lambs for school

As some of you may know, I once saved a lamb from drowning. It was epic. You, instead of wading into the Atlantic to grab one, can help educate a Burkinabe girl by buying her one. Pretty unrelated, except that both involve sheep and Africa. Read on:

A description of the program from my sister, who spent 3 years in Burkina Faso (and so knows):

"This organization [Education for 900 Rural Girls in Burkina Faso] buys a young girl a lamb and pays for the first year of school materials. The girl raises the lamb, sells the sheep, and uses that money for her school supplies the following year. The support goes to girls whose parents would/could not otherwise pay to educate them. I think it is really creative, makes sense in the local context, and seems to work! This organization has entered into a fundraising contest, wherein the organization that gets the most INDIVIDUAL donations will receive $50 000.

"I am going to donate the minimum, $10. I know you have already done your donating for the year, but I thought you might consider this! The details are below."

And here are the details, from the manager of the project:

"... [The Lambs for School Project, supported by Friends of Burkina Faso, (FBF)] pay a young girl's school fees for her 1st year of primary school and provide her family with funds (roughly $45) to buy a lamb to raise and use as an income source to support the young girl's subsequent years of primary, middle and senior high school education. Burkina Faso ranks 176 out of 177 on the Human Development Index (2nd only to Sierra Leone) and the adult literacy rate among women is ~15%. Sobering facts indeed but our project has been doing its part to provide an education for many young girls since 2002. To date, we have supported 1200 young girls to get a primary and middle school education and they have done well! We hope to support 900 more with your help!

"FBF is participating in [the] America's Giving Challenge, funded by the Case Foundation (aka Steve Case [of AOL/Time Warner fame]). If we are among the top 4 international charities to generate the highest number of unique/individual donors (not the most amount of money nor the greatest number of donations in total), we will win $50,000 for the Lambs For School Project. Our overall funding goal is $72,000 (to support 13 years of education for each of 900 girls: that's $80 per girl for 13 years of schooling). Winning the $50,000 would get us very close to reaching our goal in a matter of weeks instead of years!

"[We have been rising in the running and as of a few days ago, were in 5th place.] We need at least 125 individual donations (of $10 each) to ensure that we'll be in at least 4th place on January 31 when the contest ends...

"... I know that there are many causes as worthwhile as ours--but if each of you donates $10 today, you stand to have a 5000% return on your investment. $10 from each of you means $50,000 for 13 years of education of 900 girls. That is one awesome way to stretch your money!

"The competition ends on January 31 (just [9] days away!) To donate, please go to the Friends of Burkina Faso web site ( http://fbf.tamu.edu/) On the opening page, you will see links to donating to this project.

"To learn more about the Lambs for School project, please read our most recent edition (page 10) of our organizational newsletter, the Burkina Connection , available on our web site. ...

"Thanks in advance for your help--your support will mean a lot to the young girls in northern Burkina for whom your, and our, support will provide the only opportunity they will have at an education.

That's it, back to me. Here is the direct weblink for donating: http://givingchallenge.globalgiving.com/dy/registry/ag.html?cmd=prevfund&regid=683&RF=fundraiserwidget683. Off you go, ye lads and lassies.

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