Press release
 |
Los Angeles, August 2008 —
In May 2008 the Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) donated US$10,000 to the Koulawa NGO organization to provide food for more than 750 disabled women and children in Niamey, Niger, who are in various educational and training programs.
An exceptionally arid region on the edge of the Sahara desert, Niger has long suffered political instability, drought and scarcity of food. With the recent rapid increase in the price of cereals, many of those most at risk have been faced with the threat of starvation.
By the end of July, three distributions of rice, maize and millet had been made to 760 people in five districts within the Niamey urban community. One more distribution is planned by the end of August. The recipients so far have included 50 blind students, 100 deaf students, and 610 women and children and some men with other handicaps. In one village, Route Fillingué, the food gave a special boost to people who had recently lost their homes in a fire.
 |
Mariama Halidou, president of the Harobanda women’s group for people suffering loss of lower limb locomotion, sent her thanks to TPRF “for making this effort to help handicapped women and children. The food distribution has allowed us to return to work.”
The coordinator of the project for Koulawa NGO, Mme. Mahadi Zeinabou Sangaré, reports that these distributions have gone extremely well and that the effort is making a significant contribution in the battle against poverty and begging among the handicapped in this area. It is a program they would very much like to expand to other areas of Niger.
Koulawa NGO is a nonprofit, non-government agency that aims to improve the conditions of the disabled in Niamey, Niger’s largest city. According to Mme. Sangaré, staple food such as rice, corn, millet and sorghum provided by TPRF’s grant will enable the women and children in the program facing abject poverty to “stay in the NGO center rather than beg for food in the streets.” They will then be able to focus on receiving the education and vocational training to learn the required skills for them to be independent.
The objectives of the NGO are the training, promotion, social integration and the improvement of living conditions of the disabled. The organization’s focus is on disabled women and children, especially in the field of specialized education, literacy, access to maternity and pediatric healthcare, and activities to generate funds.
Photographs Courtesy of Koulawa NGO
About The Prem Rawat Foundation
The Prem Rawat Foundation was created in 2001 by Prem Rawat, known also as Maharaji, and has a dual mission of bringing his message of peace to people around the world and providing essential humanitarian aid to those in need. TPRF partners with other humanitarian organizations to bring food, water and rapid disaster relief where it is most needed. To learn more about TPRF’s humanitarian initiatives, Prem Rawat and his message of peace, please visit www.tprf.org.
