Over the last four-plus years, Mali Rising’s Inspiration Scholarship project has changed the lives of 57 young people, including 39 young women. This project grants education scholarships to our outstanding 9th grade graduates to allow them to continue their studies. This assistance strengthens the efforts that parents make to enable their children to continue their studies when they leave their villages. Parents in Mali – just like everywhere around the world – want the best future possible for their kids. Almost every parent will understand the pain of not being able to give your child everything…and that’s where our Inspiration Scholar donors can step in to help out just a bit!
A Backpack Full of Supplies & Motivation!
During the start of this 2020-2021 school year, school kits were distributed to the top 15 girl students in the the five partner schools (Diorila, N'tentou, Sebela, Tamala and Zambougou) where the Girls Project is active. These girls received the kits as a reward for their good school work, which motivates all the girls to work hard in class! Below is a the story from one of our best girls at the Denik Middle School in Zambougou. She is the top of her class — beating out both boys and girls for the honor.
Alumnae In College Today Because of Our Supporters
One of the most uplifting events for us here at Mali Rising is when we find one of our graduates who is going on to big things. Last week, our Construction Manager Alou shared the story of one such alumnae with me. I wanted to share Djènèba’s story with you today, because we can all use a little uplifting these days…
Karim & Modibo Enjoy Working Together to Learn
Can $10 Change The World? Why Yes!
By Hindaty Traore, Girls Project Coordinator
Enriette’s life was changed through a $10 donation…that’s all it takes for a girls’ school fees!
The Girls' Project has been a huge help for girls in the eight villages where we currently run the project. This is the story of one of our girls at Frances W. Burton Middle School in the village of Tamala — Enriette Coulibaly.
Enriette is 16 years old and was in the 9th grade this last school year. She is fatherless and lived with her mother, in a village with no middle school. Enriette’s village was a 6 kilometre walk away from our school in Tamala. Her mother couldn't afford a bicycle for Enriette to travel to Tamala's middle school.
So, her mother sent Enriette to a friend of her late husband's in Tamala. Her father's friend paid Enriette’s school fees for two years because her mother could not afford it. But last year the man told Enriette to look for someone to pay for her studies because he too could no longer pay both her school fees and those of his own children.
Enriette had no choice but to quit school to come and go work as a servant in Bamako. But when Mali Rising’s Girls Project announced that we would pay the expenses of all the girls in the middle school — with help from our generous 50 Women Campaign donors — she decided to stay in school. At first, Enriette didn’t believe it was really true that her fees would be paid because this was the year that the project started in Tamala. Last fall when we paid the first installment of her school fees Enriette realized that it was really true and she was reassured.
Now Enriette plans to pass her graduation exam and show that the support really was worth it! Enriette is a wonderful example of how the very modest investment of $10 for a girl’s school fees can change a life, forever!
Soccer Brings Hawa Back to School
By Merritt Frey, Executive Director
I am not sporty. Like, not at all sporty. But when we researched critical components for our Girls Project it was clear that sport should be part of the project. Studies show team sports can help recruit more girls into schools and that participating on a team helps keep girls enrolled — reducing drop outs. Even though I know know the studies provide good, quantitative facts, nothing beats a story to drive the point home! I recently asked Hindaty, our Girls Project Coordinator, if she had a story from one of our soccer playing girls and she shared this one:
“Hawa Touré is 14 years old and is doing 8th grade at Sue Taylor Middle School. She is a very intelligent girl. She and her mother were abandoned by her father, so she had a very hard childhood. This year she and her mother had decided that she would drop out of school to start a small business to meet their needs. She did not come to school regularly, but did come regularly to the Girls Group meetings. One day, the girls of Simidji [another Mali Rising Girls Project village] came to play against the girls in Diorila. She absolutely wanted to play but I told her no unless she attended school regularly. Hawa accepted my proposal so I let her play. After this match, she began to take an interest in studies because she wanted at all costs to play the return match in Simidji. She had an average grade of 14. Hawa is brave now to continue studying thanks to soccer. “
I love this story, and hope you do too! Our supporters make turnarounds like Hawa’s possible for Mali Rising students. Thank you for your help! Learn more about the Girls Project.
Mariam Dreams of Being an Eye Doctor
By Hindaty Traore, Girls Project Coordinator
Hindaty had a chance to talk with one of our Girls Project participants and recorded her thoughts in her own words. Mariam attends Mali Rising’s Tim Gibson Middle School in the village of Sebela. This school just began participating in the Girls Project in the 19/20 school year. Here’s what Mariam had to say:
I am called Mariam Sangaré. I am 14 years old. I am from a village (Massakoni), 2 km away from our school in Sebela. I wake up at 6 am to do my household work then I go to school. I leave my village, Massakoni, at 7:00 am and arrive at school at 7:45 am in Sebela.
Before the middle school in Sebela was builit our older brothers and sisters walked 4 kilometres to go to Kokoun, where there was a middle school. When I graduated from the primary school to the 7th grade, we had an informal middle school in Sebela but it was built in mud and the roof was made with straw. We had to clean the classrooms every day because the donkeys spent the night in them. When it rained, we had to leave the school for home because the roof of straw would leak terrible. Sometimes there were snakes in our classroom! Today, thanks to the very beautiful classrooms built by Mali Rising, we can study in the best conditions near our own village.
I like science subjects like math, biology, physics, chemistry, and English too. History and geography are very difficult for me and they are hard to memorize. I like science because I would like to be an eye doctor. Many people have eye problems and the eyes have a very important role in one's life, so I think this would be a good and important career.
As soon as I can afford it, I will build schools and health centers for my village because thanks to the school I was able to study and it made me able to become a doctor.
I am just a little bit concerned because this year has not been a successful one due to the teachers' strike and the outbreak of COVID-19. Otherwise I have had good grades at the beginning.
Learn more about Tim Gibson Middle School. Learn more about the Girls Project.
Missing School in the Time of COVID-19
Ousmane Samaké is a 7th grader in The Mindful Bunch Middle school in the village of Kafara. He is 15 years old and says he misses his classmates so much. Ousmane has not been in school for months because of teacher’s strike in Mali followed by the COVID-19 pandemic that hit the whole world. Read more about Ousmane…
What Soccer Means For One Girl
As part of our successful Girls Project, Mali Rising sets up girls soccer teams and coordinates competitions between schools. Sports participation has been shown to increase enrollment and retention in school, which are both key goals of the Girls Project. In addition, soccer is just plain fun and helps our girls build their leadership and team skills! In this blog post, a girl from Kolimba’s team shares her experiences from a soccer game against the girls of Sebela. This match was held earlier this year, before COVID-19 shut down schools and group events like soccer matches. Fatoumata Doumbia is 15 years old and in 8th grade in Nièta Kalanso Middle School in Kolimba. She talks about their experience related to their soccer game in with girls from Tim Gibson Middle School in Sebela….
Better Late Than Never -- Back to School for 9th Grade
Sebela is a small but prosperous village outside of Bamako and it is home to Tim Gibson Middle School. Just like anywhere in Mali, the people of Sebela have been very concerned about their children’s future because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the outbreak of the virus in Mali in mid-March, the school has been closed. Many students were worried about the school year and were almost hopeless. Recently, the government decided to reopen school only for students in the 9th grade, so that these students can prepare for their graduation exams this summer. The schools re-opened on June 2. Mamadou Sidibe is one of those students who are thrilled to be back in school for a few months. He thinks it is late in the year, but students need to learn all the time no matter when. So better late than never! Mamadou is determined to hit his goal for the year, which is to pass his DEF (national exam).
