Last school year in Mali was an incredibly topsy-turvy one because of the pandemic, the teachers' strike, a coup, and the political protests. As a result, classes were suspended several times. Despite this situation, I am proud to report that the Girls' Project was able to carry out the activities that we planned for the year.
How Aminata Spends Her Summer Vacation
Rescheduled: Fun Discussion of Girls' Education
Online Book Discussion: The Moment of Lift
We want to talk with YOU about big ideas for changing the world. Some of our supporters were really inspired by Melinda Gates' book, The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World. We decided it would be fun to have a book group-like discussion and connect some of the themes from the book with Mali Rising's work and your support. Please join us!
Girls Explore the Lives of Career Women
As part of exposing our Girls Project girls to the diverse career opportunities an education girl can dream of, we recently interviewed some career women in their workplace and videoed the interviews. In the past, we brought these career women to the villages to meet the girls directly but because of the pandemic we took a questionnaire from the girls to the career women.
A Chance Meeting Inspires...
Mali Rising’s Girls Project works intensively in eight of our 25 partner villages. However, I visit each of our other schools to meet with the girls there at least once each year – my hope is to help and inspire them at least a little and help them stay in school. With this in mind, in May I visited our schools in the villages of Tanima and Seguessona. On my return from visiting our girls in Tanima, I met a young woman called Dokoro Sissoko.
Volunteers' Hard Work On the Way to Mali
Our volunteers have been going absolutely full speed this spring to create tools and school supplies for our students in Mali. We were all geared up to send the results to Mali via shipping container, when our shipping partnership fell through. However, good deeds do not go unrewarded and last week we were able to sneak a good amount of donated and created supplies on to a shipping container now headed to our students!
Mothers Taking Action for Their Daughters
In most rural villages in Mali, women play a fairly important role in taking charge of children's school fees. But to save money, many men prefer to enroll only boys in school and prefer girls stay at home with their mother. Yet who pays the students' tuition fees? In the majority of our schools, women pay school fees. To raise funds for the fees, women may cut firewood, pick shea nuts to make shea butter, grow vegetables in gardens to sell at the market, or grow. These hard-working mothers can do amazing things for thier kids…with just a tiny bit of help!
The Dreams of Oumou
Oumou Sidibé is one of our Girls Project students in Kolimba. She is 16 years old and lives in Kolimba with her parents. She is in the 9th grade in Nièta Kalanso Middle School. Oumou repeated the 6th grade because of an illness, but despite this setback she did not drop out of school. Oumou loves school because she would like to have a job and to be able to earn a living. This would allow her to help her parents and her village. Read more….
We Love Our Volunteers!
Wow — it is hard to overstate how much we love our volunteers! They have been simply overwhelming us with support for our students in Mali, and we stand in awe. In just the last month, volunteers have created hundreds of sets of flashcards, written hundreds of notes of encouragement to students, created or donated hundreds of pieces for menstrual kits, and so much more. We want you to be part of this amazing group of people.
