When school closes down for the summer, it is a great time to rest and reflect. Just as school was wrapping up, I asked a few teachers, parents, and students to share their impression of Mali Rising’s Girls’ Project during the 23/24 school here. Here’s a sampling of their thoughts...
A Scholar Moves On To High School
Mali Rising offers scholarships to our most outstanding graduates to help them continue their education in high school or vocational school. We call these Inspiration Scholarships, because they not only help the individual students who receive them but also inspire students still in school to study hard to pursue a scholarship themselves. I recently had the chance to talk to one of our Inspiration Scholars about what the scholarship meant for her.
Friendship Fosters Academic Success
Everyone can agree: sometimes it is your friends who get you through the touch stuff….and middle school is REALLY tough stuff. Two girls in the Girls’ Project demonstrate this truth perfectly! Fatoumata and Tenin have been inseparable friends since primary school. Today, both girls are 13 years old and attend the 8th grade in Little Heroes Academy I school in Mana.
Judge, Pediatrician, & More: Girls Dream Big
Skits Use Humor to Broach Tough Topics
At the end of each school year, Mali Rising’s Girls’ Project organizes celebrations in each Project village. We call these celebrations Feasts and use them to bring the whole village together to learn about and celebrate girls’ education. One way that we convey awareness messages is through humorous skits. We focus these skits on sensitive subjects that girls face during their education.
Celebrating Girls' Education in the Villages
It’s a hard slog for a girl in Mali to get through the school year. That’s why at the end of each year the Girls’ Project celebrates girls’ achievements with our girls and their entire villages! These Feasts (as we call them) are fun, but also are a great way to engage parents and the whole community in a discussion about the importance of girls’ education. Read on…
Boys Speak Out for Girls
Girls’ education is a challenging subject everywhere in Mali. But it is especially problematic in rural areas, like those where our schools are located. Many parents in Mali do not think that a girl’s education is as valuable as a boy’s. Parents’ attitudes towards girls’ education are also passed down to their sons. As a step toward breaking that cycle, we host discussions with boys at our schools about girls’ education as a human right and as an issue that improves everyone’s future — boys, girls, families, and communities.
Independence, Sustainability, & Safe Schools
Are you a skilled DIYer? What if you had to do the repairs at your kid’s school….would your skills hold up for that DIY job? Maybe not, but if you had a little help maybe you could feel good about contributing back to the school. That’s what our school maintenance trainings do for parents on our partner schools’ School Management Committeees.
New Villages for a New Year of the Girls' project
Mali Rising’s Girls’ Project strives to get more girls into school and help them succeed and thrive once they are there. In the past six years, we’ve helped girls in eight different villages get into school and stay there. This summer, we are selecting five new villages for intensive work via the Project. We are excited to announce those new villages today.
Textbooks: Tools We Take for Granted
As one of my former professors —Pr Ibrahim Sagayar — said: “A teacher or a student without a textbook is like a soldier on the battlefield without a weapon”. Yet all too often in Mali, teachers and students are not armed with textbooks. I recently discussed this problem with two of our partner principals — the principal of Sue Chung Chiu Middle School of Simidji, Mr. Essai Mikoro and the principal of Little Heroes Academy I Middle School of Mana, Mlle. Djenebou Niama Coulibaly.
