— Written By Marguerite Marty, Esq. | Photo By Milla Magri
On October 24, 2015, NYU opened up Lavie, the remote, little known village, and its children to its prestigious academic community in New York and around the world by honoring Kofi Amouzou (’99), the co-founder, the Board, and the donors of The Children of Lavie (COL), with the Bart Lawson Alumni Award for Humanitarianism. 
This NYU Award, of which The Children of Lavie is the only recipient this year, recognizes the extraordinary contributions of the organization and its commitment to the education of others, anywhere in the world, through participation in community service and the alleviation of human suffering.
As we celebrate this award, and congratulate Kofi, we remember when The Children of Lavie began quietly in the village it was named after – Lavie, a collection of mud and clay houses with straw and tin roofs built into the African hills of Togo, a narrow country in West Africa. With its ambitious but pragmatic mission to support the education of the village’s children in need, the organization immediately sent 14 children to school before it was officially formed in 2003. “We didn’t just send these children to school that year,” explained co-founder Kofi. “We promised them and their parents that we would help them every year going forward, though we had no idea exactly how.” 
To date, The Children of Lavie has helped over 1,700 children pay for their primary, middle, and high school education. More than 52 alumni are in college, and we are currently in search of funds for the construction of Lavie’s first library.
The Children of Lavie’s achievement is measured not only in terms of the number of students helped, but also in the quality of the education received by the grantees. Because school costs are prohibitively high for many families, Togolese children often start school late or have to drop out for a year or more. With COL’s help, the children are able to attend school regularly, thereby improving the quality of their education and their academic results: in June 2015, elementary students in Togo took a middle school entrance exam. In the Lavie district, 75% of the students passed the entrance exam, compared to only 48% from the larger region. In fact, the student with the highest score on the exam, out of 6000 students, is an 11-year old boy, who is a scholarship recipient from The Children of Lavie. This achievement is notable because the child is only 11, and has been able to attend school steadily with the help from The Children of Lavie to pay his education expenses. As a comparison, the overall ages of the children, who took the middle school entrance exam, ranged from 11 to 17. COL helps to assure that students are able to go to school consistently, thereby achieving their learning potential at the appropriate age.
The Children of Lavie and its Board are proud of this award.
We thank our committed donors, who have enabled us to carry on this work throughout the years. You are the actual change makers behind our mission of planting the seeds of change; you feed our dedication to our mission as you fund the schooling of these children who otherwise are unable to fulfill their educational goals due to financial constraints. We ask you to stand with us on our current task of priority: the Lavie Library project. 
Kofi’s life informs The Children of Lavie’s efforts to fund youth education and build libraries that serve villages such as Lavie. In his book—Kofi, a Child of Lavie—the author and co-founder Kofi Amouzou, now dubbed by NYU an “activist,” details how he was once a child of Lavie, working on a farm and facing a bleak future because his parents couldn’t afford to provide him with an education. Ultimately, Lavie came to his rescue in an unexpected way—”the gray-haired folks were like the libraries we didn’t have,” Kofi states.
Please click here to get your copy of Kofi, a Child of Lavie. It’s a great read and will make a great holiday gift. The proceeds from the sale of the book go to fund the construction of the much-needed Lavie Library. Lavie doesn’t have a library; its youth have never seen one.
A New York architect has designed the building pro bono, but it needs to be built and furnished. When you purchase Kofi, a Child of Lavie, you affirm that a library would be a valuable educational tool and community resource for Lavie, as well as its surrounding villages, supporting approximately 136 schools and 36, 000 students. Please purchase your copy the book today.
We appreciate your support and thank Kofi for having the vision to start this true grassroots organization to help all of Lavie’s children who are dreaming of an education and a better future.
Please click here and make your tax-deductible donation today, or mail checks (payable to The Children of Lavie) to: 603 W. 115 street #195, NY, NY 10025. Remember, no donation is too small; any contribution can help support these children.
We promise they will make you proud.
Happy Holidays!