Access to Education in Ivory Coast, West Africa, non-profit organization, Children education in Ivory Coast, West Africa, non-profit organization, Children Healthcare
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Story of Lassine
Lassine Kone
email: lasstennis@yahoo.fr
Harouna DIARRASSOUBA is the Treasury of administration, who came from a low-income family. He worked as a shoeshine boy and earned some money for a university education. Harouna had experienced the hardship of poverty in childhood and, he knows the situation of Ivory Coast, wants to help many children with hunger and poverty in West Africa. He also realized that how important to getting an education to avoid future difficulties in their life.
Diarrassouba Harouna :
email: dharouna.flk@gmail.com
00225 05 05 42 82 64
00225 07 57 28 44 72
Youssouf DIARRASSOUBA comes from a poor family, and at the age of 15, as a head of the family, worked in a cotton field and continued to study for a better life in the future. YS is well aware that it is really difficult for children from poor families to overcome difficult poverty and succeed. YS provides social and humanitarian assistance from the LassK International Equity Foundation for Kids to help poor children.
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Mail: diayounous@gmail.com
Cel: 225 0103634779
Cel: 225 0501634779.
I'm Lassine Kone: founder of Lassk foundation. I grew up in West Africa, in the northern region of Cote d'Ivoire to be precise. I lost my father at a young age, and my father was everything to my family. When I think about what this loss meant to us, I imagine a great tree falling in a forest. All of the small birds who depended on the strength of that tree were left alone to find their way without the protection its branches had offered.
l was young at that time, the only contribution I had to offer my family was my skill in sports. I had learned to play both tennis and soccer at a young age. My parents had always hoped that I would pursue soccer because it could be played with nothing more than a cheap pair of shoes and a ball. Tennis, on the other hand, costs dearly with its requirement of a quality racket and balls as well as clean new shoes and proper attire. When I realized that I would need to help my mother with finances, however, I turned back to this sport, remembering the small tips I had been given as a young boy eager to fetch balls court-side while I watched and learned from the experienced players. I returned to the club, occasionally dodging a security guard to get to the court where I would be recognized by players who knew how eager I was to help. They would give me a dollar or two in appreciation every day, and I passed these earnings on to my mother to help out our family.
I had also come to love this elegant sport in its own right, and little by little I began to train myself as a player, coming into the understanding that tennis was a sport with the power to change my life and turn the fortune of my family.
To help pay for the gear I needed, I took any work I could find. I spent my days working in small shops, in gardens or cotton plantations, selling yogurt. In the evening I would return to the tennis club to fetch balls for the experts and collect my tips. All this time, my game was improving and finally, I decided that I had gained enough skill to adventure to the south where there were more resources and competitions.
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While my mother had plenty of reasons for concern, I insisted that I needed to try to make my way, and finally, she gave me her blessing. When I arrived in the south, I soon realized that she had been right to worry. It was difficult to integrate into unfamiliar tennis clubs as a new arrival from the north. When I tried to meet new people, they greeted me with suspicion and told me more than once to go back home. I was staying in a different place every night, usually an abandoned house.
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Finally, God sent me one of his angels, a member of the club named Camara George. He had seen me playing tennis, and from the first day he introduced himself to me, he treated me like his own son. He encouraged me to keep following my dream to be a serious competitor. He spoke on my behalf to the people who controlled the Club Hotel Ivoire where I wanted to train and insisted that I be welcomed there.
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That intervention made all the difference for me. I went on to enjoy a long and rewarding career in competitive tennis and coaching. I never forgot the impact that an established person can have on the fate of someone struggling to start a life. As soon as I had the means, I knew that I needed to offer this same help to anyone needing assistance. I started the LassK Foundation in 2019 with the intent of helping children who are living with the same scarcity that I remember well. I know that together we can make a difference at a critical moment in all of their stories.
