Ecole Franco-Arabe - Baye Seydi Thiaw Laye
Donation protected
Thank you God not just for life but for my family, friends & the journey through life.
Life is a miracle and the journey through life is so full of so many more miracles if we travel with our hearts.
Hello
My name is Judith Ryan and a lot of you know me as Jay.
I’m a mother, daughter, sister, aunty, and a friend to many of you or we may have crossed paths in this lifetime.
We often hear about these things on TV, social media, and through family and friends; I got the chance to experience it firsthand.
This year in February 2023 whilst in Dakar - Senegal ( West Africa), it became an awakening of reality for me.
My partner Alieu wanted me to meet his scholar who he often speaks highly of and is respected very much for the work he does for the community and for preaching the good news of the Holy Quran.
Being a Christian and Alieu my partner a Muslim, faith is very important to me as it is what keeps me going and I always say I’m truly blessed and God is great!
Prior to meeting Abass, all that I was told by Alieu is that Abass is a scholar and Headmaster of a school.
Upon meeting Abass he greeted me warmly and welcome me, Alieu into the Mosque, showed us around the building what was left of it standing (safe to walk around), and the classrooms where the children were being taught; we had a very heartwarming greeting song from the children in each class we went into.
Franco-Arabe Baye Seydi Thiaw Lahi is a private French and Arabic school operating in Senegal since 1984. The school is located in Cambérène, in the community of Dakar. It was founded by Baye Seydi Thiaw Lahi, who was then the leader of the community and employed teachers following a vision to provide high-quality Arabic teaching to youngsters in a disciplined environment.
The school started with only two classes teaching only Arabic, but during the 2010-2014 session, the school experienced a lot of difficulties and challenges that it nearly shut down until Mr. Abass Bah who returned to the community after his studies, decided to take full responsibility of the school in 2014.
During the 2014-2020 session, Franco-Arabe Baye Seydi Thiaw Lahi welcomed its first French class which was introduced by Abass himself to further enhance the children in their learning. Abass has done an incredible job in expanding the school after taking over. He added two big classes on top and divided them into four classrooms.
Two of the classrooms are dedicated to teaching Arabic, while the other two are for both English and French, making it a total of six classes altogether. He also introduced English language lessons to the French classes to make it possible for the students to be bilingual.
Abas is dedicated to constructing a secondary school; however, financial obstacles have impeded progress. Without sufficient funding, the school has been unable to pay teachers, finish the building, or equip students with learning materials. As a result, many families are unable to afford the tuition; therefore, Abass is covering 75% of tuition fees for affected students.
A lot of families struggle to feed their families let alone try to give their children the very basic education. Abass currently has over 212 children in the school and counting, Abass does not receive any form of funding or support from the government. The children are aged 4 to 18 years old and are impoverished and disadvantaged.
In each classroom we went into the children sang to us, but their joyful singing could not hide what was so obvious.
From his earnings of preaching the words of the Holy Quran to the Muslim community around Africa, Abass finances with a struggle solely paying for the teacher's wages, tuition fees for some students, school materials and equipment for children, their families cannot afford it.
As well as providing breakfast and lunch for the children Monday - Friday from his earnings Abass also provides for his young family including his extended family who resides within his compound.
To me, Abass is a true Angel, as I have seen and heard what he does for his community.
Your contribution is saying yes to new adventures and changing your thoughts in the way that we think about the future, which in time, we will be able to change a lot of Children's lives in a positive way.
The only limit is ourselves, please do more of what makes you awesome and help me raise £10,000, without sufficient funding, the school will be unable to continue. Abass and the children need a donation - no matter how small or large – this will help to ensure that the children can be fed and educated and finish the new school construction.
Your donation will 100% go directly to help the children; paying for teachers, schoolbooks, pens, pencils, school meals, and improving the facilities. A little progress every day always adds up to big results.
I will be personally staying in touch with Abass and the children, so I can update you on the astonishing impact of your kindness every time you give a donation.
For that, I, Abass, and the children say thank you to you.
Thank you for taking the time on reading Abass’s great work which he continues to do. Thank you for your support and generosity. May the almighty God bless you all.
Organizer
Judith Ryan
Organizer
England