UD's buildOn chapter to help with school construction project in Burkina Faso

9:53 a.m., Oct. 29, 2014--The University of Delaware chapter of buildOn, sponsored by the School of Public Policy and Administration (SPPA), is organizing a trip to Burkina Faso in August 2015 to help launch construction of a new school that will serve underprivileged children.

The service-learning trip, sponsored by SPPA, has 15 available spots and applications from any graduate or undergraduate student at UD will be accepted.

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Those who are interested in applying for the trip are encouraged to attend one of the upcoming information sessions schedule at 5:30 p.m., Monday, Nov. 3, and at 6 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 6, both in 176 Graham Hall.

A nonprofit organization, buildOn is working to break the cycles of poverty, illiteracy and low expectations through service and education. 

It offers after school programs in the United States for students in inner-city schools to participate in a service-learning curriculum, and 95 percent of buildOn students graduate high school and go on to college. 

Also, the organization has also built over 600 schools in seven developing countries -- Mali, Malawi, Senegal, Nepal, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Burkina Faso -- and works with communities to build primary schools that will be staffed by teachers of the individual nation’s ministry of education. 

For these schools, both buildOn staff and community residents sign a covenant of support – many of the community members sign with a thumbprint because they cannot sign their own name. Among other things, the communities promise to send girls to the school in equal numbers to boys.

The literacy rate in Burkina Faso is 22 percent, and drops below 20 percent for females. This is the lowest literacy rate in the world, and Burkina Faso is one of the economically poorest countries in the world. 

“This school building project is extremely important to a community that does not have access to primary education,” a representative of the UD chapter said.

Those with interest do not have to be SPPA students to apply -- they only need to have an interest in the importance of global education and service.

For more information, see the buildOn website or email Elizabeth Burland at burlande@udel.edu. Those who cannot make one of the information sessions can contact Burland for more information and a copy of the application.