Blog
Yesterday on the blog, I introduced just the tip of the iceberg of the new, creative strategies the staff in Mali are tackling in order to help our students in Mali during the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, we hear directly from Mali Rising’s Teacher Project Coordinator, Adama Kone. Adama leads our work with teachers, but he also directs our Health Project. As a result, Adama is on the front lines of figuring out how to best help our students.
Today’s blog is a bit more of a vlog, if that is still a thing. We wanted to speak with you as directly as possible about what we are doing in Mali to help our students during the COVID-19 pandemic. So, starting with today’s short video, the staff will be sharing updates about how we are changing our work as quickly as possible to be helpful.
As we wrote about a week or so ago, COVID-19 was slow to be confirmed in Mali. However, Mali reported their first 2 confirmed cases of COVID-19 last Wednesday, and today (Monday) the WHO places the total number of confirmed cases at 18. We are heartbroken and worried for everyone in Mali. Like you, we are all figuring out the best ways to move through this new reality. Our first concern is for our students, their families, and our dedicated Malian staff. Although we took early steps to make sure we limited the risk of spreading the virus into our partner villages, we are thinking fast on our feet about how we can still best serve our students and villages over the long haul. As you might imagine, online learning is not an option in rural Malian villages! The government closed schools for 3 weeks, and we expect it to be longer by the time all is said and done, so we need to get creative….fast.
Our Youth Ambassador project is a great way for high school students to help Mali Rising’s youth while gaining leadership skills and fostering an international understanding. I recently interviewed one of our Youth Ambassadors, Adjo, by email. She is a dedicated and enthusiastic volunteer and was excited to share her experience with you.
Like you, I am adjusting to our new reality here at Mali Rising’s U.S. office (read: my house). Because we want to contribute in our own small way, we are working on a web page with fun learning resources for both adults and children wanting to use our time at home to learn and grow. It will take a few days to get that resource list up and running, so we thought we would share some initial stay-at-home resources here to keep you going
Mali Rising is a small organization that does a whole lot. How can we do it? A lot of it comes down to great, dedicated volunteers. Currently, we are looking for a few very specific volunteers to help us by serving as Advisers in key areas.
Day 7 of traveling was a very full Friday indeed. In the morning, we visited the Sue Taylor Middle School of Diorila, which is about one and a half hours down a bumpy dirt road. We returned to Ouelessebougou for lunch and a trip to the big Friday market, before zipping down the road to visit our Sue Chung Chiu Middle School in Simidiji.
Internet services donated by XMission.
