Last year, when we visited the school in Iferouane, Niger where we had helped them repair the roof which had blown off, we found the kids doing their studies kneeling on the ground–they needed desks.
Education
Tamesna Clinic and School
We had been so busy with the matrone program that we have felt the clinic and school need more of our attention…next year I’m going to have the kids paint another mural for the school. Those who painted the last one in 2013 have mostly graduated to junior high. Can’t wait. We did have a […]
Tamesna School 2018
We had all too short a time to visit the kids at the school. Return to school for nomads is an approximate date since many parents are out on their annual migration and students are given flexible return dates to accommodate their parents. 26 students had returned but more are on the way. All nine […]
Motorcycle Repair Training
Nomads move around alot–the camel was always the best means of transportation in their desert land–then for the “wealthy” the Toyota Land Cruiser took its place. For the average nomad a 4WD Toyota is way beyond their means, but a motorcycle costs about the same as a camel–and moves a lot faster–of course the down […]
We go bearing gifts
We are headed soon to Niger with a full schedule and many suitcases full of materials to make all our programs happen. Right now a program is taking place which is training 20 young nomads how to repair motorcycles–their camels, I guess, are too slow. The motorcycles are very useful–last year one of our students […]
Junior high in Agadez and Ingal
All ten of our top class graduated from grammar school and were accepted in junior high school, but there are none available in the “bush” where the nomads live so we thought long and hard to find the best solution for the kids and their parents. At first we thought to create a location in […]
Tamesna school 2017
Our grammar school at Tamesna started earlier than most bush schools because we have a committed director in Assadek (back left) There were already 27 kids present and we expect 15 more. 10 graduated to junior high for which they had to go to Ingal and Agadez.
Return to school
Today is a big day for the top class at Tamesna school. Most nomad kids stop school at the end of grammar school if they even go at all. This is because the only junior high schools are in towns and many have never even been to town. We are constructing a new elementary school […]
Herding at Tamesna School
It is sometimes difficult for nomadic parents to send their children to school because it takes them away from their work as herders. We, not only do not want them to lose this skill, but want to bring new ideas to traditional herd management through the children at school. To this end we proposed to try a […]
Tamesna school extras–music, art and ag
Tamesna school is rare in Niger because we support extra curricular programs that bring new opportunities for the students. Music, particularly guitar is an important tradition to all Tuareg who have lived through recent rebellions, but now that there is peace, the older rebellion musicians are no longer teaching the Tuareg guitar tradition to the young. […]
Tamesna School–9 candidates for Junior high
Tamesna school continues to thrive under the direction of Assadek. As advised by the inspector of schools, nine students are skipping fifth grade to become candidates to go to junior high school next fall 2017. This will be a challenge. It is at this stage that most nomadic children drop out because there are no […]
School ends for the year
Second grade best in class For first composition: 1. Moussa Ahmed 2.Ghoumar Moussa 3. Mohamed Ahmed For second composition 1. Moussa Ahmed 2. Hamadi Moussa 3. Alhassane Ahmed This is really exciting since # 1 Moussa Ahmed and #2 Hamadi Moussa are sons of our guardians at Tamesna. Third grade best in class For […]
Academically we are the BEST!
It is so fun to be with the kids and do the things with them that really interest me like painting and music and theater, but there is of course another side to their education that you all—especially you sponsors and future sponsors of kids need to know. I have had a suspicion that our […]
Music Program
Since we have worked so long with musicians–since 1995 when we brought the first African artist, Prince Sissokho, a kora player from Senegal to the US, we have sponsored five music tours of Tuareg musicians. One of our drivers, Alhassane, was part of the group who toured. He loves to work with children so will […]
Earthbag decorations–Art at Tamesna school
I have had great fun in the past years organizing educational projects which I knew nothing about; solar panel fabrication, medical and midwife training, earth bag building. I learned a lot from the experts we brought in. While I was working on these jobs, I turned over the art program to another artist, Linda […]
Earthbag update
The three earthbag buildings that we built last febuary were not yet occupied when I arrived, as school has just started. There is some leeway in the start of the new school year for nomadic schools. When the rains are good and they have to extend their migration time to maximize herd survival through the […]
Education and artisans
Today was another day about education, but in a different place: Agadez. Nomadic kids rarely have an opportunity to go beyond grammar school, but when there is the will of the parents we like to help where we can. The village of Aouedenine we have worked with for many years. It is the hometown of […]
Back to Tamesna October 2015
I arrived at Tamesna School in the car with M. le maire (Mr. mayor) of Ingal known to us as Sidi. This car,(the one the government let’s him use) is a very nice new one—with televisions in the back of the headrests—that of course don’t work). It had a flat on its nice new tires […]
Tuareg kids dance American style…and their own Tinde
Before I left for Niger Benedicte Schoyen gave me a video of a fundraiser her Born to Play dance students did for the Tamesna School in Niger. They also sent lots of beautiful drawings. I also showed them a video of a nephew and niece, Cole and Charlotte, dancing to Bruno Mars. The nomad kids […]
But not giving up!
The show must go on. I know many of you think I am crazy, but I truly believe that if we stand down in fear of violent people we only encourage their behavior. I cannot become violent myself, but I can resist and gain ground for the peaceful ones. So enough of melodrama… I was […]
Tamesna school 2014
The kids came back early from easter break to see me and show off their new skills. We now have two classes but both are taught by one teacher as we have not found a good second teacher–hoping for next fall. There are 18 students in CI (cours initiative) or kindergarten and 26 in CP […]
Larry Beckett’s Handwashing stations
As part of a pediatric outreach program to provide better preventive care for children, Larry Beckett devised and instructed the various communities we visited in necessity for handwashing. He drilled small holes in the lids of the bottles we provided, to conserve precious water, attached a bar of soap and showed a responsible person from […]
Bob Skankey’s Mid-wife follow up
Dr. Bob Skankey has been directing a midwife program which serves the nomadic population since 2011. The women he has trained have proven invaluable to their communities. At the level of training they have received, they are called “matrones” in Niger. This mission was to refresh the skills that the women have acquired, replenish […]
Linda Taylor’s Painting programs
Linda Taylor a well known artist, educator and Rotarian from Ojai West provided materials and devised arts programs for the kids at Tamesna. The first was a large painting based on the outlines of several of their shadows. She prepared the canvas and mixed the paint and then let them go for it. The shadow […]
Linda Lamb’s programs
Linda Lamb, an old friend and longtime volunteer for the foundation is a teacher by trade and devised some programs for the kids at Tamesna. She is always immediately accepted and liked by the nomads we visit so it was not hard for her to get the kids attention. She started with maps–they recognized Niger, […]
Cooper Bates’ Student Photography Program
Five students at Tamesna School were chosen to lead groups to take a series of photos of their lives. Cooper brought cameras that were issued to them for a day. Halela, Almoustapha, Ahmed, Aghali and Ibrahim took their cameras and were off for the day. When they turned in their cameras the next day, Cooper […]
Tamesna School Opens–Yippeee!
After operating for a year in a temporary structure, the new permanent school building was completed in time to open a little before the schools in the bush normally open on Nov. 1, but the kids came and were free to do the programs we brought. There are 35 so far but we expect more […]
Benedicte’s Dance program at Tamesna
The film crew arrived headed by Benedicte Schoyen–who is demonstrating dance to the studensts at the school. being filmed by Cooper Bates well attired in a turban. Bennie first did a demonstration, then taught the whole class the chicken dance–which much to our chagrin stuck in our heads for several days. Then she chose several […]
Tamesna School
It was so disappointing not to be able to go out to see the school, but I sent Sidi out with a camera and he came back with reports. I spoke to the teacher who says the kids are doing well. When I saw the photos with all the kids learning so fast–it made me […]
Niger Mission Cancelled–but not completely–life in Agadez
It was with terrible sadness that I had to cancel our medical mission scheduled in February. We were to wind up the 2nd phase of midwife training with follow up training in the individual mobile communities of the nine midwives who had received training. Dr. Bob Skankey, his wife Louine, and Linda Lamb were to […]
Tamesna school opens
Thirty three smiling children and their parents gathered recently at the TAMESNA Center for Nomadic Life for the first day of class at the foundation’s new elementary school on Nov. 20. Now operating in a temporary thatched structure, the school will soon grow into a boarding school with an extensive garden, kitchen, dormitories, a […]
