Young people in Mali face many challenges, particularly if they are female. Education helps girls (and boys!) by providing them options for their future, but sometimes the traditional route to unemployment is barred. That’s why the Girls’ Project encourages young women to think creatively about their career options.
Something as Simple as a Flashcard
Students in Mali often struggle with something most US students don’t need to worry about: language. School is taught in French, but most children speak local languages at home. If they fall behind in learning French, every other subject suffers. That’s where Mali Rising’s FLIP campaign comes in — it aims to help incoming 7th graders jumpstart their French skills for middle school.
Chatting Around a Dish With the Girls' Project Girls
As part of the Girls’ Project work, each spring we organize a session on eating and cooking healthy, local foods. This session includes preparation of a group meal with the girls. But the session is not only about food – cooking and eating together gives us a great, informal way to talk and share. While we wait for the meal to cook, we share stories around the table. Each girl tells a story that marked her, and shares her dreams and her goals. This is a very important activity that allows girls to confide and share their experiences.
Boys as Allies to Girls
One of Mali Rising’s main goals is to make sure girls have the same chance at education as boys. My co-worker Hindaty leads our very successful Girls’ Project, which implements many strategies to get girls into school and help them succeed there. As part of that work though, we realized that we can’t ignore the role boys could play in helping their sisters — that’s where I come in!
Kicking Off a New Year of the Girls' Project in Style
They say first impressions matter. If that’s true, we really started things off right with our first meeting of the new school year for the Girls’ Project! All the girls in the Project’s five new villages (Diorlia, Sankama, Mana, Nieguenkoro, and Manabougou) enjoyed our first Girls’ Group meetings immensely.
New Villages for a New Year of the Girls' project
Mali Rising’s Girls’ Project strives to get more girls into school and help them succeed and thrive once they are there. In the past six years, we’ve helped girls in eight different villages get into school and stay there. This summer, we are selecting five new villages for intensive work via the Project. We are excited to announce those new villages today.
When Mud Stands Between You & Your Education
When it rains, it pours. This old saying is especially true in Mali, and it presents a special challenge to children walking to school. It is common for many kids in rural areas in Mali to walk several miles to school and some children may walk four to five miles each way. The time and energy required each day is one of the most common reasons students drop out of school, especially when it comes to girls. This is why building schools is a core part of our education work — by bringing the school closer to the kids, we can make a big difference! This is never more true than during the rainy season. In the picture below, you see the road to one of the Mali Rising partner villages, Nieguekoro, which is home to Ross and Marilou Moser Middle School. This scene is typical during the rainy season.
Lunchtime in a Mali School
Mali is a country that prioritizes education, despite the many challenges we face with poverty, unrest, and of course the pandemic. One of the biggest challenges for the authorities (and for Mali Rising!) is keeping kids in school until they graduate from middle school. With multiple gold mining areas calling to kids with get-rich-quick dreams, the rural exodus of kids to work and get money, and the long distances walking or biking to get to school every day, many children drop out before they graduate. With the aim of helping stop drop outs, the Mali government has been thinking about many strategies like school lunch program, parent’s involvement, etc. In previous years, many of those strategies did not work very well. However, two years ago, we started noticing a strategy that seemed promising. The government was creating school lunch programs in some rural schools.
Safety First at Ross and Marilou Moser Middle School
Ross and Marilou Moser Middle School has been changed by the Covid-19 pandemic just like all schools in Mali. Parents and students have been very worried about their village’s future in terms of education and health. School have been closed for months and students were concerned and depressed. When the government decided to reopen schools, the whole village was thrilled to see their kids back in school even though the pandemic was not still over. We are working to help students feel and be safe by setting up a health club so students are more aware of the virus and how to protect themselves and their families.
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.
