The communities' desire to improve their children's learning environment was first identified in a women's cooperative meeting in October. After this meeting Rachel worked with key players from the village to design a project proposal and budget detailing the community contribution and the Peace Corps Partnership (American) participation. The community has agreed to provide all of the skilled and unskilled labor, while my friends and family in the U.S. provide nearly $5,000 for the building materials.
Rachel Chapin is Peace Corps volunteer in Mauritania, West Africa who is working with her friends and family, former high school teachers and her church, Westlake Presbyterian, to raise enough funds to completely remodel the primary school in her village
Battle Creek residents working together to improve African school
Rachel Chapin • Reader Submitted •
March 25, 2009
Caption: Rachel is looking for help to remodel the school in the village in Mauritania where she is working with the Peace Corps. (Submitted by Rachel Chapin)
Rachel Chapin is a 2001 graduate of Harper Creek High School and a current Peace Corps volunteer in Mauritania, West Africa. She is working with her friends and family, former high school teachers and her church, Westlake Presbyterian, to raise enough funds to completely remodel the primary school in her village. Rachel first arrived in Mauritania in June 2007 and quickly felt at home in the small, welcoming, and hard-working agricultural village of Garack. The communities' desire to improve their children's learning environment was first identified in a women's cooperative meeting in October. After this meeting Rachel worked with key players from the village to design a project proposal and budget detailing the community contribution and the Peace Corps Partnership (American) participation. The community has agreed to provide all of the skilled and unskilled labor, while my friends and family in the U.S. provide nearly $5,000 for the building materials.
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What came out of these meetings is an ambitious project that will repair all of the desks and classrooms, build three latrines and extend water access to the school, and build a fence around the schoolyard. Children and young adults from the community will be working with Peace Corps volunteers to plant trees in the schoolyard and paint a world map in the sixth grade classroom. Rachel says that what she is, “very excited to be working on this large project since it has unanimous community backing and will bring men, women, young, and old together to work towards a common goal”. Rachel and the other volunteers in the region even plan to surprise the community with a large fun fair for the children, the likes of which have never been seen before in Garack. The Westlake Church congregation has already sent the children's fair prizes of children's toys, school supplies, and shoes.
Despite Americans generosity, it is hard to fund large projects like this in this challenging economic climate. $2,000 have already been raised thanks to help from former high school teachers and Rachel's family and church community. She would now like to take this opportunity to ask the greater Battle Creek area to donate what they can to the project. You can donate as much as you would like, and the donation is one hundred percent tax deductible. With nearly $3,000 left to go to fund the project Rachel is confident that the project will get funded before she comes home, “overall I have confidence in our ability as a community to chip in what little we can to make this project a reality”.
