A Dream Becomes Reality
It’s been a long-held vision of ours to build a second school. Over the years we have looked around to find a project that would align with our mission and our values, and we have finally found it.
Through the help of Magical Light FOundation, we have stumbled upon a small remote village located in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in South-East Bangladesh, on the border to Myanmar and Thailand. The village is home to the Marmas.
A New School For 120 Children.
The village that we will be concentrating our efforts on already is home to a very small elementary school. Due to its small size, the school can't accommodate all children and many older have to drop out and stop studying to make room for younger students and because there is no possibility for them to continue their education. The nearest junior high school is 15km away, but the parents don’t have the money to pay for daily transportation, the roads are unsafe, and the children are too young yet to stay at the dorms.
That's where we come in.
With our donation the village can build a bigger school building that has room and opportunities for everyone. The older children can keep studying and finish junior high in their village and by then they will be old enough to travel and stay in a dorm near a senior high school in nearby towns. After finishing high school, they can go to university.
The villagers will help build the school, and as many recycled materials as possible will be used to do so. We are responsible for raising 80% to 90% of the funds. The remaining funds will be collected by the villagers either in form of money or building materials and such.
The reason being that involving the villagers in all ways possible ensures that they will take ownership of the school and feel proud that they are the ones who helped build a school for their children.
This school will be different from Somwang School in Thailand, in that it will be registered with the government once it is built. That means that there will be no running costs for MPG as the government will hire and pay the wages for the teachers. The reason being that our partner, Magical Light Foundation, and us agree that one of the main reasons we build schools is for kids to receive an education which will in turn ensure them a future in their country and this can often only be achieved by sitting for the national exam. Privately run schools often face issues when applying for or sitting for national exams as they are not “official” schools, and in this case, might very well interfere with a student's wish to continue their education above the level that we'll be able to offer.
We are only in the beginning phase and will start building the school early December 2018. To ensure the smooth and guaranteed construction of the school we will be continuing to raise funds. So please consider helping us by donating or by taking part in our print sale fundraiser.
Metta,
the Team