Two Sainabous (and a few siblings)

It starts when a girl tells a friend about her plight.  She is going to be married but doesn't want to be.  Someone tells her about a person in her community who helps girls like her.  And she finds the home of our Community Coordinator.

That is how we met Sainabou J.  She came to see our Coordinator at his home, telling him that she and her brother had dropped out of school after their father had died. The four children had been sent to live with two other families, but none were in school.  Could we help?  

We have to focus each Fall on using our funds to keep all the students we are already supporting in school. But by January we know if we can do more.  And this year we were.  So in January, we were able to help Sainabou to go back to school - she's in 11th grade.  Her brother Ousman, living with another family, is now in 7th grade.  And Neenah and Alieu, who had never been to school, are in school for the first time.

Sainabou C. was luckier; her family was able, and willing, to support her through 12th grade.  Then to her dismay, her father started looking for a husband for her.  In last year's West Africa Senior School Exams, just 3% of Gambian 12th graders got 5 credits (A, B, or C) in academic subjects.  Sainabou got nine - credits in every subject she took. So she didn't see herself as a 19-year mother and housewife (perhaps one of several wives).  And she too started asking around, and found Mariama and Ebrima, our local Coordinators.  It by then January, when a new enrollment period was opening at the University of The Gambia, and with our support, Sainabou was able to enroll, where she is now studying Physics.  Let her tell you about it:

And... Sareh Wuring Lower Basic Cycle School

The sign itself tells a story.  Hand written, on cardboard, and hung on the side of a palm-from school room.  As villages go, Sareh Wuring is not as remote as Korrop, which we wrote about last month.  But it was too far for the smallest children to walk.  That meant that although some started school a few years older than their peers from closer-in villages, most simply never did.

This was, the leaders of the community knew, a problem.  And there was a roofless grain storage house in the village.  They asked the owner if they could use put a traditional palm-frond roof on it and use it for a school.  The government was unable to provide a building, but said that if a second classroom could be added, they would send two teachers.  And so a second room was added next door - also build of palm fronds. 

There is no question that the grass classroom will not survive the summer rains, but for this school year, the school has three grades, ECD (Early Childhood Development) 1 , ECD 2, and grade 1.  (Yes, there are two shifts.)  Children were enrolled based on age: those in the first grade are 7 and above. ECD 2 is for children of age 6 and ECD 1 children of ages of 4 and 5 years.  A total of 104 children enrolled; none of them had been in school before.  Of those, 58 were girls.

The challenge now is to build permanent classrooms.  If they continue on double shifts, the bare minimum for next year is two classrooms, plus a required school office.  Ideally, we would also buy wood for to build benches so students wouldn't need to sit of the floor. 

The rains start in July.  Ramadan, the month of fasting during daylight, starts May 5th.  So we will try to send some funds soon, to let them buy cement, and begin making bricks.

If you have read this far, you may have the feeling that we have taken on a lot. You are right. We have diligently kept our focus narrow: on education.  We have used our funds only to support students. But it is true: there is a lot of do.  Our belief and our hope is that more will join us, if only for a few dollars each month.  And that those already have, you will keep doing so.  Then we will have been right to raise our sights and see what else needs doing.

Thank you for being part of GambiaRising. 

Mike McConnell
Managing Trustee
GambiaRising
www.gambiarising.org

1500 Park Ave Apt PH503
Emeryville, CA  94608-3578