Mali Experience Tours Teenage Education Support project

Dear Friends,

Hello! I am the director of Mali Experience Tours, and I am writing to introduce myself and to tell you about an exciting new project to support teenage education in Mali.

When I was growing up in Dogon Country, I loved school and was first in my class. After finishing primary school at 12 years old, I decided to move to Mopti because my village, Dianwely, in Dogon Country does not have a secondary school. However, I had to support myself because my parents had limited financial capacity to pay for my school or living expenses in Mopti.

After more than a year of trying to pay for myself by working in whatever way I could, in the end I could not afford to stay in school.

After working as a tour guide for 15 years, I began my own company in 2007 and I got the opportunity to help children in need of support to continue their education.

In August 2008, I created the Teenage Education Support program with an Irish and an American woman. We are providing second level education for twenty students from Dogon Country, ten boys and ten girls. This involves paying their school fees, uniforms and school books as well as providing accommodation for them in the city of Mopti. We provide food, two housemothers to look after them, firewood, kitchen equipment, benches and a blackboard, sports gear and transport to and from their village four times a year. We pay a security man for night time. We look after their medical needs and we also have a woman who oversees their homework and their day-to-day care.

I would like to thank my Irish friends, who are the largest contributors, my American friends and all who have helped so far. We believe it is a very worthwhile project and one which will play a large part in the independence and well-being of these young people and, hopefully, enable them to escape the poverty trap. By using my company for your holiday in Mali you are also contributing to this project. My company gives 5% of its profits towards the project, which includes paying for water and electricity for the house.

I spend a lot of time and energy overseeing the project and my ultimate goal is to build a school in Dianwely, where students would get second level education without having to travel to the city of Mopti. It will cost approximately €36.000, or $50,000, to build a school in Dogon Country.

You can email me at mikael@maliexperience.com if you have any questions.

Thank you so much for your support and see you in Mali!

Mikael Djiguiba