2019 Completed Projects
The Val and Jeanne Christensen Building Youth Around the World Academy of Dovong
Date Completed: 2019
Partners: Building Youth Around the World, Jeanne and Val Christensen
Project Description/Impact: The Val and Jeanne Christensen Building Youth Around the World Academy of DOVONG and teachers housing was dedicated. The school will host 150 students from Dovong and surrounding villages that attend grades 7-9.
The village with a population of 3360 is in dire need of the school because currently their primary school building houses two class grades per room. Grade 1/2, 3/4 and 5/6 are together. The new school will be a 3-classroom primary school to accommodate 170 children (92 boys and 78 girls).
The school comes fully equipped with desks, a director office and separate toilets for girls and boys. The teachers housing has three separate two room buildings that will serve the teachers and director and their families.
Thank you to the Val and Jeanne Christensen family and the Building Youth Around the World foundation!!!
Textbooks for every student at the Micah Shea Academy of Dongorona
Date Completed: 2019
Partners: Nelson Family
Project Description/Impact:
Thanks to a generous grant from the Nelson foundation, Empower Mali donated textbooks to the Micah Shea Academy of Dongorona. The books will allow each pupil to have his own textbook. The books will be in the care of the education committee of Dongorona and be used for many years.
Solar Lamps for rural Mali
Date Completed: 2019
Partners: Grant McAfee
Project Description/Impact:
Several Villages in the commune of Ouélessébougou received solar lamps and soccer balls. The villages of Marako, Dongorona, Beneko and Kolena each benefited from 45 to 50 solar lamps and Five soccer balls.
These donations were sponsored by Boyd Grant McAfee, a 15-year-old high school student who raised funds for this project. These donations will be used to improve the living environment of several hundred students and their families.
The JP DeJoria Academy of Moro Moro is completed
Date Completed: 2019
Partners: JP’s Peace, Love & Happiness Foundation
Project Description/Impact:
The JP Dejoria Academy of Moro Moro in the city of Madina in the region of Kayes is finished!! The school consists of three classrooms, a director’s office and two blocks of three latrines, one for girls and one for boys
Groundbreaking of the Middle School of Zekoun
Date Completed: 2019
Partners: Coates Family
Project Description/Impact:
We broke ground on our newest middle school in the village of Zekoun. Zekoun in the Commune of Misseni, is close to the Ivory Coast border. The village with a population of 500 families is in dire need of a middle school.
The chief of the village Issa Cisse, the women, the youth and the notables who participated in the ceremony expressed their joy to Empower Mali.
We thank the Coates family for their investment in children on Zekoun !!
Graduation of first Malian student in the San Francisco de Asis Agricultural school of Paraguay
Date Completed: 2019
Partners: San Francisco de Asis Agricultural school of Paraguay
Project Description/Impact:
We ended 2019 by celebrating the graduation of Diakaridia (Pronounced Ja-Ka-Ree-Ja, we call him JaJa) from the San Francisco de Asis Agricultural school. Jaja was abandoned by his mother when he was just a small boy. Soon after, his father passed away leaving him an orphan at the young age of 7 years.
We congratulate Jaja on his graduation with his double Technical Degree in Agriculture and Hospitality and Tourism.
He is now back in Mali raising money to start his own chicken farm. His farm will create jobs and also provide an additional source of food for the community