Solar Panel Project FUNDED!!

Mabougouri (center), after being held back last year, earned the highest average of  82 boys and girls for this year's third trimester.

Three months ago posted a single blog and a single Facebook update describing a project to install solar panels at my school giving my students a place to study after dark. I wanted to send personal messages to all of my family and friends, but SONATEL, the sentinel phone company in Burkina, was on strike the weekend I came to the city to use the internet. The internet came back on Tuesday giving me just a few hours on slow internet to get the message out. I had to return to village unsatisfied with the number of people I told about the project I care so much about – a project my village is so anxious to see become a reality. 

I was nervous when I recently came back to the city to check the status of the fundraising for the project. My stomach dropped when the project was no longer listed on the Peace Corps website. I thought perhaps that there was a problem and it was taken down before all the money could be raised. A few phone calls and emails later, the Peace Corps is a great organization, but like all be organizations, talking to the person to whom you really should talking is always difficult, I confirmed that the project is indeed fully funded!

Shortly after I put my project online, friends started donating. A special thanks to Danielle Hutchings, Jordan Elwell, Bryant Crubaugh and Kyle Huffman for your help. Your willingness to help is a personal encouragement to me and a warm comforting taste of a home that often feels so far way.

The fifth donor, whose identity still remains a mystery, decided to fund the remainder of the project (the project in total will cost around 5,000 dollars)! My personal thanks and the gratitude of everyone in my village are extended to the person whose generosity will greatly impact the education of the 500 students at my school for years to come.  I am humbled by such generosity and do not take the responsibility lightly to ensure that every cent goes directly to helping the students of Loumana. 

I am returning home to America in four days! I am so excited to spend time with my family, see my friends and hold a golf club in my hand while standing on green grass. I return in August and will begin working with an engineer to purchase and install the materials so that everything will be ready for the first day of school October 1^st (also my 24th birthday). 

To all my friends and family, I will see you soon.