Le Bel invests in education

By Sigrid Tornquist

Investing in the education of others is one of Claude Le Bel’s passions. In November 2008 Le Bel and others from Sollertia traveled to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in West Africa to install a circus school for the city’s youth. Le Bel and his team volunteered their time to do the drawings, foundation and project design for the site, then located a used fabric structure and installed it.

Currently, the Sollertia crew is working on plans for the interior, including dressing rooms, restrooms and offices. The third phase of the project will include an outdoor playground for the students and the community. “Before they had been playing and teaching in the street,” Le Bel says. “Now, even though it is not finished, they are using the school. Now they have shade.”

Sigrid Tornquist is a freelance author and editor based in St. Paul, Minn.