African Library Project

Presented by: Maggie O'Hare, Nicole Wolowski, Shiloh Simonson,
                                 Rachel Troscinski, and Abby Cunningham

Global Cause: Educating Africa  

         Our Mahatma Group chose to help cultivate the uneducated children living in Africa by improving the illiteracy rate.  These children live in a community where they lack basic facilities and materials. They only learn the slightest bit of education.  Only 38% of children attend school, which makes Africa the leader in having the lowest enrollment rate for primary education.  The information we gained from  these statistics were awful and we knew that something had to be done so we stepped in to help. 

Education Options 

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           In our action plan to help, we chose to do a fundraiser at the Peters Township Winter Play and basketball game.  We raffled off various baskets, which was our main attribute.   We displayed an informational board that contained facts showing how terrible the illiteracy rate in Africa is, and to show what our project was all about.  We wanted to inform people the condition of what the children in Africa have to go through everyday, with multiple pictures.  We also displayed information of where we were going to send the donated money, which was to the African Library Project.   Another way we portrayed the seriousness of Africa's illiteracy rate, was writing a blog on Youth Noise.  We wanted to get our cause out there and inform as many people as possible, so maybe they could talk about it with other viewers.  We really wanted to show all the contributing factors to why the illiteracy rate is so grand.  Our last education option was creating a video on Youtube.  We thought that millions of people go on Youtube daily, so why not create a video that told people about Africa's condition.  We really talked about how little supplies the children have towards their education, whether it is books or even a library.    

Result 

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           In the result of our Mahatma Project we raised a total of $135, which successfully went to the African Library Project.  They greatly appreciated the donation, which made us all feel like we contributed a helping hand.  We learned that helping in the smallest way can really make an impact in the end.  We felt that helping a country, like Africa, in trying to increase the literacy rate one library at a time shows that we can help out a country.  To think that the money we made is going to build a new library in Africa is amazing.  It's an awesome feeling to know that we actually helped uneducated children in Africa.