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January 2009 “The Mali Assistance Project (MAP)”, co-founded in 1999 by Karen Marx & Abdoul Doumbia, was created to help the villagers of Foutaka Zambougou, Mali, West Africa, fight famine, drought, and disease; build a sustainable infrastructure for the future; and support education for boys and girls. We have truly made a huge difference in the lives of these beautiful, happy, alert, bright, loving, generous, hospitable, talented people; who are the family of Abdoul Doumbia, Master Drummer from Zambougou, Mali, West Africa. Abdoul now lives in Boulder, Colorado. To date, MAP has purchased in Mali and delivered 105,000 pounds of millet, rice, beans, and peanuts, primarily to the villagers of Zambougou, and also to a village called Tigi, and to more than a dozen families in Bamako, feeding more than 2000 people during unfortunate times of famine. The water supply for the village, for drinking, bathing, cooking, and watering animals, had primarily been from 30 to 50-foot deep hand-dug wells, with contaminated and insect-infested water. These hand-dug wells, dug 50 to 80 years ago, ran dry in February 2003, for the first time in history due to drought conditions. In May 2003, MAP drilled two new 300-foot deep wells, with ample clear, clean, fresh water, and provided hand pumps and concrete slabs around the wells, at a cost of $25,000 The two new wells are the only reliable source of water, during the eight-month dry season, for the entire village. There are two older wells drilled by Saudi Arabia about 35 years ago that provide intermittent water except when the pumps are broken which is frequent. The hand-dug wells are usable for about five months out of each year during the rainy season. MAP provided resources to support the school from 2000 through to the present. We have paid salaries for the teachers; funded school supplies, blackboards, new desks and chairs (African style), and provided funds for textbooks and teaching materials. MAP recruited a Peace Crops volunteer to live in the village for two years and assisted the village with funds for materials to build a Peace Corps house for her to live. In 2005, our PCV was instrumental in the construction of a maternity / health clinic in the Zambougou with a full-time mid-wife whose salary is paid by the Malian government. All of the projects that we had underway, particularly in regard to water management and the school, were facilitated by our PCV during this time. MAP has focused on creating “appropriate technology” and “sustainable designs” for catching rainwater during the 4-month rainy season of June to September, providing $2000 for the purchase of plastic cisterns for rain catching and irrigation.. With stored rainwater, the village can irrigate vegetable gardens during the dry season of October through May. MAP enlisted assistance from professional engineers with Engineers Without Borders (EWB). With rented earth diggers, EWB created a large fenced pond that holds water during the dry season, October through May, for irrigation of the large community garden, providing vegetables to the entire village and even fish. MAP and Rotary Clubs funded this project. A new four-classroom school is required at this time in Zambougou because the old “traditional mud-brick” school built 35 years ago is now collapsing. In late 2008, MAP provided $13,500 toward the materials (cement, sand, re-bar, etc.) for the villagers to make their own concrete bricks to build their new school. The foundation is poured and the walls are built to the height of the roof. The villagers of Zambougou are providing all of the labor. Abdoul’s brother-in-law in Mai is a professional engineer who volunteered to design the school and create a materials list with estimated costs. Another $15,000 is necessary to buy the essential supplies to purchase windows, doors, and the metal roofing, and to finish the outside and inside with a stucco type of treatment. We all know the importance of education here in the US. A basic education and a high literacy rate are mandatory for any group of people to govern themselves in this highly complex world and to compete in economic markets. Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world. The peaceful population in Mali is vulnerable to outside influence. It is imperative for them to have education to be able to make proper decisions for their community; to be literate; for the people to be capable of communicating with their own government; to stand up for their rights; for young people to learn to create their own business or to learn the best agricultural model for their area; or to have options for a good occupation to raise and support a family. A proper education ensures that the people of Mali will not fall victim to the influences of fanatical fundamentalist Jihad leaders, who are now making their way into African countries offering money to entice young men to join them. Without an education and options, innocent and naive villagers may not understand the dangers presented to them. MAP is fully committed to the completion of the school and continued support of the teachers. Building this school, and then other schools in the villages of Mali, has become of the utmost importance for freedom and democracy in this area. The Mali Assistance Project has experienced cooperation and sharing of ideas and expertise, to bring benefit to Zambougou and ultimately to Mali. All of the designs and plans for the future are incorporating the beliefs, needs, and desires of the villagers themselves. We have involved the Mali government, to the degree to which they have an interest. MAP will continue to provide support for the school and aid for additional needs in the village, which include needs relating to sanitation, nutrition, and medical; sponsor a qualified physician from Mali to travel to Zambougou in the future to assist with the grave medical needs; create solutions to the standing water problems in the four-month rainy season that breed mosquitoes and infect the villagers with malaria; and find solutions for additional water management issues. Private donations have totaled more than $98,000 to The Mali Assistance Project, plus more than $300,000 in donated professional services. We request your help in raising the $15,000 needed to finish the school.
Tax-deductible donations may be made out to “The Mali Assistance Project” - and mailed to:
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The Mali Assistance Project