By Hindaty Traore, Girls Project Coordinator

In the Girls Project, we host Girls Group meetings twice a month with our girls. The meetings are very beneficial and fulfilling for the girls. It is a way for the girls to learn many things different from what they are used to learning in class, for example the girls discuss their menstrual cycle, hear talks from career women, or develop their leadership skills.

The girls love these meetings! As an example, here is a story from one of our Girls Project participants about the lengths she will go to attend the Girls Group meetings:

My name is Zeleba Samaké. I am in the 7th grade at Denik Middle School in Zambougou. I am always present during Girls Group meetings or activities of Girl Project. No obstacle prevents me from coming to participate because I know that it is important for me. I walk three kilometres every day to come to Zambougou school — that’s 6 kilometres back and forth. During the teachers' strike, we weren't in class but we still came to the Girls Project meetings.

One day when I left my village to come to the Girls Group meeting of the month, my shoes were cut on the way. In order not to miss part of the meeting, I preferred to walk two kilometres on bare feet instead of going back to get another shoe at home. I hid them under the leaves of a tree to recover them when I returned. I did well to come barefoot because I would not have understood what its means to be a court clerk in our big courts. I learned about it from our guest speaker and it was my first time to hear this option for women. When I grow up, I would like to become a clerk like our guest speaker to help the judges judge people.