We agreed to fund the operations of a school that has run out of funds. This school has a student body of about 80-90 ultra-poor students and runs through 4th grade. The school charges a nominal tuition of about 3 cents a month - and many of the pupils are unable to pay even that! BRF has committed to funding the school for the next five years at an operating cost of just about $100 per month. This pays for five teachers and a clerk. We are also considering a ‘facilities’ grant of $2-4K. Additional details about this school are posted on our website under ‘Projects’.
The beauty of this project is that the building and the infrastructure are already there (although the teachers had not been paid for two months) and we are able to lever off the work done by prior donors - including the land and the building. I plan to engage at least one of my children as a volunteer teacher in this school for several weeks during the coming summer. If that works out, I have visions of a program whereby American teenagers could spend a few weeks teaching and experiencing a different world each summer.
Concurrently, we are looking for a small piece of land nearby to follow the Dinajpur model for a poultry farm. I inspected two potential locations and will know more by the end of this month.
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