Perhaps we could have a national competition for scholarships. But that would add so much cost to our zero-overhead model. And it would also add a high level of complexity to our selection process: how do you means test, in an informal cash economy, for high-performing students, so that only those truly unable to afford school get support?
Instead, we are community based, where our volunteer coordinators strive to help those who need it most in the communities in which they live - those who, without our help, will not be able to stay in school through 12th grade (especially girls). We focus on need, not academic testing. The need is greatest among girls, because they are the first to drop out, and every study shows that a girl, no matter how gifted academically, who stays in school longer has a better life, as does her future family, her community, and her nation. (And if we support a girl, and her brothers are also out of school, how can we deny support to them as well?)
We have had girls who took up to five years to complete senior secondary school, but we did not give up on them, as long as they were doing their best.
Given the backgrounds these young Gambians come from, it seems unlikely that they will excel. They didn't have good nutrition growing up, didn't have enriched home backgrounds, don't have lights with which to do homework. (Candles would be a luxury.) So it is always a delight when, against expectation, some of them rise to the top.
It is senior secondary school graduation season in The Gambia, and so, since our last newsletter, we have several more miracles to tell you about.
Jamie J.
When extended illness (and age) prevented Jamie's father from working, she dropped out of school, while her mother started selling tomatoes and onions on the street to feed the family. In June, 2016, Jamie found GambiaRising and we knew we had to find a way to support her to go back to school. But classes would end in 5 weeks, so we promised to support her when schools re-opened in September. Jamie asked, could she go back right away? She was 18 years old and didn't want to be out of school any longer.
What could we say? So Jamie started 10th grade in June, 2016, and in September, she again went to grade 10. A few months later she won the school's 10th-grade spelling contest. Mid-year, she was promoted to grade 11. And then she was named Assistant Head Girl of the school. And now, just two years after starting 10th grade, Jamie has graduated from Banjulinding Senior Secondary School. At graduation, she was also recognized as the school's Best Female Commerce Student, and Most Outstanding Graduating Female.
*****
Saratou B.
In 2012, when Saratou's mother fell ill, her family decided she should stop school after 6th grade and help at home. When her teacher at St. Therese's Basic Cycle School heard this news, he appealed to Kebba Sanyang, GambiaRising's local Coordinator (who also happened to be the school's Principal). When we promised we would support her and that her education would not cost them any money, the family agreed that Saratou could stay in school. Three years later, when she completed 9th grade, GambiaRising donors had begun building a senior secondary school in Fula Bantang. Each year, another grade was added to the school, and on June 30th, in a ceremony covered on national television, Saratou was named the Best Science Student, and Best Student at St. Therese’s Senior Secondary School in Fula Bantang.
Graduation in Fula Bantang
Over the past five years, GambiaRising has supplied cement and other building materials to several local communities to build their own mud-brick schools. Since the community members themselves make the bricks and build the school, the cost of these materials has averaged less than $700 per classroom - surely one of the great bargains in the world of education. The government has supplied the teachers , and both schools are now have morning and afternoon shifts. And this school year, 583 students attended the schools we funded in Pacharr and Njie Kunda.
Both these schools are for the lower grades, where the small children need a school closer than 2 miles from home. For 7th grade, most of them will walk to Fula Bantang for junior secondary school. But after that, most students in the area had to drop out. Because there was no senior secondary school anywhere even within biking distance. For many years, GambiaRising addressed that problem by providing scholarships for girls (and a few boys) to go to Janjanbureh, Bansang, or Brikamaba for 10th grade. But the students often had to board with families they did not know, go to very large schools, and, for the girls, many were expected to do household chores in exchange for their room and board. One promising student after another struggled, both academically and personally. But we saw no solution. Until Kebba Sanyang said the obvious thing: "These girls need a school." My response was "That is beyond our capacity." But Jon Vallee, a donor who had visited Fula Bantang several times and had become inspired by Kebba's vision, responded differently; he said "I'd like to help." And soon, a small group of donors had pledged enough funds over four years to make the building of this school possible. This would be no mud-brick school. It was built by contractors; built to last 100 years. (They still made their own bricks though, but included cement with the mud!) First, teachers' housing was built. Then each year, three classrooms for one additional grade. Then the administration building, science labs, and (almost complete), the technical workshops.
And on June 30th, the first graduates of this new school graduated. It was a momentous occasion; the community turned out to celebrate; two Gambian Supreme Court Justices who had gone to school up to 9th grade in Fula Bantang came to address the congregants. The national TV station even covered the event.
(Sadly, Jon Vallee did not live to see this wonderful day; but he took great joy in watching the year-by-year progress of the project he inspired and helped fund.)
And notably: 76% of the first graduating class were girls.
Here's the story that ran on national TV (GRTS)
(You can see GambiaRising student Saratou Baldeh at the end of the video clip.)
Slowly, an eco-system of education is coming into being around Fula Bantang. To our surprise, the school we are building so that students won't have to leave home to attend school now has several students whose parents have sent them to board with nearby relatives so they can go to this school, which is gaining a reputation for excellence. All around Fula Bantang ward, more young people are insisting that they be allowed to go to, and stay in, school. And more of their mothers, who never had a chance to go to school themselves, are advocating for their daughters.
And all across The Gambia, in the communities in which we work, more and more students who only a few years ago would not have been in school are, with our donors support, getting that chance. What will they become? That's up to them. But if our donors continue to stand behind them, and others join us, these and other young Gambians like them will get the opportunity they deserve.
All this is possible entirely because of donations from those who know The Gambia and understand how much difference an education can make. Our first priority is to keep supporting all those who we supported last school year. Of those who graduated, the very best will receive support to go further. To support additional students, we simply must have new donations. Can you join us? (Small monthly donations are now the backbone of our program.)
It takes so little to change a life,
Mike McConnell
Managing Trustee, GambiaRising
www.gambiarising.org
www.facebook.com/gambiarising