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.
Kadidatou Returns to School After a New Baby
Usually in Mali, once a girl gets married or becomes pregnant, her education ends. (This is a big problem, because 15% of girls are married by 15 and 50% are married by 18.) A pregnant girl who goes to school risks being teased by other students and being accused of being a bad influence. Yet every year, thousands of girls get pregnant in Mali when they should be learning history, algebra and life skills at school. Adolescent girls who have teenage pregnancies face many social and financial barriers that hinder their pursuit of formal education. Kadidiatou is a married 18 year old and is in the 9th grade at Mali Rising’s Frances W. Burton Middle School in Tamala. When we discovered that she was pregnant, we doubled our awareness campaign with her and of her husband's family until her delivery.
