It was very exciting to wake up this morning and see the photo of the Scholarship Girls in Libore, Niger on the top front page of the Life section of the Globe and Mail! Farah Mohamed captured the essence of what P4K is about and we were so honoured to have a chance to reach the many Globe readers across the country.  Thank you Farah!

Read the article here

It was from an article in the Globe and Mail four years ago that we first met Clara, a young girl who was so moved by the plight of children in Niger, she asked for donations for her birthday to go to p4K.  Clara and her family, for the past four years, have continued to raise funds and awareness and now as a result we were able to build the first permanent Kindergarten in Clara’s name in Libore, called Clara’s Kids!

Clara's Kids has a permanent home!

Some people may wonder why I have chosen “Winnie the Pooh” as my hero, when asked about my heroes. It was an easy answer. Pooh has a lovable personality and approaches life with an optimistic outlook and a humble spirit.  Much like the people of Libore, Niger, who have so little yet are the kindest, humblest and nicest people.

There is a great website called www.philanthroper.com that encourages people to give $1 -$5 for different causes each day, causes that have been fully researched and vetted in advance.  P4K has been chosen to be the featured charity tomorrow, Wednesday, February 15th, 2012 to raise money for notebooks and textbooks for the children in Liboré!! We are very excited by this opportunity to bring awareness for our cause to so many people — every time someone hears about us, they learn about the children of Liboré, who still struggle every single day to get an education. Imagine if they had all the notebooks and books they needed in every subject!

So if you are reading this blog, please take the time tomorrow to go to https://philanthroper.com/deals/pencils-for-kids and make a donation that will truly change lives.

Help us get the notebooks and textbooks for all 6,000 students in Libore!!

Thank you “Philanthroper” for giving P4K an opportunity to be heard, and the children in Niger a chance to learn!

From the BLOG of our partners on the Farmers of the Future program, Eliminate Poverty Now (www.eliminatepovertynow.org):

Monday, January 30, 2012

Farmers of the Future Takes Root

This week was a major milestone in the Farmers of the Future project, as we began training the teachers from the three pilot schools. Farmers of the Future, the brainchild of Professor Dov Pasternak, which Eliminate Poverty Now and Pencils for Kids is bringing to fruition, helps to sow the seeds of Africa’s green revolution by teaching modern agricultural practice to primary school children.

It took a while to get to this point. We waited until we had the approval and support of the National
Ministry of Education in Niger. We were also
delayed because the initial contractor responsible for converting technical material into age appropriate educational booklets could not complete the job.

But it was worth the wait: we now have the full and enthusiastic support of the Nigerien National Ministry of Education, and our material is being produced by pedagogues from the Ministry, which should serve us well in the long run.

The seven subjects to be covered are Water
Management; Environment; Growing Vegetables; Growing Cowpeas (a nutritious legume); Tree
Nurseries; Raising Animals; and Small Business.

The training is being carried out by technical agricultural experts, overseen by the venerable Saidou Abdoussalam (who splits his time between Farmers of the Future and his other ICRISAT duties). Hamani Djibo,the administrator of all our projects in Niger, and founder of ONG LIBO, organized the meeting with his usual calm and cheerful proficiency. The participants included teachers, school administrators and local community leaders.

At the end of the second day, Hamani reported:

“The teachers are very happy and today at the end of the training the Educational Inspector of the Kollo region and the representative of the Ministry of ducation encouraged them to enjoy their work and their students. You are going to receive a full report. It was wonderful! Thank you.”

A great beginning!

It has been a year of progress for Pencils for Kids despite very challenging economic times. We continued to build meaningful relationships with our partners that will definitely have a lasting impact on the people of Liboré, Niger.

The Farmers of the Future sign that shows partnership of EPN and P4K

P4K has developed an approach which balances direct funding and sponsorship for a small number of model programmes (Scholarships for Girls, Sewing Centres, Farmers of the Future), with very active networking and partnerships at all levels (INGO’s, UN, governments, private and corporate funders) to leverage additional resources. We will continue to develop this two-pronged strategy in the future.

John and Judy Craig of Eliminate Poverty Now (EPN) with me and the girls from the Cooper's Clothing Sewing Centre

We have committed this coming year to fund 72 scholarships for girls in the middle and secondary levels, to pilot a literacy project in five schools for grades 1 and 2, to expand our Cooper’s Clothing Sewing Centre so that more girls can participate, and to fully pilot our Farmers of the Future program (FOF) in three villages in Libore: Galbal, Gueriguinde and Gonzare Beri.  This FOF is an exciting initiative in agriculture and education – teaching children in grades 4 and 5 how to be successful, educated farmers using agriculture as a business and not merely as a way to subsist. We are preparing curriculum in 7 topics including water management, vegetable gardening, tree nurseries, economics and the environment, and we are working with education officials at every level to ensure we have the support we need. P4K is honoured to partner on this FOF program with Eliminate Poverty Now, an outstanding NGO in New Jersey. We are optimistic and hopeful that the FOF has the potential to one day help eradicate poverty.

Farmers of the Future

Our partnership with Veahavta, an NGO dedicated to doing good deeds around the world,  is also tremendously exciting.  Last week a forty foot container left Toronto for Niger filled with 4,000 kinderkits, all donated and shipped by Veahavta! They will arrive sometime in January or February!  On the container were also generous donations from Superior Medical Canada consisting of medical supplies for the midwives in Libore and also for the empty medical clinic.

It is these relationships with like-minded organizations that have sustained us this year, both in impact and in spirit.

However we still have commitments to honour for our programs and we are looking for new and creative ways to bring in funds.

A huge thank you to our many friends, supporters and sponsors who have helped us in the past and give us strength for the future.

As the holiday season approaches, we hope that you will join us in thinking of the children in Liboré — their wish is for an education, and a better life. We can all make that happen, together.