Little Heroes I Middle School

Principals Party at Year End!

Being a middle school principal is a hard job no matter where you are. But being one in Mali is particularly tough! Mali Rising principals are in remote places, far from their families or professional support. They manage young teachers and parents who are often unfamiliar with the education system. Many have classes with 100+ students in them. Sometimes, a principal needs a little support and maybe just a little fun when they face this reality day to day!

A Mali Rising donor wanted to find a way to give just that to our principals this year — an experience that would make them feel like someone saw just how hard they worked. So with that donor’s support we set up a year-end party for the principals. We gathered 19 principals at a national park outside of Bamako for a day of relaxing, good food, games, and awards. Read on to hear what one principal thought of the experience…

Female Role Models Inspire Girls

In January, we brought three women from different careers to talk with Girls’ Project girls about their educational and professional backgrounds and the importance of a girl's education. he speakers included a policewoman, an electrician and a firefighter. The visit of three women allowed the girls to to motivate themselves, to be courageous and to know the different functions that women can exercise. The speakers not only talked about their time in school, but also their journey to finding work as a woman. The women stressed the journey to show the girls that magic didn't get them where they are today!

Aminata Becomes a Clean Hands Expert!

The Little Heroes Academy I Middle School of Mana has more than one hundred students. The school has many challenges to address. One of the main challenges is how to keep kids healthy and be able to attend school. Mali Rising is doing our small part to help with that challenge, by providing hygiene education classes. One student, Aminata, really took the lesson to heart!

Teachers Helping Teachers Teach

At Mali Rising Foundation, we know that building schools is amazing, but not sufficient when it comes to ensuring real learning for our students. Providing good training to our teachers is one of the most valuable things we can do to keep kids learning. One of the ways Mali Rising Foundation helps our teacher is to host teacher peer meetings. Education experts tell us these meetings are unique in the whole country and makes our village schools different from the others

Bringing Teachers Together To Learn Together

Have you ever attended a job training or professional development seminar, only to return to work and find yourself totally buried again? (If you don't say yes, I've got my suspicions about you.) That's very much the case for Mali Rising's dedicated teachers -- although they long for additional training, when the finally receive it they'll come home to a classroom full of as many as 100 teenagers...and that can make sticking to new ideas and practices hard. That's why we're adding something new to to keep the lessons from our annual teacher trainings alive in the classroom...