Millet Drive Update

This past Saturday we wired the money from our millet drive to a friend who purchased the millet and rice for us. Thanks to the generosity of all the individuals who contributed we were able to raise almost $900. This has enabled us to buy 25 100 kg bags of millet (that's 2500 kg!) and 5 100 kg bags of rice (500 kg). We spoke to the village chief, Moussa Keita (Modiere's uncle), who was very happy. He expressed his thanks and said that now the burden of having to worry about food has been lifted off of them. The food purchased should go a long way in getting the family through to next season's harvest.

One of the greatest side benefits in my mind is the ability of the children from her family to continue their studies in the neighboring market town, Mahina. Last year, Modiere and I (mostly Modiere through her hard selfless work at The Breadsmith 5 nights a week) helped her father purchase a house in Mahina. This was critical for the family as most of the kids were now past the grade level that was offered in the village school. Therefore, they had to go to Mahina to continue their education. Without a house of their own, they would have had to rely on relatives to house the children which usually results in problems and tension because everyone is struggling to provide for their own families, or pay money for the kids to stay elsewhere. Another less than desirable alternative would have been for the kids to walk 6 km in the morning, study all day without lunch and walk 6 km back home in the afternoon. So we decided it was important to help them get a house of their own. So we did that last year, and this year the issue would have been that with food stretched thin it would have been hard to feed the kids in Mahina and the family in Sitafoula both. Our fear was that the kids education might have been sacrificed. But now we don't have to worry and the kids should be able to continue to go to school with full stomachs!

Thanks again to everyone for your generous support of this effort. We are grateful beyond words to all of you.