Imagine if you had never had access to the knowledge, places, and new ideas found in books.
Who would you be today?
Greetings!
We are Cyrus Suleman and Caleb Hawkins. As Peace Corps volunteers, we are committed to improving the lives of the underprivileged during our service here in Africa. We have exerted immeasurable energy and time in trying to fulfill our mission in various ways. This time, we plan to fight poverty with literacy.
If literacy is the foundation of education, books are the building blocks. Our objective is to improve literacy and education in northern Cameroon through investment in libraries and school text books, which will serve thousands of community members and school children throughout the Adamawa region of Cameroon. To demonstrate commitment and bring awareness to this serious cause, we pledge to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in June 2012, and then personally see through the entire project on a grassroots level. We hope to raise enough funds to help us realize our goal. The path will be strenuous and demanding, but we are confident that with your support, we will succeed in fighting illiteracy and improving people’s lives.
We hope you will help us fight poverty with knowledge.
CAMEROON
Cameroon is a central African country of 17 million people with a per capita GDP of less than $100 per month. A major contributor to poverty in the country stems from lack of proper education. Cameroon has one of the lowest education index and literacy rates in the world.
Written information is hard to come by and many classes are taught by members of the community who hold no degree in the subject they are teaching. Even if the class is taught by a licensed educator, the teacher may not have the materials needed to educate their students properly. Internet access is expensive where available and power outages are common. Unemployment and preventable diseases are widespread, partly due to lack of knowledge. Class sizes regularly reach 60, or even 120 students. Most students cannot afford books, so they must copy lessons from the blackboard into notebooks. Many schools lack libraries and computer labs. Where those do exist, they are woefully underfunded.
We hope to contribute towards libraries in five communities across the Adamawa region: Beka Hossere, Nyambaka, Meiganga, Meidougou, and Djohong. The funds raised will be put toward creating libraries and purchasing school text books for each community’s secondary school. The
goal is to raise $8,000.
Who would you be today?
Greetings!
We are Cyrus Suleman and Caleb Hawkins. As Peace Corps volunteers, we are committed to improving the lives of the underprivileged during our service here in Africa. We have exerted immeasurable energy and time in trying to fulfill our mission in various ways. This time, we plan to fight poverty with literacy.
If literacy is the foundation of education, books are the building blocks. Our objective is to improve literacy and education in northern Cameroon through investment in libraries and school text books, which will serve thousands of community members and school children throughout the Adamawa region of Cameroon. To demonstrate commitment and bring awareness to this serious cause, we pledge to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in June 2012, and then personally see through the entire project on a grassroots level. We hope to raise enough funds to help us realize our goal. The path will be strenuous and demanding, but we are confident that with your support, we will succeed in fighting illiteracy and improving people’s lives.
We hope you will help us fight poverty with knowledge.
CAMEROON
Cameroon is a central African country of 17 million people with a per capita GDP of less than $100 per month. A major contributor to poverty in the country stems from lack of proper education. Cameroon has one of the lowest education index and literacy rates in the world.
Written information is hard to come by and many classes are taught by members of the community who hold no degree in the subject they are teaching. Even if the class is taught by a licensed educator, the teacher may not have the materials needed to educate their students properly. Internet access is expensive where available and power outages are common. Unemployment and preventable diseases are widespread, partly due to lack of knowledge. Class sizes regularly reach 60, or even 120 students. Most students cannot afford books, so they must copy lessons from the blackboard into notebooks. Many schools lack libraries and computer labs. Where those do exist, they are woefully underfunded.
We hope to contribute towards libraries in five communities across the Adamawa region: Beka Hossere, Nyambaka, Meiganga, Meidougou, and Djohong. The funds raised will be put toward creating libraries and purchasing school text books for each community’s secondary school. The
goal is to raise $8,000.
FUNDING BREAKDOWN & SPECIFICS
One hundred percent of the funds raised will be dedicated to our project. Throughout the process, we plan to keep and publish detailed records of usage of funds. Our projected breakdown of our $7,000 target goal is categorized by community as follows:
Beka Hossere: $3,500
Renovation and transformation of dilapidated building into a library: $2,750
Purchase of textbooks for secondary school: $750
Community Peace Corps Volunteer: Cyrus Suleman
Djohong: $1,000
Purchase of textbooks for secondary school: $750
Purchase of additional English and French books: $250
Community Peace Corps Volunteers: Caleb Hawkins & Lindsey Greenberg
Meidougou: $1,000
Adding security features to existing library: $250
Purchase of textbooks for secondary school: $750
Community Peace Corps Volunteer: Carlos Fernandez-Torrez
Meiganga: $750
Purchase of textbooks for secondary school: $750
Community Peace Corps Volunteer: Andrew Ryan
Nyambaka: $750
Purchase of textbooks for secondary school: $750
Community Peace Corps Volunteer: Katie Meehan
The rest of the proceeds will be used to provide books and other necessities among the libraries!
One hundred percent of the funds raised will be dedicated to our project. Throughout the process, we plan to keep and publish detailed records of usage of funds. Our projected breakdown of our $7,000 target goal is categorized by community as follows:
Beka Hossere: $3,500
Renovation and transformation of dilapidated building into a library: $2,750
Purchase of textbooks for secondary school: $750
Community Peace Corps Volunteer: Cyrus Suleman
Djohong: $1,000
Purchase of textbooks for secondary school: $750
Purchase of additional English and French books: $250
Community Peace Corps Volunteers: Caleb Hawkins & Lindsey Greenberg
Meidougou: $1,000
Adding security features to existing library: $250
Purchase of textbooks for secondary school: $750
Community Peace Corps Volunteer: Carlos Fernandez-Torrez
Meiganga: $750
Purchase of textbooks for secondary school: $750
Community Peace Corps Volunteer: Andrew Ryan
Nyambaka: $750
Purchase of textbooks for secondary school: $750
Community Peace Corps Volunteer: Katie Meehan
The rest of the proceeds will be used to provide books and other necessities among the libraries!