On my way to Niger for the fourth time January 9th, 2011

It was in February 2010, that I visited a remote village in Gorouberi with the Mayor, Vice Mayor, Hamani, Ramatou, Alioun and others to see the well that Rotary had drilled.  When the Mayor informed me that the children in this village had never attended school, because there wasn’t one, I committed on the spot on behalf of P4K, to raise the money to build one. Hard to believe that less than a year later, through the generosity of two major donors from Canada this school is now up and ready for students! I will be travelling to Niger soon to officially open our third school. This trip is also focused on creating the foundation for a curriculum for the Farmers of the Future Program, a program to teach children in primary school not only how to properly plant and manage an African Market Garden but to market their produce and invest their earnings, treating agriculture as a business, and not merely a way to subsist. We will be meeting with educators brought together by Dov Pasternak, the lead scientist for ICRISAT in Niger. I am excited.   I will be joined by John and Judy Craig from New Jersey, founders of Eliminate Poverty Now, who are supporters of the Farmers initiative and will be helping to pilot this program and develop the curriculum, as well as helping us develop our Sewing Centre for girls.  Another fellow Torontonian will be joining us to meet Dov and help open the school that he has helped to fund. After five years of working with the citizens of Liboré, it is like coming home. FOFO! FOFO!

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