‘Kathleen’s Kids’: Local woman raising funds for education efforts in Africa
Courtesy of Kathleen Nichols
Waynesburg native Kathleen Nichols is shown with two of the children she bonded with while living in West Africa. Nichols is raising funds to help build classrooms for children in Niger.
Courtesy of Kathleen Nichols
Waynesburg native Kathleen Nichols is raising funds to build new schools in West Africa. This photo shows her with a group of children she bonded with while living in Niger. The children became known as “Kathleen’s Kids.”
Courtesy of Kathleen Nichols
Aicha, a young Nigerian girl, shows off her report card.
Courtesy of Kathleen Nichols
The first child Waynesburg native Kathleen Nichols met while living in Niger, West Africa, was Issa. Nichols said the young boy holds a special place in her heart.
Kathleen Nichols, a former Waynesburg resident and teacher, said her heart belongs to the impoverished children she met while living in Niger, West Africa, the poorest country on Earth.
That’s why she is in the process of building classrooms there to provide a better education for the children she calls “Kathleen’s Kids.”
“I don’t have any children of my own, but the kids in my neighborhood really became a big part of my life when I lived in Niger,” said 55-year-old Nichols, who is now living in Ashburn, Va.
Nichols is a 1984 graduate of Waynesburg High School and 1990 graduate of Waynesburg College, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in history. After graduation, she moved to Southern California, where she taught in Rialto for eight years. During that time, she earned her master’s degree in school counseling.
Nichols then decided that she wanted to teach overseas. She taught in schools in Saudi Arabia and Tunisia, where she met her husband, Jose, a U.S. Marine. Later, the diplomats lived in Mali and Niger in West Africa.
Nichols called West Africa “an amazing place.”
“The people are inspiring,” she said. “It’s hard to believe that people who have nothing can be so happy. Life is all about relationships and family. You don’t have all of the distractions in life that make it complicated.”
For the first two years that Nichols lived in Niger, she did not work.
“That’s when I went out into the neighborhood, and I connected with the kids,” she said. “We would take daily walks where we would sing songs and take photos. They became known as ‘Kathleen’s Kids.’ They would teach me words and phrases in their language. I got to meet their mothers and fathers and eventually the director of their school.”
Nichols said she plans to return to Niger on Aug. 28 to check on the progress of the classrooms that will soon be built. She said three permanent classrooms will be built in one concrete building at a cost of approximately $35,000. Those classrooms will replace the primitive straw ones that burned down earlier this year.
“I am so excited to see my kids because I know they have grown so much,” Nichols said. “They range in age from about 2 to 10 years old, and school goes from kindergarten through third grade.
“With Niger being the poorest country on Earth, providing kids with an education gives them an advantage that you can’t even imagine,” she added.
Nichols recently sent a letter to her family and friends asking them to make tax-deductible donations to help build the school.
“I’ve been away from my kiddos for a full year now and can’t express how much I miss them,” she said in the letter.
“I often find myself looking through old photos just to see their sweet little faces. I’m sure they’re grown and changed a great deal, but I know one thing has remained the same – their love of school,” she wrote. “They’re so proud when they receive their report cards and want to show them off to anyone who will look.”
Nichols said she was thrilled to report that close to $27,000 has been raised to fund the construction of the new school – just short of the $35,000 goal.
The project will be completed in three phases. Phase one will consist of the construction of three permanent classrooms. Phase two will include building latrines along with repairing the floors in the current classrooms.
“These floors, which are roughly 20 years old, were not constructed adequately with proper concrete and as a result have eroded over time, creating large pits and holes,” she said.
Finally, phase three will include the installation of playground equipment for the kids to enjoy.
“Once all of this is accomplished, we may need to follow my kiddos to middle school and start all over,” she said.
Tax-deductible donations can be made via the Remember Niger website at www.rememberniger.org.