Latrines are finished, soccer uniforms delivered & photos are in!

Hello everyone,

We are really happy to share with you some photos to show the finished latrines that were built as part of the 2nd year of the project at École St. Albert Le Grand. The latrines were finished in time for the start of the school year, and include a paved pathway for improved accessibility. A grab bar to improve the accessibility of one of the latrines is planned (it was left out of the original construction). The school also now has a connection to the piped water supply for the village, and the hand washing station can now be constructed.

We're also very excited to share with you that Jules (our project coordinator in Cameroon) has helped to start a parent council at the school who are now becoming more involved in the school community and in our project. We're really happy that this group has formed and look forward to working with them for the rest of the project.

We were fortunate this year that the exchange rate worked in our favour and we were able to realize this phase of the project under budget. Because of that, we were able to purchase soccer uniforms for the school and are thankful that our friend Jacques Yams was able to visit the school on a recent trip to see his family in Cameroon. The uniforms and soccer ball were really well received by the children!

Here are some photos taken by Jules during construction and when Jacques went to visit the school a couple of weeks ago (October 2011).

Please remember that our third annual fundraiser will be taking place on May 12, 2012. Don't forget to mark your calendars!

Construction has started on the new latrines

Hello everyone,

We are very happy to announce that the first donation for this year's main project has reached Bazou, and work on the new latrines has begun. Below is a glimpse of the work that is already in progress. You can see from the video that this is not easy work! Thank you again to everyone for your ongoing support. We will be in touch soon with another update.

Blessings,
Njacko and Valery

A pleasant surprise!

We would like to sincerely thank the staff and students at Albert College in Belleville and Annunciation Catholic School in Toronto who have done their own fundraising to contribute to the projects at St. Albert Le Grand! Between these two schools, they have raised about another $1500! This will allow St. Albert Le Grand to expand the project for this year. We are still in the planning stages, and will post again when we have heard from the school about their project plan.

Peguy has sent us the photo below to show the current condition of the latrines at the school. As you can see, there is a lot of room for improvement to have safe and clean latrines for the staff and students. We were performing at a fundraiser recently for the U of T Cameroon Working Group of the International Centre for Disability and Rehabilitation, and had a discussion with Dr. Lynn Cockburn about the importance of making the new latrines accessible. We will work with the school to ensure that there is an accessible latrine for any staff or students who have special needs.

Thank you for your continued support and generosity. We are really excited about the work that is to be done this summer in Bazou!

Thank you for your support!

We would like to thank everyone who came out on May 21st to the Gladstone Hotel to contribute to the 2011 project for Ecole St. Albert le Grand. The day was a great celebration filled with amazing performances by some of our favourite Toronto-based performers. In total we have raised (to date) $2,670.50 from the May 21st fundraiser and all of this money will go to support the projects for 2011. Our next step will be to get in touch with the school, provide them with the budget, and work together with them to plan the project. The goal will be to rebuild the latrines for the school, and to construct a new hand washing station (and connect the school to the village water supply).

We have some great video footage from the fundraiser on May 21st, and we will be posting it in the coming weeks. In the mean time, please have a look below at a few photos from the event, and please do check out these artists' websites. Each of these performers donated their time and talents for this project, and we are very thankful for their support. We would also like to extend our sincere thanks to the Gladstone Hotel who continue to be strong supporters of our project.

As well, we would like to make a special mention to the students and staff (especially Tania Brachmayer) at Glen Street Public School. They sold 500 (!) cupcakes to raise more than $300 for this project.

If you are interested in contributing to the 2011 project, please get in touch with us at love@njackobacko.com or 416.836.8951. You may also mail us a cheque to:

Valery Woloshyn

PO Box 632

31 Adelaide Street East

Toronto, ON M5C 2J8

Artists who performed at the fundraiser on May 21st (check out their websites to find out where you can see them again!):

* MARNI’S MOVE-N-MUSIC ~ www.marnilevitt.com

* SOLI & ROB with ALISTAIR ANT! ~ www.alistairant.com ~ they have a brand new show "Bungalow Bugs" THIS WEEKEND, May 28-29 at Solar Stage - box office 416-368-8031 or www.solarstage.on.ca

* THE BELLWOODS TRINITY

* MUHTADI & THE WORLD DRUMMERS ~ www.muhtadidrumfest.com ~ the Muhtadi International Drumming Festival is FREE and is held at Queen's Park on June 4 & 5

* HANNAH BURGÉ & PACO LUVIANO ~ www.musicvillage.ca

* KEN WHITELEY ~ www.kenwhiteley.com

* SAHARA SLOAN & COLIN DOROSCHUK, www.saharasloan.com

* THE MARNI LEVITTCOLLECTIVE ~ www.marnilevitt.com ~ will be performing at the Muhtadi International Drumming Festival on June 4th

* NJACKO BACKO & KALIMBA KALIMBA ~ www.njackobacko.com

For those of you who didn't make it on May 21st, here is a video summary of the work completed in 2010:

May 21st - full details!

Hello everyone, happy international labour day!

Please see our latest newsletter for the full details about the fundraiser on May 21st.

http://mim.io/b36e01

May 21st! and more about École Saint Albert Le Grand

May 21st is rapidly approaching, and we're REALLY excited about the fundraiser that is coming together! Before we get into those details, we wanted to share a bit more information about École Saint Albert Le Grand.

Number of students: 212

Number of staff: 1 principal, 3 teachers

Class size: on average 70 students per room (2 classes of 35 students with 1 teacher), about 19 boys and 16 girls per class

Source of school funding: 100% comes from school fees (no government support), 11,000 FCFA (~$23) per student per year

Now for May 21st...we're really excited! The Gladstone Hotel is generously allowing us to hold two events on May 21st.

Afternoon Family Fun - 3pm to 5pm

The afternoon features some of Toronto’s favourite children’s performers. Included are:

• SOLI & ROB with ALISTAIR ANT!, voted Toronto’s #1 Children’s Entertainers in City Parent Magazine’s 2008 Readers’ Choice Awards
• MARNI’S MOVE-N-MUSIC, integrated music, movement & yoga workshops for kids
• Story and music time with the energetic and engaging NJACKO BACKO

Everyone attending this portion of the event will have the exclusive opportunity to purchase Njacko’s first published storybook (illustrated by Bruce Parsons) entitled “Baki and the Magic Egg / Baki et l’oeuf magique” before it is formally released this summer. A portion of the proceeds will go directly to this project.

Evening of Music and Celebration - 8pm doors, show starts at 8:30pm sharp!

We have a line-up of wonderful artists who have generously contributed their time for this cause.

• The interlocking rhythms, magical melodies and infectious joie de vivre of NJACKO BACKO & KALIMBA KALIMBA (Anne Lederman, Bwana Moto, Celina Carroll, Chip Yarwood, Joaquin Nunez Hidalgo, Roberto Riveron)
• Canadian roots music legend KEN WHITELEY,
• HANNAH BURGÉ & PACO LUVIANO, dynamic and captivating jazz duo
• up and coming opera star SAHARA SLOAN with “Men Without Hat’s” founding member and classical composer COLIN DOROSCHUK
• 2011 Harry Jerome Award winner in entertainment MUHTADI and his group THE WORLD DRUMMERS
• the rhythmic melodies of THE MARNI LEVITT COLLECTIVE (with Terri Segal and Valery Woloshyn)

Finally, here is a slideshow that Peguy has compiled showing photos from the projects in 2010. Enjoy!