... because it was the day his house burned down.

Ebrima's family were refugees from the fighting in the southern Senegal region of Casamance and had settled in the village of Murtabeh, where Ebrima was born 26 years ago. The family struggled, but Ebrima was always top of his class at St. Therese's Basic Cycle School in Fula Bantang. The School Management Committee at St. Therese's had asked GambiaRising to provide him with a school uniform, and on the day I met him, it was his only posssession that had not been burned in the fire. But it also may have been one of his most prized possessions. 

Since the fighting in Casamance had quieted down, Ebrima's family decided it was time to move back to Senegal. But Ebrima and his young sister Isalou were Gambian citizens; he approached the school and asked if they found a famiy to board with, would GambiaRising support their education.

We said we would. Fast forward seven years, and Ebrima was attending St. Peter's Senior Secondary School in Lamin, where he was named Head Boy. He applied to and was accepted to the University of The Gambia to study chemistry. 

After a year at the University of The Gambia, Ebrima set his sights on studying biomedical engineering, a program which was not offered in The Gambia. Undeterred, he got himself a full scholarship from the Turkish government to study at Cukurova University. (Cukurova is a Turkish-language institution, so his program included a year to study Turkish full time.) But today, after five years, Ebrima is the proud holder of a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering.

By now you will not be surprised to hear that Ebrima was not finished. This summer he was invited to participate in an all-expenses-paid 3-month technical internship program at Ilmenau University of Technology northeast of Frankfurt, Germany. 

And this week he is back in Germany, speaking at an assistive technology conference in Berlin.

We are fully aware that every student will not turn out to be like Ebrima. But we also believe that every one of them deserve a chance to an education, and to fulfill the potential that they have. And the heartbreak comes when we can't help everyone who comes to us.

So again, thank you from the bottom of our hearts to those whose support, year after year, gave Ebrima and so many like him a chance to become what they can be. And if you have not donated recently, please do so as soon as you can. We are making life-changing decisions right now; schools are opening on Monday.

Thank you.

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

1500 Park Ave Apt #503
Emeryville, CA  94608-3578

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P.S.  And what about Ebrima's younger sister, Isatou?  She just graduated from St. Therese's Senior Secondary School in Fula Bantang!!!