For nine years before moving to The Gambia, I worked with family farmers who raised their livestock humanely.  Each year we flew chefs in to Des Moines, Iowa to prepare dinner for our farmers and to thank them for their hard work.  Needless to say, no one had ever thanked most of them for their seven-days a week labor, and this help explain our commitment to working with The Gambia's farming villages to be sure that they and their children are not left behind.

So during my tenure as Country Director, you can imagine my delight when I found that the state from which the highest number of Peace Corps volunteers serving in The Gambia during those year came, was Iowa.  GambiaRising's logo (above) was designed by one of them.  Another sits on our Board of Trustees.

Why am I reminiscing about this?  Because over the weekend, Fatou Kineh Ndow, the student who has so far astonished many of us with how much she has made of the chance she got with her GambiaRising scholarship, has been offered a Teaching Assistantship at the University of Iowa, where she will move in August to become a PhD student in the Mathematics.

What career is Fatou Kineh pursuing that would require another four to six years of study at one of the world's leading universities? Banking? Engineering? High-frequency trading? No. She wants to be a Mathematics Professor at the University of The Gambia.  And that requires a PhD.

Selling Phone Credits To Finance a College Education

Fatou Kineh found us.  She walked into the Westfield offices of the Catholic Education Secretariat, who manage the government schools in the Gambia that were built by the Church before independence.  Her mom had borrowed money so she could pay her first tuition at the University of The Gambia, but she could not continue without help.  Did anyone know anyone she might apply to? And in fact, they did. 

Because of the higher cost, we don't grant many scholarships for study beyond 12th grade.  When we do, it is either for vocational training,... or because a student is so remarkable that we feel compelled to make that commitment.  And so we said "Yes".  And thanks to our donors, we were able to keep our promise. Then in 2016, we got a wonderful surprise: Fatou Kineh was going to receive her degree in Mathematics, summa cum laude.  She was also named Best Student in Mathematics, Best Female Science Student, Best Undergraduate Student, and Valedictorian of her Class.  A modest young woman, she was in the nation's spotlight, featured in the national newspapers, telling her story, and GambiaRising's.

But Fatou Kineh was far from done.  She applied to Ohio University to study for her Master's Degree in Mathematics.  And was offered a full scholarship.  That left only the matter of visa fees, etc., a new laptop, and... a plane ticket.  We supplied what she needed and in the Fall of 2016, she arrived in Athens, Ohio.  As part of her program, she taught math to undergraduates.  And in May, 2018 Fatou Kineh received her Master's Degree.

What a journey.  Fatou Kineh had been home but once since 2016; to renew her passport.  Was she homesick?  Definitely.  Was she ready to return in triumph?  Hardly.  She explained that to teach at the University of The Gambia required a Master's Degree.  But to be a full professor she would need a PhD.  There are certainly easier places in the world than the finest American universities to study for a PhD.  And to receive a full scholarship from any of them would mean competing for space against the best students in the world.  So Fatou Kineh got a job teaching at Rio Grande Community College, near Athens, Ohio, while she prepared for the entrance exams, and researched her options.  I don't know how many she applied to.  But I do know that two of them offered her scholarships; both invited her to visit their campus.  "Will you need us to buy you plane tickets?" I asked.  "No," she replied. "They will."  And then it dawned on me: the universities were recruiting Fatou Kineh.  They were competing to get her to come.