The Remember Niger Coalition (RNC) was founded by Kara VanderKamp in 2009 with the mission to unite people and mobilize resources to expand quality educational opportunities for children in Niger. Kara was sent to Niger by the Presbyterian Church in 2007 to work as an educational consultant. She assisted community leaders and members in their efforts to start schools in their towns and cities. Inspired by her Nigerien colleagues’ vision to positively transform their communities and country through education, Kara assisted in the opening of two new primary schools. After two years in Niger, Kara saw that there were many more community leaders and members who had the desire to create high quality schools for their children. It became clear that they would need more partners and more funding in order to make their plans a reality. Kara returned to the United States and started RNC with the help of dedicated and compassionate partners.
In 2009, we supported 3 school communities with a total of 400 students. In 2020, we support nearly 3,000 students in 13 school communities. We work with private and public schools in order to help ensure that all children in Niger receive a quality education. The photos below are of the very first class we supported. These same students were reunited ten years later, in 2019, in celebration of Remember Niger's 10th anniversary.
Remember Niger Celebrates 10 years
2019 was Remember Niger’s 10-year anniversary. We celebrated by bringing two of our partners from Niger to the United States. It was a joy to watch them engage with donors and partners at special parties and events, including at churches, schools and the Niger Ambassador’s Residence in Washington, DC.