Since late March, I — like all of our Mali-based staff and many of you readers — have been working from home. This is a very new idea for all of us! How is our work at home going during the coronavirus pandemic?
Can $10 Change The World? Why Yes!
By Hindaty Traore, Girls Project Coordinator
Enriette’s life was changed through a $10 donation…that’s all it takes for a girls’ school fees!
The Girls' Project has been a huge help for girls in the eight villages where we currently run the project. This is the story of one of our girls at Frances W. Burton Middle School in the village of Tamala — Enriette Coulibaly.
Enriette is 16 years old and was in the 9th grade this last school year. She is fatherless and lived with her mother, in a village with no middle school. Enriette’s village was a 6 kilometre walk away from our school in Tamala. Her mother couldn't afford a bicycle for Enriette to travel to Tamala's middle school.
So, her mother sent Enriette to a friend of her late husband's in Tamala. Her father's friend paid Enriette’s school fees for two years because her mother could not afford it. But last year the man told Enriette to look for someone to pay for her studies because he too could no longer pay both her school fees and those of his own children.
Enriette had no choice but to quit school to come and go work as a servant in Bamako. But when Mali Rising’s Girls Project announced that we would pay the expenses of all the girls in the middle school — with help from our generous 50 Women Campaign donors — she decided to stay in school. At first, Enriette didn’t believe it was really true that her fees would be paid because this was the year that the project started in Tamala. Last fall when we paid the first installment of her school fees Enriette realized that it was really true and she was reassured.
Now Enriette plans to pass her graduation exam and show that the support really was worth it! Enriette is a wonderful example of how the very modest investment of $10 for a girl’s school fees can change a life, forever!
Feeling Good With Mali Rising Workbooks
Tim Gibson Middle School in Sebela has been a blessing for the people of Sebela. However, the 7th and 8th grade students have not been in school for a while, due to a teachers’ strike this spring and then a school closure as a result of the pandemic. Although the 9th graders are back in school studying for their graduation exam, the 7th and 8th students are still waiting on the government to allow them to get back to school too. The students love each other because they feel they are all joined together in one school. They are looking forward to going back to school and being with their teachers. Read what one student of Tim Gibson Middle School thinks of our workbook strategy to keep students engaged with learning during COVID-19 closures…
Soccer Brings Hawa Back to School
By Merritt Frey, Executive Director
I am not sporty. Like, not at all sporty. But when we researched critical components for our Girls Project it was clear that sport should be part of the project. Studies show team sports can help recruit more girls into schools and that participating on a team helps keep girls enrolled — reducing drop outs. Even though I know know the studies provide good, quantitative facts, nothing beats a story to drive the point home! I recently asked Hindaty, our Girls Project Coordinator, if she had a story from one of our soccer playing girls and she shared this one:
“Hawa Touré is 14 years old and is doing 8th grade at Sue Taylor Middle School. She is a very intelligent girl. She and her mother were abandoned by her father, so she had a very hard childhood. This year she and her mother had decided that she would drop out of school to start a small business to meet their needs. She did not come to school regularly, but did come regularly to the Girls Group meetings. One day, the girls of Simidji [another Mali Rising Girls Project village] came to play against the girls in Diorila. She absolutely wanted to play but I told her no unless she attended school regularly. Hawa accepted my proposal so I let her play. After this match, she began to take an interest in studies because she wanted at all costs to play the return match in Simidji. She had an average grade of 14. Hawa is brave now to continue studying thanks to soccer. “
I love this story, and hope you do too! Our supporters make turnarounds like Hawa’s possible for Mali Rising students. Thank you for your help! Learn more about the Girls Project.
Impact of Coronavirus on Living Conditions in Our Partner Villages
Just like everyone around the world, we have been working hard to understand the impact of COVID-19 on our lives and our work. All of the Mali staff or Mali Rising have been gathering information weekly from our 23 partner villages. We also recently reviewed the results of a national survey carried out in June 2020 by the Malian government in collaboration with the World Bank. I wanted to share what we understand from the national survey and discuss how that information may affect our future work.
Become a Youth Ambassador -- Deadline September 30
Success in Our First Workbook Pilot
By Merritt Frey, Executive Director
A few weeks ago, I wrote about a new strategy we are piloting. This strategy is designed to help our students, who have been out of the classroom since March (and missed several earlier months due to teacher strikes) stay connected with school and practice some core language skills from home.
The idea is basic — there is no online learning option in Mali’s rural villages! Instead, we sent home workbooks with 7th and 8th grade students at Tim Gibson Middle School in Sebela. If students completed the workbook they would receive soap for their families; top scoring students would receive bags of rice to share with their family.
We are really pleased with the test run’s completion rate, with 62% of the kids returning completed workbooks. We were also pleased with the results, with the top scorers scoring 14 or 15 out of 20 points. We were less pleased with the average — 9 out of 20 points — but that just goes to show how much the students need to practice!
Perhaps more importantly, the students seemed to have fun with the workbooks and appreciated their small prizes. We are currently testing this idea in a second village, and hope to roll out an improved version in more villages in September.
We provided the workbooks to our 7th and 8th grade students because the 9th graders are currently back in school, studying for their graduation exam. Here we see the 9th graders of Sebela studiously focused on a chemistry lesson.
Winners of 2020 Make the Case for Caring Contest!
Volunteer Spotlight: Girls Project Volunteer Fatoumata!
Mariam Dreams of Being an Eye Doctor
By Hindaty Traore, Girls Project Coordinator
Hindaty had a chance to talk with one of our Girls Project participants and recorded her thoughts in her own words. Mariam attends Mali Rising’s Tim Gibson Middle School in the village of Sebela. This school just began participating in the Girls Project in the 19/20 school year. Here’s what Mariam had to say:
I am called Mariam Sangaré. I am 14 years old. I am from a village (Massakoni), 2 km away from our school in Sebela. I wake up at 6 am to do my household work then I go to school. I leave my village, Massakoni, at 7:00 am and arrive at school at 7:45 am in Sebela.
Before the middle school in Sebela was builit our older brothers and sisters walked 4 kilometres to go to Kokoun, where there was a middle school. When I graduated from the primary school to the 7th grade, we had an informal middle school in Sebela but it was built in mud and the roof was made with straw. We had to clean the classrooms every day because the donkeys spent the night in them. When it rained, we had to leave the school for home because the roof of straw would leak terrible. Sometimes there were snakes in our classroom! Today, thanks to the very beautiful classrooms built by Mali Rising, we can study in the best conditions near our own village.
I like science subjects like math, biology, physics, chemistry, and English too. History and geography are very difficult for me and they are hard to memorize. I like science because I would like to be an eye doctor. Many people have eye problems and the eyes have a very important role in one's life, so I think this would be a good and important career.
As soon as I can afford it, I will build schools and health centers for my village because thanks to the school I was able to study and it made me able to become a doctor.
I am just a little bit concerned because this year has not been a successful one due to the teachers' strike and the outbreak of COVID-19. Otherwise I have had good grades at the beginning.
Learn more about Tim Gibson Middle School. Learn more about the Girls Project.
