Girls, Women, Ladies, Mademoiselles

Ndeye Soda, 13

In honor of Mother’s Day weekend, I am writing a blog post about girls and women in Senegal.

The girl with the deadpan expression and the disembodied lizard tail is my sister, Ndeye Soda. She is approximately thirteen years old, by her mother’s best guess, and is a playful and curious staple of my family. My host mom wakes Ndeye Soda up around 7 am every day so she can rouse and clothe her four younger siblings for breakfast (she’s child number 4 of 8). For half the week Ndeye Soda spends the morning cooking lunch for all twelve members of our family, a process that begins with gathering firewood and ends with scraping rice from the pot. In the afternoon she’ll wash dishes from lunch and start dinner, pausing to bathe and re-clothe all the young kids, pull water, and shell peanuts to seed our father’s field. 

Mbene, 6

Once dinner has been served, eaten, and cleaned up she plays referee for her siblings jostling to get a comfortable spot in their shared bed. When it’s not her turn to cook, Ndeye Soda often spends her time washing the family’s laundry, sweeping the house, working in the fields, and babysitting. On the rare occasion that she has a free hour or two, she will play at our neighbor’s house, take a nap, or steal mangos from our trees. Ndeye Soda went to school to learn to read and write Arabic but never attended the French language public school to learn math, history, science, geography, etc. Instead her mother kept her at home to learn to run a household to prepare for her eventual marriage, which will likely take place in about five years. 

Mame Diarra, 6

Ndeye Soda does not have any qualms about her life; it's the life her mother lived and her mother before that. But I worry about her. What happens when she or her future children get sick and she can't read the instructions on the medication she needs? Will she ever have the opportunity to travel to see the capital of her small country, a mere 100 miles away? Won't she ever be able to understand the nightly news broadcast in French or read her contact list, should she get a cell phone? It makes me sad that Ndeye Soda won't ever read for pleasure or be able to write me a letter. And I know that these are usually the least serious problems that undereducated young women face.  A girl at my local school who is Ndeye Soda's age dropped out last month to be married - two months shy of earning her elementary diploma. 

Sinbacke 2, Mago 5, Mbene 6

Stories like this surround every volunteer in Senegal and often break our hearts. We see little girls with so much curiosity and enthusiasm for the world grow into hard working teenagers that become mothers and hardly get a moment of rest their whole lives. What I'd love to see is girls who go to school and stay in school long enough to learn about themselves and their world. I'd love to see as many girls as boys in high school and at university. 

Peace Corps Senegal is doing two really great things to encourage girls' education. One is a girls' camp that pulls together girls from a wide geographic area for five days of intense education and fun. Each day has a theme (gender, identity, health, environment, and future) to encourage the girls think critically about their futures. At the end of the week they come away with new friends and ideas and we facilitate discussions between the girls and their parents to talk about education and marriage. 

my mother, timeless

The other is a scholarship program that I'll explain next month, when I'll get a visit from my favorite teacher - my mother! I am so excited to show her off as a role model of a successful and educated professional woman who makes a huge difference in the lives of her students. I love you, mom! Happy Mother's Day to you and all other mothers out there.

PS. My mother is also the one who shared with me a video clip of Michelle Obama saying that "education is truly a girls' best chance for a bright future, not just for herself but for her family and her nation." I find this statement particularly applicable to my life now as I work for my nation abroad encouraging women and girls to feel empowered to seek opportunity and education. I can't wait to update y'all on girls camp and scholarships and other gender development work as it unfolds!