Child marriage continues to plague West Africa. Too often in The Gambia, a young woman does not have the ability to choose when to marry, whom to marry, or whether to have children.
Not only is a child bride deprived of the chance to grow up and get an education, but her children are likely to be less healthy, and her new family less prosperous.
One thing can change that: if she stays in school. With your support, GambiaRising makes this offer: let your daughter stay in school through 12th grade, and we will provide all her uniforms and learning materials.
And if she excels, we'll give her a chance to study further.
This opportunity changes everything for the girl. Every year a young woman stays in school, her confidence grows, her sense of agency grows, and her ability to shape her own destiny strengthens.
When a girl does not show up for school, that's when a teacher at the school may call our Coordinator. And every day, one of our Coordinators finds a mother at their door along with her child(ren) to ask for help to send them to school.
We always have more appeals than we can accept. So we have to prioritze: if a teenage girl is not in school and asks for help to go back to school, that is always #1. In fact, there is no approval process. Our Coordinators investigate the facts and are authorized to say yes on the spot, and tell us the cost, and we will send the funds.
What enables us to do this is the consistent support of several hundred donors who care about The Gambia, understand what is at stake, and find a way to keep supporting students year after year. Which is of course what they need - consistent support, until they graduate. The more funds we have, the more students we will support. Aside from special targeted project campaigns, we spend our donations on nothing else.
Everything is at stake for these young women, and so many others like them. There is nowhere else for them to turn, so whether or not we have the funds to help them literally will determine what their life will be like.
If we can support them, they may be mothers one day, but not yet. And when they are, it will their choice. On their behalf, we wish you a
HAPPY NOT-MOTHER'S DAY.
Here are the faces of just a small portion of the young women whose lives have been changed by GambiaRising donors' support this year. If you haven't donated lately, please join us today. If you donate monthly, have donated this year, or plan to donate this year, thank you for changing so many lives.
Mike McConnell
Managing Trustee
GambiaRising
1500 Park Ave Apt PH503
Emeryville, CA 94608-3579
P.S. Some of the students in the photos are holding pieces of paper. We pay college tuition directly to Gambia College and UTG. The students come to pick up the receipts, proving that they've been funded for another term or year. Naturally, they are happy!
