A School Kit Brings Big Smiles, and a Chance to Learn

By Merritt Frey, Executive Director

Thanks to your support and the hard work of our staff in Mali, our new Girls Project is in full swing as the school year begins in Mali. Girls Project Coordinator Hindaty has been meeting with leaders in parents in our three pilot villages to gather input on the project and to promote girls' enrollment.

A key part of Hindaty's work currently is setting up school fee subsidies for approximately 200 girls. We hear time and again that parents struggle to pay school fees, and girls suffer for it. So, we are helping to subsidize those fees and, very importantly, working with parents in the villages to create and foster long-term economic projects that will allow parents to pay school fees themselves in the future.

A young girl in Kolimba, where our new Nieta Kalanso Middle School welcomed students back to school this week.

In addition, in one of our pilot villages -- Kolimba -- we had the pleasure of providing deserving girls with simple school kits. The kits include everything a girl needs to succeed this year -- a sturdy backpack, notebooks, pens, pencils, and more. This picture of a smiling student modeling her new school kit made a gray, rainy day here in Utah quite a bit brighter!

Although the challenges of educating girls are cultural and complex, really simple acts such as a $10 school subsidy or a backpack can make a big difference. You can help girls succeed by sponsoring such simple acts!

Enter the Modern Music of Mali

By Salifou Fofana, Mali Rising Intern

We all have our gateway when facing stress or difficult time in life. While for some people it is going on a hike, cry, or scream it out, my favorite thing to do when I am under pressure or facing an important moment is to put my headphones on and listen to my favorite artist Sidiki Diabate. 

While Sidiki Diabate is unknown for some of you, he is one of the hottest artists in Africa now. He sings different types of genre on different types of traditional instruments. The reason I like to listen to his songs before taking an exam or when I feel like procrastinating my homework, or even when I am concern about my future is because his songs awaken my conscience and remind me of where I come from, and why I came to the United States in the first place. 

The other reason I love listening to Sidiki Diabate is that it makes me proud to see my fellow citizen having such a success worldwide and representing my country at the Grammys. Because of him, many people are starting to know more about our music and learn that we have a long history of African music.

His hit song “fais moi confiance”, with more than 10 million views on YouTube is a beautiful love song with dancing rhythm at the same time. In this song he asks his love to trust him and not get mad. My favorite song of his is “Douaou diabira”, which means in Bambara prayer has payed. In this song, he talks about how he was expelled from the art school of Bamako because he only has 9 fingers instead of ten. He thanks God and his parents for helping him to become a renowned musician with only nine fingers. 

I think what people like about his music is that they can relate to his songs. We have all once lived a passionate love. We have all overcome a difficulty, we had never thought to overcome if it were not for god. So, if you want to find yourself a new gateway, or feel the need to dance on a new song you have never heard I suggest you to listen to Sidiki Diabate. I promise you! You are going to fall in love with songs.

Here are several other links to some of his famous songs: 

Fais Moi Confiance

Douaou Djabira
 

Welcome to the new Mali Rising webpage

A young girl looks out the school window in our partner village, Beneko.

Okay, we probably find this a lot more exciting than you do but we truly are excited to announce our new web presence. We hope you find the new site more visually appealing and more user-friendly.

It should now be much easier to find our popular Student Spots, which provide a peek into the lives of some of our students. We also hope the new site makes engaging with our program work in construction, education quality, and inspiration easier and more understandable for all. And of course, this new blog feature will be a great way to stay in touch with news from staff, board, and volunteers as we work hard in Mali and in the US.

And of course we'd be remiss if we didn't point out that the new site makes it easier than ever to donate in support of education for the great kids of Mali!