In Autumn 2016 we received a request from the mayor of Fotadrevo: The town has a primary school for about 200 children, but the nearest secondary is in Ejeda, 100 kilometres away by road – up to six hours by bus. Only a few families from Fotadrevo and its environs can afford to send their children to secondary school. This limits the children’s chances in life and rules them out for many jobs and further education. As the mayor explained, if DfM could fund the renovation of two dilapidated school buildings containing five classrooms, then the government ministry of education would cover the equipment and staff costs of the school starting with the 2017/18 school year. And so it happened: Thanks to financial support from the Alternaid Foundation, we were able to renovate both buildings.

In July of the following year, an additional classroom was expanded to accommodate 412 more prospective high school graduates. In addition, extracurricular activities take place here after classes - a welcome recreational meeting place for young people in the countryside.