One day in July 2006, Abou, a little boy living in the streets of Bamako, dared to approach a "monsieur". He handed him a piece of paper in which he asked him to register him in school. The monsieur, Philippe Schmitt, an Air France captain, was touched by the gesture: he founded the association Jamais Abou de souffle to help the most destitute young Malians to attend school.
For his part, Modibo Coulibaly, headmaster of the Joseph-Ki-Zerbo Primary School, located in the Djikoroni Para neighborhood on the outskirts of Bamako, has constantly been expanding his school to enable the disadvantaged children to get an education. Created in 1996 and receiving 32 children in its first school year, the school had five primary classes in 2001, three additional junior high school classes in 2005, and its students have impressive success rates: 100% success in the primary studies certificate since 2005, and 80% of the basic studies diploma in 2006!
