By Hindaty Traore, Girls’ Project Manager

When school closes down for the summer, it is a great time to rest and reflect. Just as school was wrapping up, I asked a few teachers, parents, and students to share their impression of Mali Rising’s Girls’ Project during the 23/24 school year. Here’s a sampling of their thoughts:

Teachers See Great Results

Ibrahim Touré, a teacher at Judge Memorial Middle School in Sankama, has taught at Judge since the school opened 7 years agp. According to him, the construction of this school has helped the village a lot, especially in terms of keeping girls in school. Before we built Judge Memorial Middle School in Sankama, there were only two girls enrolled in the middle school, but currently there are 31 girls.

"I have a very good impression of the Girls’ Project in here Sankama. The arrival of the project has raised the grades and the courage of girls in their education,” explained Mr. Touré. “According to the school statistics, girls have surpassed boys in terms of grades! In the first quarter, boys were first, but in the second and third quarters, girls surpassed the boys. The fact that girls have surpassed boys is due to the reading sessions and meetings on different themes that girls get through the project.”

Mr. Touré  continued, “I would like the project to be extended for more than three years for more positive impact. Parents are much more involved in girls' education because of the Girls’ Project…before most parents did not care what their children were doing at school. We hardly saw any parents at school. Because of the Mothers’ Loan Fund, many come and are interested in what the girls are doing in class.”

And the Mr. Touré believes the Girls’ Project helps teachers too. “The activities that the Girls’ Project carries out help teachers a lot because it makes our work easier.”

To show their joy and gratitude, the girls of Sankama contributed money each month 300 f / month to have 2500 at the end of the year to buy a t-shirt and type the name of the girls' project and the name of the NGO Mali Rising Foundation and their own nicknames. They say that Mali Rising has done a lot for them and they want to thank the project through good grades and also through this gesture of T-Shirt.

Girls Benefit From the Project

Salimata D. is a very jovial and sociable girl who is in 7th grade at Judge Memorial Middle School in Sankama. At just 15 years old, Salimata D already takes on a large part of her family's household chores. She walks a long way to fetch water from a remote place and she is the one who cooks. But thanks to the intervention of Girls’ Project, her mother has lightened her home chores. Now, Salimata arrives on time to class and has time to learn her lessons. This has improved her grades and given her hope.

"I dream of being a teacher. So, I always start by doing my homework when I get home,” explained Salimata D. “I want to share my knowledge with other children so that they are better educated in our village. This way I can help our community to develop. This year, thanks to the reading sessions, I have improved a lot. At the beginning of the school year I got 8 in French [a failing grade] but in the third quarter I got 12 in French [well above passing!]."

Mothers Love the Girls’ Project & Mothers Loan Fund

The teachers of Little Heroes Academy Mana also gave a letter of recognition to Mali Rising Foundation for all the activities we carry out within their school especially through the Girls’ Project and the Mothers’ Loan Fund. The village loves the fund because thanks to the fund, mothers are very involved in the education of girls by constantly coming to get their daughters' school news. This has resulted in girls attending school more regularly and learning more.

"I don't want girls to have to depend on other people when they grow up. They should be able to earn their own income,” said Salimata Samaté, the mother of several students at our partner school in Mana.