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….
Avoiding the COVID-19 Slide?
Here in the U.S., parents and teachers often worry about the “summer slide” — a dip in students’ academic skills caused by summertime disengagement from learning. In Mali this year, we are triple-y concerned about a slide — students missed months of school from a teacher strike followed by a several month closure for COVID-19, followed by summer break. What to do to help kids stay connected to learning!? Given the reality that our students have no books in their homes and absolutely no access to online learning, we are going old school!
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).
One Teacher’s Take On Preventing COVID-19 In Kassela
Get to know Adama, Teacher Project Coordinator
Our staff in Mali do all the hard and interesting work that our supporters make possible. They work hard — traveling rough roads, dealing with the heat, and breathing in the dust of Mali’s countryside. But they do it with grace and with a sense of purpose that comes from knowing they are helping kids just like themselves have a chance at an education. We want you to get to know these great people a bit better, so we took a recent chance to interview Adama Kone, our Teacher Project Coordinator. Please enjoy this video blog to learn more about his work with our teachers, what he's doing to fight COVID-19, and how popular Frisbee is in Mali (hint: not very).
Walking Barefoot to Be Part of the Girls Project
In the Girls Project, we host Girls Group meetings twice a month with our girls. The meetings are very beneficial and fulfilling for the girls. It is a way for the girls to learn many things different from what they are used to learning in class, for example the girls discuss their menstrual cycle, hear talks from career women, or develop their leadership skills. The girls love these meetings! As an example, here is a story from one of our Girls Project participants about the lengths she will go to attend the Girls Group meetings…
More Than Impatient To Go Back To School!
Meet Katie, Mali Rising's Summer Research Intern
What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?
Oh that question! What do you want to be when you grow up? Every kid has fielded this question dozens of times, right? (For me: Olympic equestrian team member, veterinarian.) But it is an interesting question when we are investing in education as a tool to allow people to build the lives they want…what lives do they actually want to build? As part of the year end evaluation of the Girls Project, we asked our girls just that.
Your Donations In Action! What a Hand Washing Station Means to a Village
By Adama Kone, Teacher Project Coordinator
The coronavirus is a disaster for the entire world, including Mali. Mali Rising is working hard to help students and students’ parents stay healthy in our partner villages. We are trying to make the villagers more aware of measures of prevention in order to be safe during the virus. We are also providing them tools like hand washing stations, educational flyers, and health lessons.
Recently I talked with a member of the school committee at Ross and Marilou Moser Middle School in Nieguekoro. His name is Modibo Doumbia. Mr. Doumbia is 43 years old and has 6 kids.
Modibo Doumbia shared with us what his village has been doing to prevent the virus. He told us they are very concerned about the coronavirus outbreak in Mali when we asked him about the village’s health.
I asked him a few questions:
Adama: What do you think about the Covid-19, Modibo?
Modibo: We have heard about the COVID-19 killing many people in many other countries and many people believe it is true even though some still do not here in Nieguekoro. Most people in my village are very sad and worried about it too, especially because the number of infected people is incredibly increasing every day in Mali. Because of the virus here, many people in Nieguekoro have changed behaviors in terms of hygiene. They use soap and water very often now and encourage their children to do as well. I can tell you that I have been avoiding crowds and I have been using soap and water myself. I also encourage many other families to respect these measures in order that we are all stay safe during this virus. I truly believe that the virus is a reality and it is very deadly! I know that in Mali many people died from the COVID-19 too. Here in Nieguekoro some people think they should see those dead bodies, so they can believe it. But that is not possible because the virus is very contagious and very hard to be treated. So, I personally think the dead bodies need to be hidden which can really prevent it from spreading so bad.
Adama: How do you think you will use the Mali Rising Foundation hand washing stations?
Modibo: I am very happy to have the two hand washing stations from Mali Rising Foundation. They will be used in a proper way by the whole village and I am sure they will be helpful because there were none here before except those who have smaller ones in their families. I am very thankful to Mali Rising for this donation!
Adama: What do you think of school being cancelled during this outbreak of Covid-19?
The situation is pitiful because we do not know what to do about it! School is shut down and the children need help. The only thing we tell them is not to forget their textbooks and a few lessons they have seen before the outbreak. But the kids do not seem motivated anymore because they have not gone to school for longtime. At least we want them to stay safe over the outbreak of COVID-19. We hope this crisis will end soon and our children can go back to school and teachers as well.
Thank you to all our donors who sponsored hand washing stations and the Health Project! You make this work possible. You too can support this work!
Mr. Doumbia inspects one of the new hand washing stations donated by Mali Rising supporters.
