By Merritt Frey, Executive Director

Why is education so important? Because education allows people to make choices about their own futures. And through those decisions, people build a better life for themselves — and for their communities.

We believe that here at Mali Rising and we know our supporters do too. One way we know that? Our donors are incredibly supportive of our Inspiration Scholars Project. Through this project, we give our most outstanding Mali Rising graduates a chance to continue their education with a scholarship.

One of our very first Inspiration Scholars is a young woman named Mariam. Mariam had such good grades that we invested in a full, three-year nursing scholarship for her — with the support of our donors of course.

This was our first time granting such a large scholarship and Mariam made the most of our gamble — this summer, Mariam passed her nursing certification exam and just graduated with honors. Mariam will now have a respectable career, a good income, and a chance to give back to her village.

Mariam says: “I dream of opening my own clinic within 5 years, then being able to help other people to become just like me in 10 years.”

So that’s what this work is really about. Our supporters and our work are all about education, but what that is really about is giving good young people the skills they need to build a good lives for themselves, but also for their families, for their neighbors, for their villages, and for their world.

Congratulations to Mariam, and thanks to all the Inspiration Scholar donors who invest in young people like her. You too can sponsor an Inspiration Scholar!