Last but not least

Hey everyone!!



It's hard to believe I've been back in America over a year. For those of you who have witnessed and helped with my re-integration, thanks for your interest in my experience, patience and understanding! For those of you I have yet to see, I hope our paths cross soon!

Although I am back on US soil, a part of me will always stay in Togo. After coming home, the urge to continue to help my Pagala community was still going strong. As most of you know, I spent a lot of time forming Village Savings and Loans groups in my village. I had been inspired to do this after reading "Banker to the Poor" about Muhammad Yunus' Nobel Peace Prize-winning efforts instituting microfinance at a grassroots level in developing nations. The groups I worked with were highly successful, inspiring and sustainable.

After seeing the success of these groups, I felt compelled to take it to the next level. While living in Pagala I had noticed a sad trend. Students who were children of teachers, government officials and other "well-off" professions were able to go to university after completing high school whereas their less privileged counterparts could not.. The child of an average subsistence farmer cannot afford the luxury of sending their children to university-- a mere couple hundred dollars a year.

With these students and power of the savings and loans groups in mind, I formed an organization called "Sukuvi". In a nutshell, Sukuvi will provide students with low-interest loans to continue their education at the University in the capital city of Lome. Some of the women's groups I formed (and some new ones, too) are now extending loans to local students (after an interview and acceptance process) and will provide students with 20% of the loan they are asking for. Sukuvi lenders will be providing the other 80%. I'm looking for lenders for the 2011-2012 school year. If you'd like to make a loan, please check out my very rudimentary website and make a loan today!

There's a lot more I could say on this subject, but I'll let you check out the website and ask questions as they arise!!

And now, for some updates. Since I've been back everyone has been asking me about the library. As you probably remember, the library I built in Pagala was one of my largest and most time-consuming projects. It would not have been possible without your support (financial or otherwise) so I wanted to share some before and after pictures for you to check out!! And yes, they named it after me...but it was not my idea!!
















This is the outside of the library before a new roof and a coat of paint. This type of building is normally used to store grain.
















This is the outside of the library with some aesthetic and functional improvements.















Here you can see the solar panel mounted on the roof. This was installed so that the librarian (pictured) could operate a side business of charging cell phones and earn income from his work at the library.















This is the inside of the library the first day we broke down the door. Some students volunteered to clean and sort books which were then painstakingly categorized and labeled individually. The inside of the room received a new floor, a new roof and a fresh coat of paint.
















Here is a picture of the initial clean up process.
















With initial donations from local bureau members, shelves were built and the organization began. Unfortunately, it was hot season and the days were longgggg!
















Final product! All books are numbered, fresh paint, spruced up shelves and desks for students!
















I used chalkboard paint on the wall to create writing surfaces, librarian desk, student desks and anatomy drawings as well as world and country maps (not pictured).
















The library bureau during our "opening ceremony". The sign was designed by another volunteer, Emerson Easley.

To see even more pictures, check out this album.