Katie Krueger’s book, Give with Gratitude: Lessons Learned Listening to West Africa was published May 1, 2009!  It is the story of her the year in Senegal when she met Ling Ling and Natalie.  It takes the reader through the journey Project Japalé Gouné from inception to today.  Visit the book’s website:  www.GivewithGratitude.com and read a sample chapter.  Proceeds from book sales support the work of Project Japalé Gouné.

Natalie recently returned from a visit to L’ecole Primaire de Point E in Dakar, and had nothing but great things to report when she got a back.  As the school takes a larger role in the school lunch program, we grow very close to our ultimate goal of creating a project that is self-sustaining (and 100% supported by income-generating projects developed by the school.)  After some budget reviews, we realized we are only subsidizing the project with just over $400 per school year.  This is a long way from the $8,000 that we invested the first year of the project!  The iniatives that are helping the school in their quest for sustainability:

• The boutique that rents space from the building
• The restaurant that rents space from the building
• The school garden – sale of the vegetables to local vendors
• Participation fees from those students whose families can afford it
• Superior budget management from our Project Director, M. Sane, and the staff at the school

We hope to post some photos of Natalie’s latest visit soon!

It is with gratitude that I share the website for the Weidemann Foundation. Jean Weidemann, President of the Weidemann Foundation, has been a supportive partner and mentor since Project Japale Goune officially became a project of the Foundation. It is because of that partnership that we are able to offer donors tax-exemption for gifts and still keep our administrative costs near $0.
The world needs more women like Jean Weidemann, with compassion that extends globally and work that creates positive change.

Visit the Weidemann Foundation website today.

One of the greatest successes of the lunch program this far is the microjardin. It is a vegetable garden maintained by the students and staff. The vegetables are either sold (profits going to the lunch fund expenses) or cooked into the lunches (profits going straight to the bellies of students). It has great potential in helping us get to our goal of sustainability. Here is a photo of the garden in full bloom!

It is with great satisfaction that we begin the school year in Senegal this year, not only because we know we will be serving over 10,000 lunches to students and helping them learn through the School Garden project, but because we are moving closer to our goal of sustainability. Each summer, the school makes a budget for the upcoming year and calculates how much money they need from us to keep the project running. The first full year they requested over $4,000.

Each year the school learns how to effectively manage their money, limit cost increases, and generate more revenue for the project. This year, they have requested only $400 for the entire year! They project that they will be able to fund the remainder of the school lunch project’s $8,000+ budget themselves!

We are thrilled to be entering a new stage where we have to focus less energy on sustaining the program and can refocus on how to grow and build the program.