By Hindaty Traore, Girls Project Manager
After months of hard work, the students in Mali will soon be on school vacation. Thus, some take trips to work in the big cities as a servant to collect money before the start of school, while others study old coursework to help them when classes begin again. However, in the villages the students will be called upon to help their parents or families with the fieldwork. Girls or boys each have their roles in the fields. The boys plow the fields, while the girls sow the seeds, take care of grazing the cows, and also go out to look for shea nuts.
Aminata Soumaré 14 years old, just finished the 8th year at the Trujillo Family Middle School in N’Tentou.
"Unlike last year when I traveled to visit my aunt in Bamako, this year I decided to stay to learn to sew in a sewing workshop in the place, to study for next school year, and help my parents in the fields," said Aminata.
Aminata’s parents are famers. According to Aminata, during the rainy season she goes to the field to plow and then to collect the shea nuts. In the future, she would like to have the money to hire people to cultivate her parents’ fields because it hurts her to see her parents working hard.
After graduation, Aminata would like to be a teacher because she enjoys teaching children. This year in the Girls' Project, the activity she liked the most was one of our Great Girls Read reading sessions, the text of which was "The Tailor Moussa Workshop.” In this text, the girls were asked to draw a model of suit they would like to sew. She designed a pretty skirt and a pretty top. She says she discovered a talent for sewing.
The school material that is difficult for her is history. On the other hand, she likes ethics, civics, and morality because she find this subject easier to learn then some others.
“I will never drop out of school because my parents are so supportive,” says Aminata. “I am ready to prepare for the DEF exam [national graduation test] next year.”
