Yacouba

Today, Ramata visited us again, accompanied by his son Yacouba.

As you can see in the picture, Yacouba suffers from Hydroencephalitis, This condition is caused by fluids building up around the brain. This excess of fluid puts pressure on the brain, hence the swollen look. Without surgery, it can cause brain injuries but if it’s treated properly, the patient can lead a perfectly normal life.
The surgery consists of draining the excess of fluid away, but this operation is not without its risks. There can be complications during the convalescence, mainly due to infections. Unlike the developed countries, in a country like Mali, no medical warranties can be given.
So, Ramata has found herself in a desperate situation. She has no possible means to pay for such an expensive operation, and without it, Yacouba’s chances of being capable of leading a normal life are inexistent. And so it happens that the story will have to repeat itself once again. As Ramata will have to abandon his child here in the orphanage, as she cannot afford supporting a handicapped child. Another disabled kid left alone in our doorstep.
But it’s not too late yet. We can still turn this situation around.
Through this page, we beg anyone reading these lines that can sponsor Yacouba, please, to do so. The cost of the operation, all the pre and post operation expenses and all Yacouba’s maintenance ascend to 500€. If you can help us; please, fill this request form.
If the link's broken, copy/paste this:  file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/ase%20mali/Bureau/Blog/fiche%20de%20parrainage.htm 

 

And in case you want to sponsor any other kid of the orphanage, or donate some economical contribution to the NIABER SOCIAL CENTER, please, also fill the request form with your data, and send it to this e-mail address.


asemali19@hotmail.com

You can also become a sponsor for the NGO ASE MALI, and help us in that way, paying all the rent taxes, electricity, water, telephone and the maintenance of the kids. Any kind of help; no matter how small it is, means the world to us.

Please, help us save Yacouba. Maybe one day he will lead a normal life like you and me.

We still have time to save him. It’s not too late.

Thank you so much!

AMEN 1960

Yesterday was one very special day.

Bibi with the members of AMEN 1960

 The members of the AMEN 1960 association and its president, Mr. Oumar Touré, visited first the first NIABER SOCIAL CENTER (orphanage NIABERI in ACI 2000 Hamdallaye), in order to know a bit more about the children’s situation there, just before the second visit of the NIABER SOCIAL CENTERN Of Mamaribougou .

 The AMEN 1960 is an association formed entirely by persons born in Mali in 1960, year of the country independence from French colonization. Our today’s actions coincide with the 50^th years birthday of everyone and of the country witch will be a very big event on September 2010.

Everyone with Alamoko

At Mamaribougou, after meeting with ALAMAKO, the Chief of the village and the partners from Mali and from France; all the members of AMEN 1960 planted 50 trees in commemoration of 50 years of independence of the republic of Mali. And among the guests, we can notice the presence of voluntary workers of Horizon 54, staff member’s of the same NGO, Ismail and Aisha from the deaf  and Blind Association of Mali, with whom we have undertaken numerous projects.

The national radio and television didn’t miss the event, and neither did the several private journalists (Le Republican, L’Indépendant) who were covering the event...

Alamoko is a polyhandicapped girl who was abandoned now 5 years ago. She lives under care of the NGO ASEMALI  in NIANERSOCIAL CENTER of Mamaribougou, where the new community center will be built in an area that has been generously donated to ASE Mali and to Alamoko by the town itself. As a sample of our gratefulness, as the new  community center is yet to be finished, thanks to our American sponsor The Shelter Company, we have constructed a well that supplies free drinkable water  for the whole population. Likewise, our generous sponsor also has given us numerous sheep that feed us, and with whom Alamako plays every morning.

All these 50 trees were planted surrounding the future location of the community center, that will be focused mainly (but not exclusively) on disabled persons.

One of the planted trees

  But we do not want this action to be punctual, as we hope that this is the first link of a chain of solidarity that will help all the orphans, abandoned and disabled children of the whole country. And we hope that all the diffusion given to this act will be useful in order to sensitize more people, unaware of the current situation in which a lot children and disabled persons live in. Because the more realized of what is happening the people are, the easier it will be to improve the situation. 

If we all work together, we can make it possible.

Ronda & Ronda

Our family is today a little bit bigger.

Yesterday, our driver brought us a little big surprise: A new born baby. The story is one of those that you feel the need to mention. A woman approached him to ask him a favor, to hold her baby in his arm for a few minutes, as she had some errands to run, and promised to come back for the baby right away. But she never did. And our driver was left with the new born in his arms.
In 1993, a generous woman saw our entrance signed, and felt curious about it. She and her two kids entered the orphanage and immediately fell in love with our labor here, in the Niaber Center. Since then, her love and affection has always accompanied us. Today, we named the baby after this great woman and great friend. These are Ronda and baby Ronda. And she has all her life ahead of her.

Let me introduce you to Wilma & Ruth.

Ruth is one of those scarce “stories with happy endings” that we talked about before.

Now, she’s two years old, she’s big and healthy, she lives in the Netherlands and speaks Dutch and Bambara. She’s an enchanting little lady with a great capacity to remember names and faces…

But only one year ago, the situation was the complete opposite.

Ruth was found abandoned in (Manabougou) one of the poorest and most marginal neighbourhoods in all Bamako (and that’s saying a lot). She was alone and very ill. She looked in such a way that we all thought she would be three months old maximum, but really, she was 14 months old! She weighed only 6 kg nd her chances of survival were almost none.

And then, Wilma came. She had already started the process of adoption and was qualified to adopt a child. When she saw the baby, she knew she was the one. BIBI gave Ruth to her, without knowing if the baby was going to make it. But she had the hope that if somebody could help that dying 14 months old baby whose first (and only by that moment) words were “We” (That’s Bambra for “Go Away”) that would be Wilma.

And the unexpected happened. With patience, care and love, Wilma saved Ruth, and she became the healthy and happy girl you can see in the picture. Enjoy it, because Wilma told us that Ruth very rarely smiles in the pictures. Here you can see her beautiful smile!

Thank you so much, Wilma.

The Story of Bintou and Mami

This young girl in the picture is Bintou, but we all call her Be. She’s 15 years old, and the baby she’s holding in her arms is Mami, her 14 months old daughter.

Be came to our Orphanage on Thursday the 12th. Her family had rejected her and threw her out of her house. She had nowhere to go, so her last hope was coming to us, looking for some help.

Be has, since then, become a member of our crew. She works with us looking after the children, feeding them, cleaning them… Just as if they were her own. She’s finally found a job and place for her and Mami to stay. Now she’s capable of looking after her child.
But in spite of all this, we’ve barely seen her smile in all this three days.

From now on, we think that’s going to change. BIBI has convinced her family to let Be come back to her house. They were in the Orphanage today, looking at the present situation of things, and an agreement has been made. Be will work in the Orphanage looking after the kids during the day, and she and her child can sleep in her house every night. In this way, little by little, the tense situation between Be and her parents may clear out. Who knows, maybe this whole story will have a happy ending.

Unfortunately, Be’s story is not an uncommon story. Everyday, many young girls are forced to leave their home and abandon their children due to social rejection or extreme poverty, especially in Mali, one of the poorest countries of Africa.
Because happy endings do not “just happen”. We have to work on them, to make them happen. And in the Orphanage we work very hard every day, in order to get the happiest ending possible for our stories.

Milk Money For Mali

Today, we would like to start this blog’s entry thanking Lillian Joyce Collins, from Michigan State University, and her older sister Megan, and her friends and family members for their continuous and generous help.

Megan is an art teacher in an Elementary School from United States. When she heard of our situation, she convinced her students (aged between 8 and 10 years old) to do something to help us. And so they did. They have handcrafted this incredible dolls made of socks. It’s a beautiful way of expressing love and affection towards the kids from the orphanage, and we thank them for it. And also thanks to Professor Yobi Guindo for making the connections with us.

Now our first priority is the construction of the new orphanage. More and more kids are coming everyday, and the old one is just not big enough to attend all their needs. But of course, to build a new orphanage means money. So we hope somebody could help us.

Any donation, even the very humblest, is always welcome. And we’d like to thank Lillian for her recent contribution.

In order to build this new orphanage, there’s a long way ahead of us that we have to walk step by step. And the first one of these steps comes from the  beautiful “Milk Money for Africa” Project.

In the picture you can see the children wearing the T-Shirts with BIBI herself. 

Milk Money for Africa is a project by Lillian and her friends and family, trying to raise funds in order to pay the milk for the children that need to be nursed.

We hope you could all bring some help to this cause.

We’d also like to express our gratitude here to Lillian Joyce Collins Family and Friends’ Found Raising from Michigan for their donation.

In total we received 470$

With this money we plan to split it for two purposes: 200$ will be used to buy milk for the 20 babies under six months old, and the rest, 270$ will be used to start building water well for the orphanage. Water is a necessity for everyone, so the construction of the well is mandatory.

We also plan to craft some necklaces and send them to Lillian for more fundraising events.

The purchase of one of these necklaces is also a way to donate money for the orphanage and for the children.

We’d like to ask Lillian if it would be possible to make an auction in E-Bay with these necklaces. In that way, people from all over the world can buy a necklace from the orphanage.

On Thursday, August11^th, a new baby appeared in our step. A new born baby abandoned by his mother, without any clothes and left alone under the rain.

Thanks to Megan’s hand-made wool quilt, the new member of our big family of 266 children will never be cold again. You can see it the picture. Now the baby, Mohamad is nice and warm.

Thank you for everything.

ASE Mali

ASE Mali is an NGO founded by Maly “Bibi” Shango in 1993, who’s, since then committed to communicate with children, in every family and in every community, in order to promote health, nutrition, education, and welfare of the children.


ASE Mali acts in defence of dignity, and the integrity of all children, whether they are orphans, kids in a complicated economical situation or with parents without any kind of money.

The Orphanage Niaber, located in Bamako, takes care not only of orphans, but also abandoned children. Furthermore, the Orphanage gives economical help to those families in desperate situation and incapable of looking after their children.
Our motto? Love!
Donate, support us, visit us, sponsor a kid, and don’t hesitate to help us. All ideas are always welcome.

Let’s work together against poverty.

SUPPORT THE CENTER. SPREAD THE WORD. Please, suggest this blog to your friends.

Thank you so much…