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Carole Mikita reportingOne man's vision to help his countrymen is involving a wider circle of volunteers, including many Utahns. He and members of his foundation travel to improve conditions in the West African nation of Mali.
Many villages in Mali have only elementary schools; the junior high aged children have to walk four to 10 miles to continue their education. The Mali Rising Foundation has already built five school houses and is expanding its reach with medical treatment.
Mali, in West Africa, is the second poorest nation in the world. Mali Rising founder, Yeah Samake, says, "My dream was to return home and serve and help other people share my blessing with others. And the best way to do this is through education, because really it has helped break the cycle of poverty."
Besides building three schools, the foundation is also providing medical care. Jeff Hawkes, with Mali Rising, says, "The need is so great. We'd arrive at the clinic in the morning, and there were thousands and thousands of people waiting to get in. It was incredible."
Doctors treated 1,000 patients, including 60 surgeries; two dentists helped 500, extracting more than 1,000 teeth.
Brett Moyes, D.D.S., from South Ogden has volunteered with his own equipment in several countries around the world. But in Mali, he described it as stepping back in time. "You're like you're living in the time of Christ, where there's no medicines, no way to relieve the pain. So people will come in and their faces are swollen, and we were taking out between five and 15 teeth on every person we saw."
The worst case was a 6-year-old boy with a huge tumor disfiguring his face. He needs more help than they could give him in Mali.
Dr. Moyes said, "Now we're trying to come up with a way to get some fundraising where we can possibly bring this young man over.to get a team of specialists."
Dr. Moyes says even though medical treatment for 1,000 people is a drop in the bucket, he believes what Mali Rising is doing to educate the young people will help an entire generation.
The members of this foundation return to Mali every six months for humanitarian work. Yeah Samake says he and his wife plan to move back home and continue helping their countrymen in 2011.
