Staying in School
February 18, 2013
Much of GambiaRising's scholarship program is focused on giving girls a chance for an education. We believe all children deserve a chance to get an education, and 1/3 of the students we support are boys, but the fact is when a family is too poor to send all its kids to school, the girls get pulled out first.
This becomes most serious after 9th grade. In the area around St. Therese's in Fula Bantang, there is no high school close enough to most villages to reasonably walk to. And since that is also a time when a girl is old enough to be married off, thereby reducing the financial burden on the family and bringing in a small bride price to boot, the risk of leaving school at that time is the greatest.
There are three high schools ("senior secondary schools") within 20 miles of Fula Bantang. The best is Armitage, on McCarthy Island, and for the fortunate few with excellent exam scores, theres is a boarding program there as well. Armitage has two shifts, the second each day is for day students, and for these day students and those who attend the other two, Bansang or Brikamaba Senior Secondary Schools, we must either find housing for them and/or, provide a bike if a student lives in a village within 5 miles of Brikamaba.
This year, 48 students supported by GambiaRising are attending one of these three schools. 33 of them are girls.
All, or nearly all, of them would not be in school today without the support they received from our donors. Many of the girls would also have been married off. How do we know? Many of them first appealed for our help when their parents announced it was time for them to stop school and marry.
But I also want to talk about the intangible effects on the school and the community of this change in the course of so many young lives. I have already written about the village turning out to build bricks, fence in, then plant and harvest the new cashew orchard/rice field next to the school. The community is really supporting its school.
But the effect on the students is also noticeable. What most struck me in meeting the new 10th grade students this year was their confidence, and the changed expectations they have for what their life can be.
While this is going to be a fundraising challenge in a few years, as they graduate and raise their sights even higher, for today it is just heartwarming. Even the Peace Corps volunteer at Armitage remarked on it: "this new crop of St. Therese's grads has spirit."
I could tell this has something to do with the school they came from when they told us that there was a big inter-school athletic contest coming up and they would like to have St. Therese's t-shirts to wear to it. Not Armitage T-shirts; St. Therese's t-shirts.
I have uploaded about half of the videos I took a few weeks ago to our YouTube GambiaScholars channel. They are pretty formal, although I try to keep the conversations casual and even joke a little when I can.
But among all of them, I find that one of my favorite videos is not of any specific student; it is of 8 of the St. Therese's girls (and inevitably, one boy) walking along the street outside Armitage with Father Jean and Principal Kebba Sanyang. The Armitage Boarding School has strict rules about girls leaving the campus, so the banter that is going on is about the girls using Father Jean and Kebba as an excuse to leave the campus.
As you can see, these are not shy, retiring young women. They are going to go someplace; if not today, then someday. And they know it.
Thanks to their own hard work, and the chance that GambiaRising's donors are giving them. Take a minute and watch them here.
Thanks so much for your support. If are not yet and would like to support a student, please you can do so here; it takes as little as $12.50 per month. Also, please forward this note to anyone you think may be interested. And again, on behalf of these wonderful students, many many thanks.
Much of GambiaRising's scholarship program is focused on giving girls a chance for an education. We believe all children deserve a chance to get an education, and 1/3 of the students we support are boys, but the fact is when a family is too poor to send all its kids to school, the girls get pulled out first.
This becomes most serious after 9th grade. In the area around St. Therese's in Fula Bantang, there is no high school close enough to most villages to reasonably walk to. And since that is also a time when a girl is old enough to be married off, thereby reducing the financial burden on the family and bringing in a small bride price to boot, the risk of leaving school at that time is the greatest.
There are three high schools ("senior secondary schools") within 20 miles of Fula Bantang. The best is Armitage, on McCarthy Island, and for the fortunate few with excellent exam scores, theres is a boarding program there as well. Armitage has two shifts, the second each day is for day students, and for these day students and those who attend the other two, Bansang or Brikamaba Senior Secondary Schools, we must either find housing for them and/or, provide a bike if a student lives in a village within 5 miles of Brikamaba.
This year, 48 students supported by GambiaRising are attending one of these three schools. 33 of them are girls.
All, or nearly all, of them would not be in school today without the support they received from our donors. Many of the girls would also have been married off. How do we know? Many of them first appealed for our help when their parents announced it was time for them to stop school and marry.
But I also want to talk about the intangible effects on the school and the community of this change in the course of so many young lives. I have already written about the village turning out to build bricks, fence in, then plant and harvest the new cashew orchard/rice field next to the school. The community is really supporting its school.
But the effect on the students is also noticeable. What most struck me in meeting the new 10th grade students this year was their confidence, and the changed expectations they have for what their life can be.
While this is going to be a fundraising challenge in a few years, as they graduate and raise their sights even higher, for today it is just heartwarming. Even the Peace Corps volunteer at Armitage remarked on it: "this new crop of St. Therese's grads has spirit."
I could tell this has something to do with the school they came from when they told us that there was a big inter-school athletic contest coming up and they would like to have St. Therese's t-shirts to wear to it. Not Armitage T-shirts; St. Therese's t-shirts.
I have uploaded about half of the videos I took a few weeks ago to our YouTube GambiaScholars channel. They are pretty formal, although I try to keep the conversations casual and even joke a little when I can.
But among all of them, I find that one of my favorite videos is not of any specific student; it is of 8 of the St. Therese's girls (and inevitably, one boy) walking along the street outside Armitage with Father Jean and Principal Kebba Sanyang. The Armitage Boarding School has strict rules about girls leaving the campus, so the banter that is going on is about the girls using Father Jean and Kebba as an excuse to leave the campus.
As you can see, these are not shy, retiring young women. They are going to go someplace; if not today, then someday. And they know it.
Thanks to their own hard work, and the chance that GambiaRising's donors are giving them. Take a minute and watch them here.
Thanks so much for your support. If are not yet and would like to support a student, please you can do so here; it takes as little as $12.50 per month. Also, please forward this note to anyone you think may be interested. And again, on behalf of these wonderful students, many many thanks.