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.
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 constructionin 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
Information Technology, including the use of the Internet
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.
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
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.