Journal entries by Robin Mednick:
November 15th -16th, 2007
So far everything has been fantastic. My husband Ed and I were met at the airport in Niamey by the welcoming arms of the Mayor, Amadou Madougou, the Vice Mayor, Fatouma, the director of Education, Hamani Djibo and so many others. Now they were old friends as opposed to last time in May when we tentatively glimpsed each other for the first time. The embraces were long and heartfelt and Ed immediately noticed the warmth of the people.
We arrived at our hotel, the Grand, which has a view overlooking the Niger river- absolutely breathtaking at different times of the day. I felt like I was coming home.

The next morning we were picked up at 9:30 and were driven to Oulmantama, the village where the new school is situated. On the roadside leading to the village, where there is mostly desert and no paved roads, there was a sign that said “Pencils for Kids school”! It was thrilling to see the actual words written down – confirmation that it was real. As we neared the site, we noticed a few hundred people waiting for us and a tent set up to shelter some of the dignitaries from the sun. There was a drumming band comprised of elders and they graciously ushered us to our seats with their steady rhythmic beat. We passed the women in their colourful fabrics and throngs of children of all ages lined our path.

About 10 teenage girls, dressed in T-shirts imprinted with side by side Canadian and Nigerien flags were led in a chant by a male teacher shouting my name and the name of the Mayor repeatedly as they danced….so much energy and enthusiasm…..they would chant a phrase with my name and then crouch to the ground, jumping up once more with their arms outstretched…and then chant the name of the Mayor, once again lowering themselves and jumping up….this was repeated over and over with the drums in the background. “Rubina, Rubina, Rubina!” “Amadou Madougou, Amadou Madougou, Amadou Madougou”! It was a scene out of a movie.

Then all of the 31 boxes of school supplies that we had shipped the week before were ceremonially carried on top of the heads of students and placed in the centre of the crowd in front of the school.

After this, the round of speeches started, beginning with a prayer from the elders… even though I could not understand a word – I was moved. Prayer is a universal language that brings us all together. After that the Mayor, the Chef of Canton, the representatives of the Canadian embassy and of Thiebon, the organization that did the actual construction, and other leaders all spoke. Then it was my turn.
I brought greetings from Toronto in their local language of Zerma and the crowd cheered, appreciating the gesture! The rest of the speech I gave in French, which went surprisingly well considering my poor facility in the language! I had it translated from English to French before leaving Canada and practiced my heart out! There were many presentations – I gave to the Mayor the framed photo of the Thomas Cook Merton St. staff who donated so many school supplies, the framed photo of Peter Enti from UK, who donated the first 100 dollars and encouraged colleagues to give, the framed photo of Marcelo Ricaud who climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro with a sign that read Pencils for Kids and helped raise thousands, the banner from Sheppard Public school in Toronto which the community loved….and then gave out beautiful Pen and Pencil sets from BIC to a number of the dignitaries present. Special mention was made of DHL, BIC Inc., Office Depot, Pivot Design Group and Adlure Media Inc. for their incredible sponsorship. The Managing Director of DHL Niger, Mamadou Aw came to our ceremony and we sported our DHL hats for a photo!!

The Mayor in turn, presented me with certificates for us to bring home for our sponsors, officially registering them as HONOURARY CITIZENS of Liboré! What an incredible thing to do.

At the end of my remarks I said that although we do not speak the same language we all understand the meaning of a “circle of friendship” — and the people with me at the front linked hands together to share this special moment. Afterwards we were taken into the school to see the great workmanship of the builders, and the desk the Mayor had engraved with Peter Enti’s name on it in honour of his contribution. The children and villagers showed us around the school with such pride.

On the top outside wall of the school there was a covered plaque with the name “Pencils for Kids” built by Thiebon with funding from the Canadian Embassy, that we officially unveiled with the Mayor and representatives from the Embassy and Thiebon. A “Kodak” moment!

It was a day we will never forget- the opening of the first Pencils for Kids school and the beginning of our dream to help the community of Liboré.

November 16th, 2007 in the afternoon:
After the opening, we drove right to the Hospital where Ed had shipped thousands of dollars of donated ophthalmology equipment. They had the boxes we had shipped waiting for us at the hospital outside, and the Director of the hospital, head ophthalmologist and President of the hospital were all there to meet with Ed. We got a great tour of the operating room and clinic and a meaningful discussion followed about possible next steps. Ed was impressed with their setup but also realized how much they could use…..the sad part is that there are only a handful of eye doctors for the million people in Niamey…..and they don’t even reach the many millions of others in the countryside. It was such an eye opening visit for both of us.

November 17th, 2007 in the morning:
We went at 7:30am with the Mayor and his wife, Fatima, to visit the 5 schools that have been pen paling with Toronto schools for the past year. The Mayor’s wife does not speak one word of English but we managed to overcome this hurdle with my high school French which slowly is returning after an absence of 30 years! I am sorry I never kept it up!!
At each school we were greeted by shouting children and entire villages surrounding us. We gave out the banners that were drawn by the students of two classes at Regal Road Public School and the artwork from Dewson St. Junior Public School which were all so adored by the students and teachers. In addition, we gave out donated French books, schoolbags from Office Depot, the coveted BIC pens, and the great laminated bilingual maps that we had donated from Mapart.

It was a very long and humbling morning. Walked through some villages and saw where the people slept….small areas with a bed, if they are lucky, where all members of the family sometimes sleep. There are goats walking around, sometimes a donkey….and the people are sitting around talking…it is so hot and it is hard to imagine having no cooling systems, or fans….when the temperatures sore to 50 degrees Celsius….

November 17th, 2007, in the afternoon:
Ed and I were completely exhausted by now and were taken back to the hotel by 2:30– were then picked up by 4pm again!! This time we went to see the women who are organized into a micro credit group. Amazing meeting. Two women from each of the twenty villages were there….and the Vice Mayor explained to me in French how they work. Basically they were given $1500 dollars by the Canadian Embassy over a year ago and they divided this money into twenty equal parts. Each rep then goes back to their village and divides their share among the few women in the group in their own village who have ideas for businesses….these businesses include planting and selling vegetables, making pottery, buying some sick animals, feeding them well, and selling them when they are healthier….doing preschool for young children, etc… After six months all the money must be paid back plus a small amount of interest…..They pool the extra profit and that money helps to support community activities for the children. They have been very successful. Here were many women trying to make a better life for themselves and their families. I was honoured to sit among them. A woman ran up to me at the end and gave me her name on a tiny scrap of paper and under it she wrote the word, “friend”. She wanted to be sure I knew that she considered herself my friend. I will always keep that note.

November 18th, 2007:
We went this morning with the Mayor and his wife to some of the villages and Ed felt as I did that we were back in Biblical times………..fascinating to watch them make bricks and pottery from the rocks in the river which they crush and then mix together with water…..they have a special tool to shape it from the inside and a paddle to use on the outside….imagine my surprise when they took us to this little hut and they had just made a HUGE urn with the name Pencils for Kids all over it. And the lid had my name on it…Rubina!!
We watched the donkeys and cows and goats and chickens share space and saw the pride one woman took when she invited me into her home and insisted I sit down on her bed. Everyone was friendly as usual….greeting us with such warmth and affection.
On the way out of the village we stopped in the middle of the desert and there was a little straw hut, with no roof, size about 5 feet by 7 feet, housing two nomad families with their children. No beds, no roof, and few possessions. The heat was pounding down and I couldn’t imagine staying out all day without shade. Yet this is their life and the only one they have known. Their husbands herd the animals and are allowed to stay on the property of others because their cows and sheep fertilize the ground.

It has been a fantastic trip. We have fallen in love with the people of Niger, and in particular the community of Liboré. As we left, the Mayor’s wife gave me poems she wrote in French, on Poverty and on Peace. I was so touched by her compassion and moved by the spirit of her words. There is much we can do together to help brighten the lives and sharpen the minds of this future generation. The Mayor expressed his hope that we would help them connect 16 of the 20 villages that have no access to electricity. So we are hoping now to begin a campaign to “light up the villages” of Liboré.
And to be honest, I think we will reap far more than we will give.