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Charity is complicated. All too often it creates dependencies, or feelings of "less than" in the psyhes of those helped. That's why we chose to support young Gambians' education. In a world in which the uneducated have little chance for a better life, and where an uneducated girl is too likely to start having babies in her early teens, keeping kids in school is a baseline need. And young people don't feel "one down" from having a chance to stay in school - in fact, quite the opposite is true.
Charity can be wasteful. It is shocking to see the salaries of the leaders of some of the world's well-known non-profits and agencies. Not to mention their world headquarters. Many barrels of ink have been used documenting well-meaning but misguided spending on world poverty.
GambiaRising is not a large non-profit. We're more "DIY" than formal. But we strive every day to do the most good we can with the donations we receive. We respect their intent, which we know is simply to help young Gambians to get an education, and thereby to have a better life.
This is why we don't have even one office; everyone works from their homes (I began writing this note from an airport, about to board a plane to The Gambia). That is why you won't find vehicles with our logo on the door driving the roads of The Gambia. (And why I bought my own plane ticket.) None of the Gambians or Americans who work on our program receive any pay. They consider it their privilege to have this opportunity to help their fellow Gambians.
All of which is why we can promise our donors that 100% of every donation will be used directly to support students.
Students like Fatoumata.
When we met her five years ago, Fatoumata had dropped out after 9th grade several years earlier when first her father, and then her stepfather died. Fatou heard about our program from another student, and with (y)our support she re-enrolled in school. She began in 10th grade, and three years later Fatou was named Head Girl at Sheikh Hamdan Senior Secondary School.
Her 12th grade exams were so strong, that we decided we had to try to help her keep going. With (y)our support, she enrolled in Gambia College last fall, and recently began her first practice teaching assignment.
In two more years, Fatou will be a qualified teacher, giving back to her nation.
This is what can be done when our donors remember these young Gambians year after year, when our team works tirelessly without pay so that all donations can be used to create miracles like the one that happened in Fatoumata's life when she knocked on the compound door of our Community Coordinator.
I will definitely never forget meeting Yesu for the first time in the upcountry village of Fula Bantang. She had dropped out of school after 3rd grade, and was already painfully shy and nearly unable to speak to a stranger.
With our support, the School Management Committee offered Yesu a scholarship if she would return to school.
Imagine my astonishment and delight to see the videos of her 7 and 8 years later, smiling confidently, majoring in science, and planning to become a doctor or a nurse.
It is difficult to overstate the change in a young Gambian woman's life that will come with getting an education. But it starts with the change you can see in Yesu's face - her feeling about herself.
In just six short weeks, we have to fund more than 1,000 scholarships to keep all our students in school. To those who donate monthly, thank you so much. It means so much to know we can count on your support throughout the year. To those who donate annually, if you have not already done so for this school year, please do so as soon today. (And if you have already, thank you!) If you haven't donate recently, or have felt unable to afford to do so, please consider starting a monthly donation of any amount. Because we operate with nearly no reserves, a new donor produces a new scholarship - or several. When Yesu wanted to go back to school, it took $3 per month to get her there. So literally, no amount is too small.
Our Community Coordinators already have lists of children who were not in school last school year, and who desperately hope to go back in September. Our Coordinators are visiting their homes, documenting their situations. They are hoping we can raise the funds needed to send these kids back to school. Because of our zero-overhead organization, it only takes just $3 per month to support a young Gambian to go to school for the first time, or $10 per month for a teen-aged girl to stay in school instead of being married. It takes so little to change a life.
Mike McConnell
Managing Trustee
GambiaRising
www.gambiarising.org
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Emeryville, CA 95608
