American Friends of Le Korsa

Educational programs: 1. We continued to fund "the foyer de tambacounda" - a residential facility that allows over 140 young women to continue their education by attending state-operated and private schools while living in safe and salubrious conditions, instead of being forced into marriage and childbearing at a young age - often as young as twelve - and remaining in their villages without authority over their own lives. Le Korsa provides educational programs to help the young women prepare for their college entrance exams, as well as cultural programs to help them to learn life skills. 2. Le Korsa continues operating the school at fass which it constructed in 2018. This school is the first of its kind in the region providing education to a population that previously had no access to courses in math and literacy. It now has about 220 girls and boys, aged 6 to 14; Le Korsa pays teacher salaries and covers other operating expenses. 3. Le Korsa provides support for teacher salaries and supplies at the jardin des enfants in sinthian; saint anne's school in thies, and elementary schools in the villages of goumbayel and koar.

Other programs: 1. Agricultural development, including community gardens and production of honey and the senegalese grain fonio, by use of cooperatives. 2. Cultural exchange, including projects involving visual arts, theatre, and writing, in the village of sinthian and the city of tambacounda. 3. Development of new approaches to environmental issues throughout the country of senegal. 4. Tree planting and town cleanup initiatives, including tree planting in tambacounda to help beautify the city and provide shade to its residents, as well as tree planting in villages outside of the city which acts as a firewall to protect residents while also providing fruit and nut crops for food and financial gain. 4. Support of a community radio station to serve a large region in which multiple languages are used, with headquarters in the village of goloumbou. 5. Development of sports facilities and playgrounds to support improved physical health and community cohesiveness in various locations.

Medical and health programs: 1. In 2023 we continued construction of a new maternity and pediatric ward at the tambacounda hospital in tambacounda, senegal. Tambacounda hospital is the only hospital in a very large region of eastern senegal. It serves the 80,000 residents of the city of tambacounda, and more than a million people from the surrounding area and from mali, whose border is about an hour and a half away. It has 150 beds and treats approximately 47,000 patients annually, most often for malaria and respiratory infections. 2. Medical grants: Le Korsa provides funding to several local hospitals and clinics to offset the cost of patient care and to buy medical supplies, life-saving drugs, and equipment. This helps ensure that people are not refused care due to their inability to pay. Additionally, Le Korsa offered patient grants to individuals requiring care at other institutions, including wassadou medical center, fess medical center, sinthian medical center, tambacounda hospital, fann haspital, saint anne's clinic, and albert royer hospital. 3. Le Korsa continued its support and management of a women's health center in dakar where it subsidizes salaries of the entire staff, including a nurse and an obgyn, to expand its ability to offer safe and free prenatal health care to a vulnerable population. 4. Le Korsa also provides job training, nutrition education, and various forms of gynecological and prenatal care.