Abou Koné has a story similar to children you may find in Karfiguéla today. He was the only one of his siblings to be educated at all and he was forced to stop his education during his 8th-grade year due to lack of finances. Many families experience this same financial strain that causes early dropouts still today. In fact, there are children in Karfiguéla today that have never gone to school. The literacy rate is staggeringly low in Abou’s village due to a lack of basic education.

 

Abou and Ellie met in 2016 while working together with the Peace Corps in Karfiguéla, Burkina Faso. Ellie was an American volunteer with the Peace Corps, and Abou was the village representative chosen to work closely with her. He was chosen due to his education and literacy. After their Peace Corps work ended, Abou and Ellie continued to work to help their community by coordinating private donations to pay the tuition for students at the Elementary School in Karfiguéla for two years. They then brought the idea of Sababou to the Sababou Team who is mostly made up of other Returned Peace Corps Volunteers. The Sababou Team bonded on the shared life-changing experience of Peace Corps and West Africa, and the desire to help fund education for the children of Karfiguéla.

 

Our Team wants anyone who is interested in Sababou’s mission to know that education does not help just one individual. We feel that educating an entire generation of kids will help sustain all of their families and help develop the entire community. Not all kids touched by Sababou are going to become the next Prime Minister of Burkina Faso. Educating this community, even just with basic reading and math skills learned in school will help the farmers become more efficient. Education will help convenience store owners provide more varieties of goods to the community. Education will help more youth get into trades like construction or electrician. These professions will help develop the community as a whole bringing more economic security and less need for outside charity.

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The opportunity for education is the most sustainable thing you can give to a person in need. Abou is a testament to the effectiveness of education even at an Elementary or Secondary level. He has had the benefit of his education, giving him opportunities that many people in his village never had. He is able to see how being educated shaped his and his family’s lives for the better and he would like to offer that to as many children in his village as possible.

 

Through your donation, we can educate a child, remove barriers to education, and effect sustainable change in the community of Karfiguéla and beyond!