We met with ANFEN (Adolescent Non-Formal Education Network) on Friday. It was a very informative meeting, and has really opened our eyes to the problems that underprivileged youth face in Mauritius.
ANFEN is a non-profit organization operating in Mauritius with 19 centers throughout the island that provide education to kids who have fallen out of the school system. Children who have not been given the attention they need and who fail their qualifying examinations for secondary school are cast aside by the system, often times unable to even write their own names. This is where ANFEN comes in.
On Monday (September 14th), we visited two of these centers, and have seen the amazing work ANFEN is doing with these kids. The first center, called Ecole de Fatima, is their flagship school, and has several dozen kids working with a number of well qualified staff, who teach classes ranging from English to hairdressing. The second school, which is smaller, but no less impressive, is called Etoile de Mer (Starfish). There, we saw kids learning French and doing arts and crafts. The kids there are extremely talented, and we’re returning tomorrow to spend the day getting to know them and work with them.
We will post the pictures and videos from our visits as soon as possible (we have a lot of them). We will also write up a more formal report with some statistics.