Mariama Dampha's father was a nurse with many wives and even more children.  When she was 8 years old, her mother died, and she moved to live with her mom's younger sister's family in the upcountry town of Janjanbureh to live with her aunt.  A few years later, her father also died, and resources became scarce. Luckily, a Peace Corps volunteer was then living with that family, and contacted us about supporting Mariama to attend Armitage Sr. Secondary School as a boarding student.  Mariama soon became the leader of our 20+ students at Armitage, President of the Math Club, and got the highest test scores in math of any female student in Armitage's history. When she asked for support to study Public Health at UTG, some of our donors agreed to back her.  Mariama thrived at UTG, was "Minister of Health" of the Student Association of Public and Environmental Health.  And this month, she graduated, cum laude.

Cherno Gaye is studying law at UTG.  He is from a subsistence farming family in the Upper Saloum and the first member of his family to go to school.  After graduating with high marks from Kaur Sr. Secondary School, he began his studies at Gambia Technical & Training Institute in 2012, with support from his father, and  then when he was not able to pay the fees, from prize money from a talent contest (he was the top poet).  Cherno was elected President of the GTTI Student Union and applied to UTG for further study. Shortly after he was admitted to UTG, his father died and he could not enroll.  The Dean of UTG's School of Arts and Sciences (also a poet) contacted us to ask if we could help.  Cherno is now studying law, has been named a Youth Representative to the national Truth & Reconciliation Commission, and assists our Coordinator Maimuna Baldeh in videoing our students. And he continues to be a poet/orator.

Coordinator Ebrima Sanneh's day job is managing the mentoring/basketball program AscendTogether. One day at St. Peter's, the Assistant Principal asked if he knew anyone who could help a girl who had no uniform or books. Ebrima met with Isatou Kebbeh, a 10th grader, and promised to help. Then he discovered that her younger sister Fatou had never been to school, and promised help for her too. But not only that; her OLDER sister Lala Kebbeh had been attending Gambia College and now had 3 YEARS of tuition arrears. Ebrima knew that he would have to tackle that one bit by bit. But thanks to our donors, Lala too is back on track.

Fatou Kineh Ndow is one of the most inspiring examples of a young Gambian making the most of the opportunities given to her.  Her mother, a remarkable woman, supported her education through 12th grade by selling phone credit from her wheelchair at Westfield junction. GambiaRising then supported Fatou to study mathematics at UTG where she was Valedictorian of her class.  Then when she received a full scholarship to Ohio University to study for her Master's, we covered what Ohio did not cover.  And now, thanks mostly to her own efforts but with help as needed from GambiaRising donors, Fatou Kineh is studying for her PhD in Mathematics at the University of Iowa.