Tempe Sister Cities donating $60,000 toward building a needed elementary school.

If you could go back in time to 14^th century Timbuktu, you would see a city where learning was so valued that the region was dubbed “the Athens of Africa.” The area’s location on major trade routes yielded an educated literate population and three universities.

Fast forward to the present day and you would see a different learning environment. Mali, its location no longer vital for trade in a modern world, is now the third poorest nation on the planet.

Tempe Sister Cities has committed to help build a school

that will serve 600 elementary-age Malian children in Timbuktu, our sister city since 1991.

We are donating $60,000, enough to cover half of the school’s construction; the Mali government is funding the other half. The school’s price tag is due to the use of durable materials for construction.

“Buildings in Mali are traditionally made from banco, a substance similar to adobe,” says Timbuktu coordinator volunteer Sue Lofgren. “This material is prone to deterioration, especially during the rainy season—and in an impoverished country, rebuilding a damaged school may simply not be a top priority.”

Our school, constructed of solid concrete block, is designed to last.

Amenities that help keep kids in school

Donations through Tempe Sister Cities are being used to build three of the school’s classrooms, and administrator office, and boys’ and girls’ latrines.

“It is a real problem when there are not separate latrines for boys and girls,” says Lofgren. “When the girls get older, modesty and safety issues make it difficult for them to share a latrine with older boys—and this one issue can become a deterrent to the girls staying in school.”

The schoolhouse will also have open windows for light and ventilation and includes shutters to close out the sandstorms that can ravage the region.

Our successful fundraising efforts continue

The Tempe community has been instrumental in raising money to fund the school.

In February, the Wildflower Bead Company provided ALL the food—free of charge—for a week-long fundraiser: Soup for You and a School for Timbuktu that yielded $5,000 for our efforts.

Other activities to raise funds included a Saint Patrick’s day celebration, Oktoberfest, fundraising by the Youth Committee, and individual donations.

We have about $20,000 to go to meet our commitment—how you can help

“People in Timbuktu have a heritage of astronomers, philosophers, and scholars,” Lofgren says. “Their culture really values education even though through poverty many don’t receive it. Their only impediment is a lack of funds.”

If you would like to support our initiatives in Timbuktu and make a difference in the lives of hundreds of impoverished children, please make a donation or volunteer your time.