The foundation of the Association
The association of the Amis de l'Ecole d'Abalan is an association law 1901 which was created in November 2002 by Alain DENIS, who, during a trip to NIGER in February 2002, got interested in a school of the district of ABALAN in AGADEZ.
The kids going to this school belong to the tuareg community.
Some history:
The tuaregs have been living as a nomad people for a long time.
Since the 1970s, they were affected by the dryness in the SAHEL and lost their only way of living: their herds.
Then they found refuge in the suburbs, and more particularly in AGADEZ.
Their miserable conditions of living drove them to rebellion in the 1990s and in 2007, which weakened even more these needy families.
Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world: 61% of the population lives with less than one euro per day.
This country is last on 177 on the Human Development Index (PNUD).
The future: Teaching:
We are convinced that this region can be improved through teaching. The ABALAN school counts 750 pupils (50% are girls) who are divided into 10 classrooms built in permanent structure and 2 in a metal structure (six classrooms in permanent structure were financed by our association).
In 2011, a second school (Abalan 2) was formed, with two classes as grass huts and two in permanent structure financed by our association.
This new school counts more than 100 pupils.
The pupils only have one book for 8 and very few school furniture.
The kids, as many of them live far away from the school, come by foot and don't have any lunch because there is no school lunchroom.
In spite of all that, teaching methods have already been put in place. The teachers are well formed and aim at doing their work in a good way.
The kids are very eager to learn: they are studious and very respectful of the adults and of each other.
Their parents are really committed in their kids' scolarity, and a very active parent's association already exists.
But this school lacks some material means to provide the kids a normal scolarity.
Help is essential for this tuareg community, but our humanitarian action shall follow a spirit of ethic, meaning that we should collaborate closely with the people concerned: the teachers, the parents but also the regional education authority and above all the local authorities (the prefecture and municipality of AGADEZ).
We have a frequent correspondance with the director of the school, Rosmane ALASMAGUI.
We go to AGADEZ quite regularly to meet the kids, the teachers and the authorities, and mostly to meet the tuaregs, a very welcoming people who want to maintain friendship with us.
Our satisfaction:
Since the creation of our association, the school went through many significant improvements:
600 more pupils entered the school,
for the first time some of them passed the test to enter secondary school: 24 succeeded out of 26 in 2004, and 57 on 57 in 2011.
the school arrived first in the drawing competition of the schools of AGADEZ, and also first in the football championship, which makes this school the most efficient of AGADEZ, out of 34 primary schools.
How can we act ?
The association of the Amis de l'Ecole d'Abalan aims at helping this school through different means:
collect funds thanks to the association members (15 euros per year),
collect donations from people or firms who feel motivated by this school's future,
collect funds from the public authorities,
organise paying events (like concerts or conferences),
sells of hand-crafted objects, postcards, the raising of funds, etc.
What should we undertake?
Here are some examples of investments this school needs:
the installation of electricity: 25,000 €
the purchase of local school books (our books do not fit with their school programs): 2,000 €
Support to the population in case of famine: 2,000 €.
The main actions of our association are determined by the board of directors, which is composed of 6 members and ellected by the general assembly of the association members.
We aim at using only a minimum sum for the running costs, and we guarantee to use almost all of the funds to develop the ABALAN school.