This year, Mali Rising began providing scholarships to some of our most outstanding middle school graduates. These scholarships include a chance to attend vocational training or a chance to go on to high school. We asked our current Communications Intern, Salifou, to describe what high school is like for a young Malian.
A New School for Mali!
A Mali Student Comes to the U.S.
By Salifou Fofana, Mali Rising Intern
Do you believe in destiny?
If your answer to this question is yes, I can only say that you are right. And if your answer to this question is no, it is okay. I used to believe just like you that destiny was just a product of our imagination. Yes, I do believe in destiny, I believe wherever we are, is where God wants us to be. At least I believe that being in the United States, right now, at this moment writing this post was the result of my destiny.
When I finished high school, I had never thought about coming to study in the United States. The reasons are many, but the number one reason is that I hated English, and I never thought I would, one day, be able to communicate in English nor even write a post like this. The other reason is that I dreamed about going to school in France because I had some of my best friends going to school there, and also, I had visited there a couple of times and loved it. Because I had been in there and speak French, I thought it would be easier for me to apply for the visa, get it, and go to school there. This is when I have found myself forced to believe in destiny because I wasn’t even thinking about the United States.
As I was applying for the schools in France I encountered some difficulties, but because I am not the type of person to give up, I kept applying to schools until I got accepted to one of the universities in Paris. I was happy and couldn’t wait to go until the French embassy told me that I couldn’t apply for the student visa the same year because I had applied to both public and private universities. This discouraged me because I didn’t want to waste another year after graduating from high school. My aunt then proposed that I go to the United States for school. When I started the process everything went smoothly. The University I applied to in Philadelphia accepted me, and when I applied for the visa the embassy handed me the visa quickly.
A new chapter of my life had begun, a chapter I am thankful for because I believe it to be the best thing to have ever happen to me. Soon, I realized that coming to the US was the best thing for me, opening a lot of doors and opportunities for me. Going to school in the US, especially in Utah, helped me gain many relations with amazing people, and helped me to have a different perspective on life. As a political science student, with an emphasis on international affairs, I learned the history of the development of the US, and how they dealt with the corruption issues, and how foreign politic works. My plan is to apply all those things that I have learned here and apply them in my country in order to reduce the excessive corruption that’s a huge handicap to the development of Mali. I would also like to participate in improving the education system, as I believe is unfair to children in non-urban areas.
Inspiration Scholars: Inspiring Students & Inspiring Us
By Merritt Frey, Executive Director
Thanks to the generosity of our donors (that's you!), this year we've launched a brand new project designed to inspire our students in Mali to dream big and continue their education.
The Inspiration Scholars Project helps outstanding Mali Rising students who graduate the 9th grade go on to high school or vocational training. For our first year, we kept it simple and offered scholarships for high school or for nursing school. Nursing school options included a one-year nursing assistant program or a three-year full nursing program. Either option provides a good quality living for graduates.
Students were nominated by their principals. A committee then selected our Inspiration Scholars based on their need, their likelihood to give back to Mali, and their academic results.
This project continues themes we always apply to our work. First, it works with the dreams and aspirations of our students...it is about what they want for their futures. Second, it provides quality education in Mali for Malians, investing in the institutions of Mali in addition to individuals. Lastly, it focuses on futures that will help our students but also help Mali as a whole by providing scholarships to students for careers that give back to Mali.
We'll be profiling our Inspiration Scholars for the next few weeks. Right now, you can meet Mariam who is off to nursing school and Djanaby, who is tackling high school in the "big" town of Ouelessebougou.
Mariam is off to nursing school thanks to Mali Rising's generous donors.
A School Kit Brings Big Smiles, and a Chance to Learn
By Merritt Frey, Executive Director
Thanks to your support and the hard work of our staff in Mali, our new Girls Project is in full swing as the school year begins in Mali. Girls Project Coordinator Hindaty has been meeting with leaders in parents in our three pilot villages to gather input on the project and to promote girls' enrollment.
A key part of Hindaty's work currently is setting up school fee subsidies for approximately 200 girls. We hear time and again that parents struggle to pay school fees, and girls suffer for it. So, we are helping to subsidize those fees and, very importantly, working with parents in the villages to create and foster long-term economic projects that will allow parents to pay school fees themselves in the future.
A young girl in Kolimba, where our new Nieta Kalanso Middle School welcomed students back to school this week.
In addition, in one of our pilot villages -- Kolimba -- we had the pleasure of providing deserving girls with simple school kits. The kits include everything a girl needs to succeed this year -- a sturdy backpack, notebooks, pens, pencils, and more. This picture of a smiling student modeling her new school kit made a gray, rainy day here in Utah quite a bit brighter!
Although the challenges of educating girls are cultural and complex, really simple acts such as a $10 school subsidy or a backpack can make a big difference. You can help girls succeed by sponsoring such simple acts!
Enter the Modern Music of Mali
By Salifou Fofana, Mali Rising Intern
We all have our gateway when facing stress or difficult time in life. While for some people it is going on a hike, cry, or scream it out, my favorite thing to do when I am under pressure or facing an important moment is to put my headphones on and listen to my favorite artist Sidiki Diabate.
While Sidiki Diabate is unknown for some of you, he is one of the hottest artists in Africa now. He sings different types of genre on different types of traditional instruments. The reason I like to listen to his songs before taking an exam or when I feel like procrastinating my homework, or even when I am concern about my future is because his songs awaken my conscience and remind me of where I come from, and why I came to the United States in the first place.
The other reason I love listening to Sidiki Diabate is that it makes me proud to see my fellow citizen having such a success worldwide and representing my country at the Grammys. Because of him, many people are starting to know more about our music and learn that we have a long history of African music.
His hit song “fais moi confiance”, with more than 10 million views on YouTube is a beautiful love song with dancing rhythm at the same time. In this song he asks his love to trust him and not get mad. My favorite song of his is “Douaou diabira”, which means in Bambara prayer has payed. In this song, he talks about how he was expelled from the art school of Bamako because he only has 9 fingers instead of ten. He thanks God and his parents for helping him to become a renowned musician with only nine fingers.
I think what people like about his music is that they can relate to his songs. We have all once lived a passionate love. We have all overcome a difficulty, we had never thought to overcome if it were not for god. So, if you want to find yourself a new gateway, or feel the need to dance on a new song you have never heard I suggest you to listen to Sidiki Diabate. I promise you! You are going to fall in love with songs.
Here are several other links to some of his famous songs:
Welcome to the new Mali Rising webpage
A young girl looks out the school window in our partner village, Beneko.
Okay, we probably find this a lot more exciting than you do but we truly are excited to announce our new web presence. We hope you find the new site more visually appealing and more user-friendly.
It should now be much easier to find our popular Student Spots, which provide a peek into the lives of some of our students. We also hope the new site makes engaging with our program work in construction, education quality, and inspiration easier and more understandable for all. And of course, this new blog feature will be a great way to stay in touch with news from staff, board, and volunteers as we work hard in Mali and in the US.
And of course we'd be remiss if we didn't point out that the new site makes it easier than ever to donate in support of education for the great kids of Mali!
