I wish you had been there

I just returned from two weeks in The Gambia, meeting with our Coordinators, visiting places where GambiaRising is supporting students, and meeting some of those whose lives are being changed by the generosity of our 200+ donors. There is much to tell, and I won't over-share today, but I do want to give you a quick glimpse to what we are doing together. I wish you could have been there to see it for yourself, but I will do my best to tell the story.

It is easy to get "in the weeds" when managing a growing program: budgeting, fundraising, and attending to the thousand+ decisions that add up to a program's effectiveness, and its sustainability. But then when you are sitting under a mango tree in a Coordinator's compound and a teen-aged girl starts to weep when telling how she missed her mother since she had to move out of her family compound to live with her grandmother when her father decided that she should not finish school. And suddenly you are reminded of the stakes for these young people. We are literally their only life-line to stay in school, get an education, and get a toe-hold on the ladder out of their family's poverty. Every one of them had a story to tell; every one was different. But more often than not they involved a brave woman raising a family alone, barely able to feed them, with no way to pay even the smallest costs of school. But that didn't mean she gave up hope. Our Coordinators live in the communities they serve, and they told us of mothers, sometimes entire families, sitting waiting for them for hours, having heard that someone in their village, or a nearby (or may not even so nearby) village was helping young people go back to school. Most of these have never heard of GambiaRising. We don't publicize ourselves, or the fact that the funds for our program come from overseas. We prefer that the face of our program be Gambians, helping those who live near them. But what these mothers do know is that the desperate situation in which they find themselves is at least partly a result of marrying too young, probably without any say in the matter, and not having an education themselves. They do NOT want that for their own children. So when they hear of someone helping young people go back to or stay in school, they come to call.

We like to meet students in small groups, so each can have a chance to speak with us.

You'll notice that there are three toubabs in the photo. Along with Water Charity's Emily Lundberg, who was traveling with me, we were lucky that John S., RPCV from 1975, and his wife Jody, could come with us to meet students. It was John's first time back in the country since his service.

A highlight of our first visit of the new year is always getting many of our Coordinators together for an all-day meeting, which is a combination of administration, policy, and program discussions. These men and women, now 14 strong, work tirelessly during the year, in their own communities, and this is their chance to compare notes with each other, and work with us to improve the way we operate our program. For our new Coordinators, it is a chance to talk with perhaps the only people in the country who can understand what they deal with every day: the mix of people knocking on their door, the many decisions they have to make every day about the central question we all have to grapple with: with limited funds, how can we do the most good possible? This is not an easy question to answer. If a 10th grade girl will cost 3 times as much as a 1st grader, do we help the 10th grader, or three 1st graders? (Our conclusion: teen-aged girls, because they are of "marrying age", will be our top priority.) But none of these are easy, or obvious choices.

Then we turned to the issue of budgets. We began this year with flat budgets (the same as last year). But the Coordinators had broad latitude about how to use those budgets. And by squeezing their spending, nearly every one of them had found ways to accept new students (our charter is after all to do the most good we can with the funds we have.) But by late October, our donor renewals were strong enough that we began allocating some of our new donors' funds to expanding budgets and chipping away at our waiting list. And then a bit more expansion in November. And at year's end, we had some wonderful surprises and we could now think about helping even more. The Coordinators were delighted to hear this, and soon thereafter their budget requests began to come it. We know that these represented only a fraction of the appeals that our Coordinators received, and we want so much to honor those that get through their filters. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, we have been able to fund more than 100 new scholarships in the past few weeks, from 1st grade through Gambia College.

Maimuna was born in Misera but when her father died, her mother moved back to her home village. But Maimuna wanted to go to school and when she heard there was a program that might help her, she asked her grandmother if she might come live with her in Misera if she found a scholarship.

Fatoumata is 16 years old. To her father, that's old enough to be married. When he told her and her mother about his plans to find her a husband, they came to our Coordinator to ask if she might receive support to stay in school. With our support, she'll stay in 9th grade.

Rokey is nearly 18 years old. Her parents wanted her to marry. But Rokey refused. She appealed to her school's Child Protection Alliance for support. Her father backed down but refused to support her education. With our support, Rokey is now back in 9th grade.

Fatima's husband was attacked in the bush by a madman with a cutlass; he lost the use of the right hand. That's when the burden of income fell to Fatima and the kids dropped out. This month, her school-aged children all returned to school. And are they happy!

When Safiatou's father left her mother they moved in with her grandmother, who paid the costs to keep her in school. When her grandmother died, she dropped out. At age 15, she's now re-enrolled, in 6th grade.

Fatou is 13. She has never been to school. At age 2, she was sent by her mother from Casamance (Senegal) to live with a relative in Gambia, who convinced her husband to provide food and shelter but that didn't include support for school. Now she gets her chance.

Alasana's father died in October 2016 when he was 10 years old. And Alasana dropped out of school. Now living with a relative and sharing that family's food bowl, at age 13, he is finally going back to school with our support. He's in 4th grade.

When Sona and Fatou's father divorced their mother, their grandmother took them (and their mother) in. Sona dropped out of school; Fatou has never been to school. When their mother heard about a program that helps children go to school she came one evening to our Coordinator's home to ask for help. They've been on our waiting list, and thanks to our donors, now they have their chance. Sona is 12 and in 4th grade. Fatou is 8 and just started 1st grade.

*****

As you can see, our program is simple. We work in communities, through Gambians who volunteer their time and do the heartbreaking work of identifying the very most needy cases. In short, those for whom our help will make the most difference. We now have 14 Coordinators, and we added two communities this year. We know that there is so much still to do, but we celebrate the more than 1,500 students we've been able to support this year. By spending our donated dollars only on the students, and by focusing on doing the most good with each dalasi spent, we are able to make your donations do so much.

To those who joined us this year, and to those who increased their donations, thank you from all the additional young Gambians we were able to take care of this year. And especially to all those who renewed their support, at whatever level you could, it is precisely that year-after-year support that allows us to make long-term commitments to our students. Because we surely hope that every one of them will back in school next year, and the year after that, if we can keep giving them the support they need.

(And if you haven't joined us yet this year, please do so.)

Mike McConnell
Managing Trustee
GambiaRising
www.gambiarising.org
www.facebook.com/gambiarising

1500 Park Ave Apt PH503
Emeryville, CA 94608-3578