By Hindaty Traore, Girls’ Project Manager

Children living in extreme poverty face many obstacles to their education, but girls in this situation face even more hurdles because they are victims of inequalities and suffer discrimination throughout their educational journey. Mali Rising helps girls get over those hurdles using many strategies, including Inspiration Scholarships for our outstanding graduates.

Every year, thanks to the generous donors of the Mali Rising Foundation, both boys and girls receive local Inspiration Scholarships to go to the school of their choice and realize their dreams. These scholarships help Mali Rising students who finish the 9th grade continue on to high school or to vocational schools in programs such as nursing, agriculture, construction, and more. 

This year, eight girls from current Girls’ Project villages benefited  from a scholarship. (Hawa Touré and Salimata Sacko of Diorila; Hawa Guéguére and Fatoumata Kané of Sebela; Koni Samaké, Kadiatou Samaké and Rokiatou Samaké of Tamala; and Mariama Samaké of N'Tentou). A ninth girl is currently under consideration for our last scholarship spot.

Of the eight new girl scholarship holders this year, four are now enrolled in health schools for the nursing assistant training for one year. These four are all recipients of the Strong Woman Inspiration Scholarship. This specific scholarship was established by Mary Frey in honor of her late sister, Chris Lindsay. Each year, five girls go to nursing school using the Strong Woman scholarships.

Before the scholarship, some girls were forced to go to a school they did not want to while others did not even the ability to continue their education. But thanks to this scholarship many girls will be able to realize their dream. I want to tell you the stories of just two of these girls: Mariama Samaké and Koni Samaké.

Mariama Samaké is a very dynamic young girl who is motivated and ready to do anything to succeed in her studies.  Unfortunately, she is suffering from a hereditary disease -- sickle cell anemia. This  manifests itself in Mariama with intense pains and problems in her hands and feet.

Mariama is 17 years old and she graduated from the Trujillo Family Middle School in N'Tentou. After the she graduated, the government sent her to an electromechanical training center.

However, because of her disease she will not be able to do work that is physically hard. Yet in  electro mechanics it is often necessary to use force when it comes to moving  machines.

Mariama was frustrated because even if she does this program of electro mechanics, her illness will not allow her to do this work. She had lost hope of being able to continue school because she had no way to pay for an alternative program. (In Mali, the government will often pay for young people’s training but only if they do the program assigned by the government).

Since the first year of her studies in primary school, Mariama’s dream was to train as a doctor. That's why she immediately accepted the Mali Rising Strong Woman Inspiration Scholarship to train as a nurse. Mariama told me she thinks she would be forced to continue electromechanical training if she didn't have this scholarship. One thing she likes about her nursing training is that even if she has her sickle cell seizures she will know how to prevent it from getting worse.

"After my training, I would like to return to N'Tentou to treat people and also administer vaccines to children, such as the vaccine against polio, meningitis, and others because many children have lost their lives from these diseases,” explained Mariama. “I will also do infusions, and treat bites and administer dressings. I thank the donor very much for this scholarship. I will do everything I can to not disappoint them."

My second story involves Koni Samaké from the village of Tamala. She graduated from our Frances W. Burton Middle School with good grades. However, it obviously took her many years to complete her basic schooling – Koni is 21 years old. Because of her age, Koni was not referred to any school by the government. If she had not received this scholarship she would surely be a housewife, which was not her wish. After her matron training, she would like to treat people from her home in Tamala.