We met almost three years ago, when we first came to Anguilla to spend the Summer.  After a successful "Spending the Summer" project, we decided to enroll the kids in a local school, which were free of charge. Except, after visiting the school, we realized that not only was the method of teaching very "let's just get through this material in an orderly fashion", but also, that the kids were disciplined with rulers and other means.  Needless to say, we had no intention of taking the joy of learning away from the kids, much less have them punished in such fashion.

That's when we found out about this little private school named Teacher Gloria Omololu Institute (TGOI), a non-profit organization teaching pre-k to 6th grade. When we visited, the difference was night and day with smiling students, teachers and a fair amount of semi-organized chaos and fun learning going on.
This was our school for sure.

While TGOI is a non-profit organization that had been around for 14 years and consistently turned out some of the best students on the island, the school had struggled with operational and mostly financial leadership.  So once we enrolled, we joined a few other parents and the schools existing leadership, who had already started the process of building up the school and putting proper procedures, communication and financial controls in place.


Since then, we've:
    - acquired 2 acres of land from the Anguillian Government, on which construction of our permanent facility has begun, several of which are almost finished
    - added to our team of highly qualified and enthusiastic teachers from Anguilla, the Caribbean region as well as the US
    - Established a Board of Directors implementing financial and operational controls and driving long term strategy
    - Acquired a Principal educated at Columbia Teacher's College
    - Added to our existing Caribbean curriculum to align more closely with accreditation by other countries and educational programmes
    - added more art and foreign language classes to the curriculum, with French, Spanish and sign language currently being taught
    - Implemented a website, newsletter and e-newsletter to communicate better with parents and friends of Omololu
    - Established a PTA organization which is acting as "glue" between the classrooms, teachers and parents of our school
    - Held several successful fund-raising events, such as our Golf Tournament last year, making a spectacular 34K net
    - almost tripled our student enrollment to 76 local, regional and foreign students, from 12 countries



While we're academically and operationally sound, we currently are teaching in a single story house, which cannot accommodate any more students. We are currently not financially self-sufficient, nor will we ever be, UNTIL our buildings get finished.
With that in mind, last year we were working on a construction loan out to finish the site, which is currently valued at approx $760K.

Wanna guess what happened next?
Yup, credit crunch and a few weeks ago, we were informed that no loans are being granted on the island -period.  So while we have a team in place working on securing other long term funding, we're up a creek with regards to even making it that far for the next few months.

This is where I need your help as we've launched our fundraising campaign, offering "a little bit for everyone" as far as budget is concerned. There's Buy-a-Brick for $10usd, adopt a teacher or classroom for loads more cash.

Where I think you guys would actually realize significant value is in our ANGUILLA LUXURY RAFFLE, where we give away a week long stay at a 5-star resort or private villa on the island, including rounds trip airfare.


The luxury vacation packages are at Conde Nast Gold List type places, 5-star Caribbean resorts and private villas that will take your breath away, such as:

Cap Juluca - www.capjuluca.com
Kamique Little Harbour - www.kamique.com
Cuisinart Resort and Spa - www.cuisinartresort.com
Zenaida Beach and Tennis Estate - www.zenaidaestate.com



Tickets are $50/usd and on the 20th of each month a different property is raffled off. The trips can be taken anytime between April 15 and December 2009, with some blackout dates applying. Just to put this "Great Deal for a Great Cause" in perspective, these places go for $500 - $4500 A NIGHT!

This school is a huge reason why I decided not to move away from Anguilla last year, as what the kids get there, in that family, in that setting, is something I cannot offer them in the US, at least not where we lived before.  The teachers are more than that, as they comfort my kids when they have ouies, say stuff like "sometimes math and algebra isn't the most important thing", close their school books and discuss everyone's religion. They love my kids, play and sing with them and discipline them when they don't listen.  As you can imagine, we combine classes since we're in a house, but even with that our small classroom size makes it possible to have a very "tailored" learning experience where nobody gets lost.

Please take a look at our website at www.omololu-institute.com/ and help me spread the word by posting a link to our site or sending out an email to friends and family in need of a vacation.

P. S. And despite what you may have heard, this is not a scam and there are no light saber carrying zombie velociraptors in Anguilla - sigh!