What is the best way to make a fundraiser work
well? Make it fun!
For us
to build a government-funded clinic in Mali, we
need the community to fundraise at least 10% of
the cost. Our Community Health Action
Group and our Peace Corps Volunteer headed up
an initiative to combine a soccer match with
free AIDS testing and a benefit raffle to help
the community fundraise for the
clinic.
The morning was
kicked off with AIDS education from our partner
project, Djekafo. They showed films and
skits and dialogues about AIDS. We
brought the major AIDS project from downtown
into Sikoro to do free voluntary counseling and
testing for anyone who wanted it.
According to CESAC we had an excellent
turnout for in-the-field testing. The chiefs of
the village also offered some words.
The afternoon
featured a soccer match between Sikoro (in
ChocoMali-sponsored white T-shirts) and
Sourakabougouni (in our own AIDS day black
T-shirts). While there are some
long-standing tensions between these two halves
of the same town, the match ended in a
politically prudent tie.
At dusk the
"tombola" (raffle) drew large crowds. We
raffled off donated soda, plastic buckets
filled with supplies (pens, paper, pasta,
milk), and even two cell phones.
Ami Keita sold the
largest number of tickets, and received a prize
for her efforts.
