Village Ventures Africa

Self help programmes for self development

Click here to download a word document with more info about Village Ventures Africa

Learning to solar cook

The organisation has been operating in Mali since 2000 and its aims and objectives are to teach selfhelp projects such as, small crop cultivation, brick making sewing, etc to the small, extremely poor villages surrounding the town on Diema.

It also helps to put in place the infrastructure needed to allow the villagers to survive in a very unforgiving environment – by digging wells, protecting cattle, and educating people on the need to protect and enhance their natural resources.

International Trading Crossroads Diema is a town in the centre of Mali, which operates as an international trading crossroads between Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea and Burkina Faso.

There is no reason why Diema can’t prosper…

The villages surrounding Diema are some of the poorest communities on earth. Mali has one of the lowest per capita GDP’s on earth – $650 per annum.

Budapest to Bamako Humanitarian Rally

Raoul has been involved closely with VillageVentures since 2009, when he arrived in Diema whilst taking part in the Budapest to Bamako Humanitarian rally, he met Pam Young. He was incredibly moved by the friendliness and dignity of the people, who were living in extremely harsh conditions, and the amazing efforts that Village Ventures were making, with next to no help from the outside world. The rally in 2009 was a turning point for Diema as participants delivered enormous amounts of aid (relatively speaking).

We helped equip schools with paper, pens, pencils, solar calculators, geometry sets, etc and we helped equip villages with basic, life-saving medicines.

In subsequent years the rally has dug wells, set up solar cookers (firewood is very hard to find), helped set up a basic computer centre (a few laptops to teach kids about the modern world), installed home solar power, helped fence in small gardens to protect the crops from animals, provided an ambulance for emergency treatment in the bush, equipped it with basic medicines, sent clothes for kids, provided sewing machines to give work to women, a couple of old 4 wheel drive cars to help Pam in her work and also 300 old bicycles to allow people to get into town to sell their products at the market without the three or four day walk. These are all just small things that have made a real difference.

We Need More Volunteers to help with our projects

There are hundreds of small villages around Diema, essentially cut off from the outside world, and they have nothing, but they do try their absolute best to provide a future for their children. Village Ventures is no multi-national charity with tax rebates etc.

Village Ventures is a hard working group of people who put 100% of any money they raise into their projects for the people of Diema.

There are no government support structures and no big aid budgets. In fact they have nothing but big hearts and determination to help people create a better life.

Big hearts and Determination

Neem Tree Project

Pam is currently working on educating the local people on the uses and benefits of Neem trees, which are relatively common in Mali.

Malaria is a huge problem. Neem is a miracle tree that has many uses – the most important one being that neem oil is a proven and very effective mosquito repellent.

Neem oil is an incredibly powerful antiseptic and anti-bacterial too and in a country with very little medicine, this can save lives. The problem is that the community has not even enough money to buy presses to make the neem oil, and that is one of Pam’s current focuses. They also need the know-how to cultivate more neem trees – which luckily are very hardy and drought tolerant.

Womens Assocation Project

She is also working on women’s centres to allow women to be more productive in the labour force, and to protect them from domestic abuse.

And continue the continue growth….

There is also a great need for more, and better equipped medical clinics, and even a library to help children get a better education.

But the truth is Village Ventures is in constant need of help of any sort, and is also in need of volunteers to help the local people implement the changes that will save lives, and help make a future for their children.

Any money raised is spent only on aid and not fancy NGO infrastructure, bureaucracy or anything
else.  This is real aid that makes a real difference…