest way to expand horizons and work towards a future where opportunities can be grasped not wasted. MS is this year expanding it’s program to include support for it’s members in:

• paying school fees
• paying the ancillary costs of attending school (uniforms, stationary, exercise books, maths sets etc)
• providing a library where students can share textbooks that are too expensive to be purchased individually.
• providing a community of solidarity and support; a forum where students can learn from each other’s experiences to increase their chances of graduating from high school.

We are teaming with other individuals and organisations in the UK to help make this a reality. If you would like to know more, feel free to email or fb us………..

Thanks for visiting this blog & feel free to add comments.

Ps: our next fundraising event will be at the end of November…more details to come soon.

On Saturday 28th June, we had a fundraiser bbq, raising a whooping £600!!!!

Thanks to the generosity of everyone. We did this through a Tombola/Raffle with gifts kindly donated from the following businesses:

• THE APARTMENT (exmouth market, london)

• THE AMBASSADOR RESTAURANT (exmouth market, london)

• GAZZANO (exmouth market, london)

What you can do?

• join one of our discussion boards

• come to our nexy  fundraiser;  check out th the Summer Stinkfest post for photos and RESULTS!

• email us at if you would like to know more and/or contribute financially coorinrin@yahoo.com.au / samuelrobertporter@yahoo.com.au