The Children of Lavié was founded in 2003
after a visit to Togo

The Children of Lavié was founded in 2003 after a trip to Togo, a small country in West Africa, during which we observed many school aged children working instead of attending school. The reason for this is not that they are not smart but rather that public school education is not free and most parents cannot afford the school fees each year.

 

On average, it costs only $3 to $4 annually to
send a child to school--less than half the cost
of seeing the latest blockbuster

The annual fee to attend primary school is 1,500 CFA (West African Franc) for girls and 2,000 CFA for boys. That is the equivalent of about $3 and $4 respectively. A child in Lavié, we realized, can get an education for an entire year for less than the cost of seeing the latest blockbuster. While that seems rather insignificant an amount, to parents in Lavié it is the wage earned after about a week of hard labor and there are other priorities such as feeding and clothing their children.

Making a difference

Upon returning to New York we decided to do all we could to make a difference by helping to give the children of the village, and throughout West Africa, the opportunity of an education. We began our work in Lavié, a small village in Togo, then Benin, Senegal and Burkina Faso. To date, we have helped nearly 1700 children, who otherwise would not be able to complete or get an education due to the financial limitations of their families, to fulfill their dream of learning to read and write and furthering their education.