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| primary school kids and their headmaster |
The end of the school year is coming up next week, which
means it is exam time for the oldest class at the primary school in my village.
After passing the exam with flying colors, the kids will move to our closest
secondary school, which is about five kilometers away on a sandy path. They’ll
find friends or relatives to live with for the school year because there is no
regular transportation on that road. Last week I accompanied the students to
the secondary school for a practice exam and got a glimpse of just how hard
they each work to pursue their education.
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| view from a charette |
Maymouna, a girl who’s around 10 years old, had to get up
extra early the morning of the exam to eat an early breakfast and walk a
kilometer to arrive at the primary school in my village by 7:30. She hopped on
a charette, a flat wooden cart pulled by a horse, along with 9 other students
and 2 teachers. After bumping along the sandy road for fifteen minutes, the
charette got a flat tire and the passengers got the boot. Weighed down by the
knowledge that she would be late for the practice exam, Maymouna was now traveling
by foot and walking through deep sand in the hot sun. One kilometer later, they
arrived in a small village and borrowed a new charette to finish the trip. The
new charette was in disrepair and Maymouna’s pens and notebooks fell through
its holes while the dirt from field work clung to her white complet, a nice
outfit she had worn for her first trip to her soon-to-be new school.
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| primary school kids telling stories |
Finally the group arrived at the secondary school - tired
because of the walk and hungry because most kids only had a cup of coffee for
breakfast. Maymouna then sat through an entire day of testing capped by an
evening charette ride back to her primary school followed by the walk back to
her village. And then the next day she woke up and did it all again.
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| girls at school! |
What I realized about Maymouna and the other students in her
class is the incredible level of dedication they uphold in their studies.
Education is no easy feat when your home lacks electricity for you to read at
night and when, at 10 years old, you are expected to help run a household and
work in your father’s fields on your time ‘off.’ Of course the students do not
recognize this awe-inspiring work ethic in themselves because they know no
other method of living. But hopefully by staying in school, they will get to
learn about people and places outside of their corner of Senegal. Girls will
learn that they can aspire to have goals outside of the home. Or they can
choose to be full-time mothers, but knowledgeable ones that can read to their
children and encourage education in the next generation.
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| primary school fundrasier |
Education, for me, is about giving girls a voice and
empowering them to live intentionally, making conscious decisions about their
futures. In that vein, I am working with my two neighboring volunteers to facilitate
a scholarship program for female students in that secondary school that
services my village. The program pairs a monetary contribution with a series of
discussions about education with the girls and their families. We are
fundraising to pay the annual school fees for 10 students, a total of 200,000
CFA or 100 USD, to ensure these girls stay in school for at least one more year
and foster in them a desire to dream big and with confidence. Any donation is
welcome – 20 cents can buy a ballpoint pen and 1 dollar can buy a notebook.
TO DONATE: follow the link provided and note in the comments section, This donation is to support
MSS scholarships in PCV Kaitlin Hammersley’s village of Ndiago.
https://donate.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=685-CFD
THANK YOU, JEREJEF, MERCI BEAUCOUP
THANK YOU, JEREJEF, MERCI BEAUCOUP
