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I remember first meeting Christiana Jatta. I was in Fula Bantang, meeting with Kebba Sanyang to review the progress on the construction of the senior secondary school that our donors were building there. "A young woman insists on speaking with us," he said.
Christiana explained that she was from Saruja, and had graduated from Brikamaba Senior Secondary School (before the senior school in Fula Bantang had been built). But any career she wanted would require additional study. She had been volunteering at the St. Lazarus clinic in Fula Bantang, hoping to find support to study nursing and pursue a career.
At all times, we have many more requests for support to study at the university and college than we could possibly support, and Christiana's scores on the academic subjects of the West Africa Senior School Exams did not meet the "best of the best" criteria we had worked out for our selection process. We leave specific budget allocation to our Community Coorinators, so when I noticed Christiana on our student records attending Gambia Technical and Training Institute that Fall, I could see that they had found a path: vocational training in a strong section of the economy.
I couldn't help but smile. This was a determined young woman, determined to get what she wanted. And I was pleased that we were able to back her for all three years it took her to reach her goal. Hers has been a success story, and this week we were delighted to see one of the local newspapers tell it. The full article is here: https://bit.ly/ChristianaJatta
I will never get tired of saying it: give young Gambian women a chance and they will change not only their own lives, but also the lives of their family, their community, and their nation. It is a really uncomfortable position to be in as we decide whom we can and cannot support in the next few weeks. Because every one of them deserves the chance that Christiana got. Or that Mariama Dampha got. Or Fatou Kineh Ndow. We are SO grateful for the support of our donors; you are truly creating miracles with your generosity. And we also fervently hope that those who have not yet donated this year will join us and give more young Gambians a chance.
$3 per month will fund a scholarship for grades 1 to 9.
$10 per month will fund a scholarship for senior secondary school.
And the cost to attend Gambia College to become a teacher or GTTI to become an engineer is just $40 per month .
Mike McConnell
Managing Trustee
GambiaRising
1500 Park Ave Apt PH503
Emeryville, CA 94608-3578