Jean-Marie Nosal took the opportunity at our opera evening to thank all TAG readers and their friends who have supported Via Sahel Enfants d'Afrique over the last year. Thanks to your recent generosity with the raffle, the opera evenings and other sponsorships we will be sending a cheque for well over 400 euros today.
J-M said he hopes to visit Mali in the near future and hand over enough money (*to trusted people he said) to fund the hospital and orphanage for the next 12 months He pointed out that the sums are paid over in monthly allowances to make sure it was spent as it should be.
As a result of the war many more families had been displaced and it was proving difficult to feed all the children through the one kitchen. It has been decided to open 2 extra feeding points around Bamako, the capital of Mali and this is what Jean-Marie will be progressing during his trip, and is made possible by our support through TAG over the past year and our continuing support.
Winnie outlined a new project involving women. About 120 (or 140) women have formed an association,(registered with the prefecture - Mali is after all a former French colony) to created a cooperative garden. They want to grow their own produce to feed their families and with luck have enough to sell the surplus. The major thing they needed was a well, which had been started but then halted due to lack of funds. Now with the help of Via Sahel and other ONG's the well is to be finished and production started. Winnie thought it would a good idea to try and form a "twin" association of 120/140 women in France (or anywhere she says) to help with funding tools, seeds etc.
More details of this to follow and if you wish to be one of these twinned women let me know.
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