We did it, with your help!! Thank YOU!

Posted on January 18, 2016 Updated on March 6, 2016

Not only did we meet our fundraising goal, but we exceeded it, and more. With the help of over 85 different individuals and organizations, we were able to raise $38,000.

A couple of points. Donations came from friends and family, from people who know each of us traveling back to Gabon to work in Sam and in Doumandzou. They came from former Peace Corps Gabon volunteers, from the 1960s all the way through to the early 2000s. And some came from volunteers who served in other countries. Each contribution, because it is personal, carries for all of us special meaning.

The additional funding will allow us to complete the teachers’ houses in Sam. We had decided to forego repairing these houses, because the entire school roof needed replacing and we didn’t think we would have funding for both. Now, because of your generosity, we can make sure that the teachers have proper houses, incentives to attract and keep teachers in the village. (The photo included shows the condition of one of the houses.) When we fixed up the houses last year in Doumandzou, a second teacher was assigned to the village!

One final point. It’s important to recognize the contributions the Gabonese from the two villages where we will be working. They are collecting contributions to pay for the sand and other local materials needed.

We can’t thank our friends and supporters enough. Through this journal from Gabon, we hope to convey to each of you some of the excitement as we make new the Sam school that Peace Corps built in 1965, and provide sanitary latrines for the school in Doumandzou.

Thank you and MERCI.