GambiaRising's Application for Support includes this question:
"Without support, what will you do in the coming year?"
The most common answer we receive it this: "I will be married."
Not "I will marry my boyfriend."
Not "I will look for a husband."
Just "I will be married." In other words, my family will pick a husband and send me to him.
Not only is a child bride or young bride deprived of the chance to grow up and get an education, but her own children are likely to be less healthy, and her new family less prosperous.
With your support, GambiaRising says to struggling families raising young women: let your daughter(s) stay in school, and we will support her education.
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. Her view of what is possible in her life begins to change.
When she graduates, she may choose to marry and start a family, but she will be involved in the choice.
Across The Gambia today, several thousand Gambian girls and young women are in school with GambiaRising's support (mostly uniforms, books, and learning materials); 255 of these are studying at Gambia College or the University of The Gambia (most of those plan to give back and are studying to be teachers or nurses).
What enables us to give this support is the consistent backing of several hundred donors who care about The Gambia and its people, understand what is at stake, and keep supporting students year after year. And that is all they need - consistent support, until they graduate. The more funds we have, the more students we will support. Aside from occasional special targeted school building 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.
On behalf of all the young Gambian women in school today because of our donors' support, we thank you for being part of GambiaRising, and for changing their lives.
And 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.
Mike McConnell
Managing Trustee
GambiaRising
1500 Park Ave Apt PH503
Emeryville, CA 94608-3579
