Qatar Charity (QC) has opened a school and a mosque in Mali.

The buildings, part of a range of developmental and cultural projects implemented in the country, were opened by Jassim Abdullah Jassim, adviser and representative of the QC CEO, during a recent field trip.

Jassim was briefed on the activities of the QC field office and oversaw the opening of a number of projects designed to improve the standard of living of the people of Mali, including schools, mosques, artesian wells and income-generating projects.

Among the projects that Jassim opened was Hamad Adel Ali bin Ali Al Muslimani School, funded by the Ali Bin Ali Group, in Sokaina village of Nagba Cor Dora, a suburb of the Malian capital Bamako.

The school includes 18 classrooms and an administration room, 17 bathrooms and two boreholes. It comes as part of QC’s interest in charitable support for education in Mali, particularly in the poorest areas.

The opening of the school was attended by a number of ministers and officials from the Mali, including the ministers for women & children, education and sports, as well as international football player and QC ambassador Omar Kanoute. The school will benefit a number of orphans and other local children.

On the occasion of the school’s inauguration, Jassim explained that the project comes in the context of seeking to support education in Mali, especially in areas inhabited by the poorest people, and thanked all those who have co-operated with QC on the project.

Jassim also opened a mosque in the village of Sokaina. The mosque is built on 200sqm and includes toilets, full furnishing and equipment. Kanoute attended this opening as well.

Kanoute, chairman of the Kanoute Foundation, has overseen a number of projects in Mali, including the Sokaina Children’s Village. This was their first project for the welfare of children and takes care of orphans in Bamako and the surrounding areas, aged three to 18 years. It accommodates the village’s 99 orphaned children in addition to a number of volunteers and supervisers.

The village consists of a school and training centre, a health centre, a mosque, sports and recreational facilities and family homes, each of which can accommodate around 11 children with a nursemaid. There is also a farm that supplies the village with its products and carries out agricultural training, in addition to being an accommodation for visiting volunteers.

The Ali Bin Ali Group provided funding for the construction and operation of the village and this collaboration came after a meeting between Kanoute and Adel Ali bin Ali, president and chairman of the board at Ali Bin Ali, in the presence of QC ambassador Mohamed Saadoun al-Kuwari.

The collaboration aims to support charitable work in the framework of the Qatar Charity Stars initiative, which has been launched this year.

The school will provide free education for children in the village of Sokaina and its neighbouring villages and includes classes for kindergarten and the first classes of primary school in the first stage of the project.

Qatar Charity’s Stars initiative also funded Sokaina village’s mosque for orphaned children, raising the funds (QR175,000) within 24 hours of announcing its appeal in the local newspapers. The mosque is of great importance within the orphans’ village and also expected to benefit five surrounding villages.

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