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EDUCATE A RURAL GIRL: EMPOWER ONE

Schooling is compulsory in Cameroon but education is not free. Although a valuable asset to the present and future of the country, girls in Cameroon and in many developing countries continue to suffer the effects of educational neglect. In Cameroon for example, parents bear the burden of school tuition and fees. Few families can afford these costs. According to the World Bank, 51 percent of Cameroonians live on less than two dollars a day.  In many cases, rural inhabitants do not have any fixed income. 

At present, seeking a high school education requires girls to move to urban areas where they are challenged (or threatened) by hardships and even physical or sexual abuse.  These experiences of social dislocation and personal safety lead most to eventually drop out.  One viable solution is to develop community-based schools with free tuition that would encourage girls to stay in school and learn.

Project Aumazo is providing rural girls with such an opportunity. In our new school under construction in Bankondji a rural community in the African nation of Cameroon, girls will learn and strive in an environment that recognizes their needs and untapped potential, an environment where families and community involvement is central to the process.

Using her own funds and with the help of some investors, Jacqueline Audige the founder has started the  construction of the new school building in Bankondji-Cameroon.  Currently, the Aumazo Project is raising more money to complete the tuition-free boarding high school for girls. Our goal is to raise an additional $200,000 for construction materials, furnishings, equipment, school supplies and books and first year operating  expenses. By fall 2010 and with your help, we will  open doors to the first 50 girls.
 
Aumazo is presenting you with the opportunity to help overcome the current 17% secondary education rate for girls in rural Cameroon. Get involved and remember that your small investment can go a long way in Cameroon.

Learn how


Our Aumazo, Inc. project is introducing a new tradition in Cameroon by extending secondary education for girls in rural communities beyond middle-school to include high school. We are proposing a curriculum that foregrounds critical literacy and the development of critical thinking skills. Moreover, given the economic challenges faced by rural communities, and in keeping with our commitment to social justice and environmental awareness, Aumazo's pilot boarding school currently under construction in Bankondji, a small village located in the west Francophone Cameroon, will also include a curriculum that helps learners find gainful employment upon graduation if they do not continue into higher education studies.

Thus, we will offer courses in

  1. Information Technology, including the use of the Internet
  2. Agricultural Products and Food Processing,

While nurturing their intelligence, our academy is also creating new community leaders and positive role models for rural girls along with an enhanced sense of cultural pride and responsibility.

 

NEWS AND EVENTS

Jacqueline T. Audige Founder and CEO of Aumazo, Inc was invited to serve as a facilitator at the 2007 Clinton Global Initiative in New York. The Clinton Global Initiative is a non-partisan catalyst for action, bringing together a community of global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to global problems. This year, Global Education was one of the four themes at the Annual Meeting. Learn more about the annual meeting by clicking on the CGI logo below.

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Join our cause on facebook

Knowledge is the best Key to open a better door for the future and give voices to girls and women across borders. And Education is the Power that helps them claim and raise their voices.

Last February 2009, we started a cause on facebook. Our goal is to raise awareness of our cause "Educate a girl, Shape the future of Africa" by  inviting "Friends of Aumazo" to join, donate or invite others to join as well. Please check the cause below 


Educate a Girl, Shape the Future of Africa

Share your thoughts on our blog

Help Educate a rural girl in Cameroon


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Check our 2007 FORM 990

Video: Construction Progress

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CURRENT INITIATIVES


The first school building is currently under construction in Bankondji, a small village in the west Francophone Cameroon of about two thousand inhabitants. In anticipation, it will open for the next school year 2010-2011 with exciting new facilities that will give our students an environment conducive to learning. Girls will learn and strive in an environment that recognizes their needs and untapped potential, an environment where families and communities involvement is central to the process.
As a new boarding school designed to provide the rural community in which it is located a community makeover, it will also provide girls in the vicinity an opportunity of a lifetime.

Project Aumazo is a lifetime opportunity for rural girls to depart from neglect, isolation and marginalization


 Status of school construction and accountability

The first phase of construction - the building of the school's foundation - was completed in late 2007, with private funds from the founder and individual donors.  Construction is overseen by a local foreman (who also serves as a Catholic priest), who carefully monitors expenses and the proper care and accountability for Aumazo funds.  Local laborers are hired from the Bankondji community, and local raw materials are used in the making of bricks and other building supplies.  The school's design is "green," including its own water filtration, sewage management, and solar-powered electricity.

 
Aumazo, Inc | P.O. Box 9404, Silver Spring, MD 20916 | Phone: (301) 272-5021 | www.aumazo.org
Aumazo, Incorporated is a nonprofit organization designated 501(c) (3) by the Internal Revenue Service. 
                                     

Updated 04/10/09