By Hindaty Traore, Girls’ Project Manager

It has been 17 years since Mali Rising Foundation built our very first school — The Trujillo Family Middle School in N'Tentou Kouroulamini. Today its graduates are out in the world and dreaming big.

Before the construction of this school, the students of N'Tentou went to school in a village 6 to 7 kilometers from their village. This caused nearly 95% of the students to drop out — the distance was just too far unless they had a bicycle. The construction of the the Trujillo Family Middle School allowed more than 90% of the students to complete middle school because the students were no longer tired of walking a long distance to get to school.

Some students who attended the school are old enough to have work now, while some still continue to study. This is the case of one of our former students, Mamadou Bagayoko. He is 28 years old and is currently a student at the University of Bamako. He studies management and computer science because he likes to handle machines and realizes that in today's world technology is very developed and everything is computerized. He feels certain he will earn a lot of money doing this job.

Mamadou has a university degree in technology (DUT) and next year he will be licensed. His dream is to set up development projects in his village by referring to examples done in other villages to fight against poverty. He has already started researching on the internet because he knows how to manipulate computers.

Mamadou already has a project in mind. He is in the process of taking a course in soap making. Once the training is over, he plans to return to his village to work with as many people as possible to train them in soap making. Each of his people will have a source of income and this will be a start in the fight against poverty in his village. Through his research he knew that people still need soap on a daily basis.

 "I had this idea of soap making thanks to the education I received in school because it allowed me to be more creative, independent and more courageous,” said Mamadou. “My older brothers suffered a lot to study — in fact, because of the distance to school they all dropped out. I'm the only one who was able to reach university in my family. That's why I want to be the person who will bring change in the family because it's It's been the same routine since the time of my grandparents, parents and my big brothers. They all do the same thing, agriculture without improvement. It has to change. I will try to bring good techniques so that they can have more profit in agriculture.”

Mamadou continued, “I am very grateful to the donor of our second cycle because thanks to herI have a goal to get my village out of poverty. [My goal] is to come back to my village to take over what the NGO Mali Rising had started by building us a school. I would like to contribute to the maintenance of this school, to build other schools and also mosques for my village to create the difference with other villages.”

Even before receiving his license, Mamadou is working as a tourist guide in the big market in Bamako. He sends part of his earnings home to his mom because he thinks that if mom receives it, it's as if his father also received it because his mum does the cooking! He would like to improve the food they are used to eating.

Mamadou is just one example of the difference a school can make. As Mali Rising heads toward our 20th year, we are seeing more and more of our graduates coming into their own and giving back to their families and their communities. We thank supporters like the Trujillo Family for investing in education and in young people like Mamadou!