If you remember Bas-Citronniers is a remote community. They have a school for 140 local children with classes from kindergarten to fourth grade. The school was built with funding from a very generous donor. Upon completion they partnered with our organization to work with the local committee of leaders on working toward sustainability.
In the past two years we have worked with these leaders they have learned basic bookkeeping practices, managed the budget (not always well, but learning from mistakes as they go), started a small business of raising and selling goats, taken steps to form a legal organization so the management and decisions are now through an official organization representing the school and community interests, planted a large garden to grow/sell crops at the market to supplement the budget, attended and participated in teacher training workshops, etc.
We have been so excited by all the lessons the committee has learned and grown from, but more importantly has been their commitment to see this project succeed. Their sacrifices, enthusiasm and continued drive toward sustainability has been such a boost to our own morale. You see, in this country there is so much foreign aide available that it is so easy to seek partners willing to "bankroll" your project. Everywhere you turn is someone looking to "help" by giving funds to a project. And everywhere you look there are many projects seeking that funding. The problem?? Should that funding source dry up (for any number of reasons) then the project fails to continue or is left scrambling for another source of funds. We see it EVERY DAY down here. Abandoned projects and programs. The people grow weary and lack trust-- afraid to believe in the longevity of anything. Understandably.
This is why helping this community become self sufficient is so exciting. To be able to teach skills needed to be successful is so encouraging and to see those ideas/lessons put into practice is a blessing. To be party to empowering them to take ownership of the project and the successes/failures that come along the way is something we can not explain. When all the while the temptation and opportunity to give up and just accept a "handout" is always looming.
Will you join us in praying for this community and the leaders who have committed to be different? To stand strong. To find ways to move forward in independence and away from foreign assistance.
Yes, right now we have been using a generous grant to pay the salaries of the teachers and purchase the food that gives each child a hot meal daily- often the only meal they eat. But, as the skills have come into place over the past two years we believe they are ready to move forward into phase 2. This will involve initiating self-sustaining measures such as solar energy, a clean water system, continuing to grow the goat raising program, and other measures.
Stay tuned for ways you can be involved with this community to give them this jump start toward being completely independent some day!
(**we went to visit, collect receipts and review the end-of-year budget/expense reports on June 4th. To get there we took a moto up the river, across mountain paths and hiked part of the way. It is really remote and very beautiful there)
(A house on the way to Bas-Citronniers)
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