The Mother Maryam Foundation School Project
Mother Maryam Foundation and our donors support Kolomiseed Elementary school, in southern Zawrat village, and offers helps two other elementary schools in Zawrat and to the school in Jerada village, south of Zawrat.
We assisted the village community to build the school and contributed improvements to the facilities and grounds. Along with some local donors, we provide a stipend to the teachers of all three of the elementary schools in al-Zawrat to supplement their meager government salaries, and we provide an annual prize to the best teacher and the best student at each of the three schools.
For several years, we have had some very special assistance with the school project, from an Austin middle school student, Leah Goetzel. Leah raised $1000 for a bonus for the Kolomiseed school staff. In December 2007, we delivered the money to the Headmaster, who divided the money up among the teachers, volunteer teachers, and the cleaners.
In 2005, Leah raised money to build part of a new wing of classrooms for the school. In gratitude, one classroom in that wing has been dedicated to Leah Goetzel and her family. Above the classroom door, a sign in English and Arabic announces the dedication.
In February 2003, Leah, then a third-grader at Cassis Elementary School, initiated a project at her school to collect backpacks and school supplies for Kolomiseed School. We took a banner made by Leah's third grade class, a letter from Leah, and a symbolic portion of the many backpacks that Leah had collected. Tijani Jizouli, the headmaster of the school, convened a special assembly to display the gifts from Cassis Elementary School and to express the thanks of the Kolomiseed students. We took photos of the assembly and of students in their classrooms, to share with Cassis students in an exhibition mounted at their school.
The Cassis campaign spearheaded by Leah collected 48 boxes of school supplies and backpacks for the elementary schools of the village. SAFE (the Sudan-American Foundation for Education, headed by Dr. Lee Burchill) shipped the school supplies to Sudan for free. Leah's work on behalf of the village was honored by KVUE television station in April 2004. She was the youngest person to be honored as one of KVUE's "Five Kids Who Care."
The Mother Maryam Foundation, Nile Valley Herbs, SAFE, Leah Goetzel and other donors will continue to support the Kolomiseed School in multiple ways. To participate in the schools project, contact Awad Abdelgadir.