Update on Mali

The situation in Mali is growing worse. Though we are hopeful and reasonably confident that democracy will be reestablished soon, for the time being we have no choice but to post pone our efforts to build our school. ((For a detailed article about what exactly is happening in Mali, please visit http://www.middleeastexperience.com/mali-and-the-widening-gyre-in-the-islamic-maghrib/. It is an article written by a professor at Idaho State University.))

As a fledgling non profit group, we simply feel it unwise to continue with this venture in a climate as potentially dangerous as that in Mali at this point in time. We have received an update from our friends at Mali Rising and elections are set to be held in July 2013. Our friend Yeah Samake is one of the strongest candidates. To follow his story more closely, please visit http://samake2012.com

We pray for the people of Mali, who now need our help more than ever. If you are interested in donating money specifically for the many Malians who have been displaced by the fighting, please feel free to designate your donation as “Malian Refugees.” We will resume our plan to build a school and sponsor the training of midwives as soon as it is again safe for our members to travel there. Please stay tuned on our progress.

As for now, we are transitioning our focus to India. The Arunodaya Charitable Trust (ACT) has graciously offered to host our small team as we use our funds to administer mobile clinics and eye surgeries in rural villages outside of Delhi. We are excited to team up with Doctors Sethi and Sethi, the  ophthalmologists who oversee ACT. In addition to aiding with these clinics, we will be conducting a descriptive survey of malnutrition in the villages we visit. We are confident that collecting these dietary/biomarker measurements will yield pilot results critical to the implementation of a robust nutrition and health intervention program.

We will continue to update you on our progress as we plan our expedition to India, as well as keep you up to date on the Mali Project. Thank you all so much,

the HFBW team..