maybe? please?

Okay, this is what I've been working on this summer. It's not quite a plea for money, it's a plea to let me use you as a contact that I submit with my project proposal to Peace Corps so that I can publicize this project. (I need to give five contacts to the Peace Corps- possible donors, but no commitment involved- before they will accept my application. If they accept it, they then put my project on the PC donations website for everyone to see.)

Here it is.
I'm trying to fix my village's ambulance. The ambulance was initially provided by an organization in Bagre, a group of rice field owners who often fund community needs. They built the high school, recently added a science laboratory, and a few years back provided this ambulance. Unfortunately, there was no plan in place for its upkeep, and it is now in really terrible shape.



I believe I've mentioned the transportation situation of my village. Bush taxis make for lovely adventures, but don't quite make for good transport of seriously sick people. Neither do motorbikes, regular bikes, or donkey carts.
The health center in Bagre is small, with very little equipment. Seriously, when I asked what they have, they told me otoscopes, and a really bright lamp so they can see children's veins and hook them up to IVs. Complications during childbirth are a huge problem here, and there's not a lot that can be done unless it's at the hospital. And the hospital is in Tenkodogo, 45km away.

So the community has organized a committee of health personnel, the village chief, and other well-respected personages of Bagre to try to fix the ambulance. They have begun going around the area, asking each family for a donation, and have already raised 150 000 francs. But the project is going to need significantly more than that. Mr. Seagda, the agricultural officer for my region, came to me to see if I would be willing to try to look for outside funds to help with this project, and I said I would try. (He understood that there is no guarantee here, just that I'll do my best.) I've worked with him before, and so did Liz, the volunteer before me- he's a really motivated, well-respected member of the community.

One source of funding is through the Peace Corps Partnership Program, which works through the PC website. If you check it out, you see that there are currently about a hundred volunteer projects up right now, and you can read about each project, see how much money is still needed, and donate if you'd like to. So it's not dependent solely on friends and family of each volunteer (although they certainly help)- anyone can contribute.


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Again, this is not a plea for money (not yet. Maybe someday, if my project is approved.) I just promised my community that I would do all I could to help them repair their ambulance, and am trying to follow through. And I honestly think this is a worthwhile project. There's a plan in place to raise funds on a regular basis for future upkeep of the ambulance, and we're going to go around the area telling people how to contact the ambulance, in what situations it's important to call, and educate them about other services available at the health center as well.

Sooooooo...... if you'd be okay with me putting you as a contact on my application (again, no real commitment here, but the Peace Corps might pester you a little bit for donations... I don't know how much,) then I would be so grateful if you would tell me. I would like to get this submitted soon, if possible, and this would help me a ton. If you have any questions about details, let me know, I will Gladly respond.

Oof, I really do apologize that this is my second post in like a month that talks about how I (aka projects in Burkina) need money. I promise it won't happen again for a while.