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| A Well for Welentiguila |
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| Project Director |
| Tamba Traore, Stephen Lee (AS Student Field Intern) |
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Project Number |
Total Cost (US$) |
Location |
CH01-09 |
$1,263.41 |
Welentiguila, Mali |
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Project Details
In Summer 2008, Emory University business student Stephen Lee walked into the office of Scott Lacy,
African Sky's Executive Director. Lee introduced himself and explained that he wanted to work with
African Sky to implement a high-impact project in Mali. Lee and Lacy discussed Lee's interests and the
history of African Sky projects, from which Stephen identified his vision for his own project. Stephen
decided that he wanted to raise and donate the funds necessary to dig and install a well for a
community that needed one.
African Sky Country Director Tamba Traore surveyed dozens of villages north of the regional capital
Segou and identified Welentiguila as a terrific partner for Stephen's well project. Welentiguila needed
a well for its primary school because students had to walk over a kilometer away to find the nearest
water source. After an initial feasibility study, African Sky hired a team to install a well for the
Welentiguila school.
In January 2009 Stephen traveled to Mali as an African Sky Citizen-Scholar Intern. He visited
Welentiguila with African Sky leaders and following a special ceremony to launch the project, Stephen
was given the honor of breaking ground for the new well. Several months later, three additional interns
from Emory University travelled to Welentiguila with Scott Lacy and Tamba Traore to dedicate the
completed well. The children on Welentiguila waved American flags and cheered to welcome the African
Sky delegation to the well dedication ceremony. Following several speeches and the ceremonial pulling
of the first pale of water, the entire village treated the African Sky visitors with a series of dances and
mask performances. Today the well serves approximately 300 students and teachers every day.
Click here to watch a video that documents Stephen's project, and treat yourself to
a glance at Welentiguila's amazing mask performances, dancing, and drumming.
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