Not Mothers, Not Yet

Only 25% of Gambian girls complete 12th grade.

Among the 20% lowest-income families, fewer than 3% do so.

Because attendance is skewed to the less poor, the World Bank estimates that the poorest families receive 1/8 as much benefit from government education spending as higher-income families.

And yet, educating girls is known to be among the few "silver bullets" in development economics.

Imagine being a subsistence farming family in The Gambia. There is no government safety net. When you are too old to till the land, you will be cared for by one of your sons' families. (Your daughters will by then have been married and will have joined their husbands' families.)

This is a matter of life and death, and so you prioritize.

If all of your kids cannot go to school, perhaps they can go to an Islamic madrassa, which is free, or perhaps they go to school for just a few years. But in any event, you prioritize the boys.

So Who Will Prioritize the Girls?

That's where we come in.

Collectively, the efforts of returned Peace Corps volunteers, former Peace Corps  and Embassy staff, along with their families and friends, are now helping several hundred Gambian girls to go back to, and/or stay in school. 

This is such essential work, and every girl who goes back to and/or stays in school is a life that is changed forever.  

They may be mothers one day, but not yet. 

And when they do, it will be their choice. 

Thanks to this support, today they are in school, learning, growing up, and gaining confidence, 

Traditionally, reaching puberty means being of "marrying age" for a Gambian girl.  Despite a new law against child marriage, the pressure is still great. Most of the girls supported by GambiaRising donors are from families with no father present (or none capable of working), and most of the mothers have never been to school. Both the girls and their mothers are fiercely determined that they will be where the cycle of poverty will be broken.

But they need help. And that's what GambiaRising's donors provided.

So today, let's celebrate these young Gambian women, teen-aged and older, and join them in saying:

HAPPY NOT-MOTHER'S DAY

Here are recent photos of just some of the young Gambians whose lives have hope today, because of your help. Please take a moment, look at their faces, and know that you played a crucial role in their staying in school:

Thank you.

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