By Hindaty Traore, Girls’ Project Manager

The education of a child requires more than that child’s commitment – it takes everyone’s help. This is way the Girls’ Project works hard to engage the parents – and especially the mothers of our girls – in the drive to educate girls. This year, I’ve had several meetings with female leaders in our partner villages to solicit their help in organizing mothers’ support for girls’ education in the villages. This month, we brought the mothers and their daughters together to discuss girls’ education.

At each Girls’ Project school, we organized a debate between mothers and girls with a theme: the role of the mother in the success of girls in school. To kick off the discussion, the girls performed a skit in front of mothers on the role that mothers play in the education of girls. The mothers really appreciated the skit! Some of them saw themselves in the role played by the girls. It was a very funny and informative skit for girls and mothers at the same time.

After the skit, the mothers said they felt they understood what girls experience at home and what can prevent them from succeeding at school. Discussions then took place with girls sharing what they needed and mothers saying what they wanted the girls to do to make this possible. The girls explained that what they needed most was time to study. The girls also shared that they felt their mothers should be more involved in their education.

Soundiè Samaké is a member of the village Women’s Committee and mother of three girls at Judge Memorial Middle School in Sankama. She fought against the girls dropping out of school.  Ms. Samake told me, “We have been fighting to keep girls in school. We noticed that some decided to leave school because they preferred to have fun. I knew of a case where a student left the house every morning telling her parents that she was going to school and yet that was not the case. She spent the time walking around the village with friends who had also decided to drop out of school.”

Ms Samaké continued, “It was when we went to her home that we realized the situation. It also happens that parents decide to put a tray on their daughter's head so that she would go selling in the street instead of coming to school. In all these cases, our role is to find these girls and bring them back to school. So that they study to the end, that they excel, and above all that they make good choices in their lives. Through this skit that the girls just performed for us, I knew that some of our behaviors can harm girls' success at school, such as household chores, lack of follow-up at home, or other problems. We understood what the girls wanted to tell us, and we will pass on the message to the other women in the village for the success of our entire community.”

I also had a chance to talk with one of the participating girls, Maimouna S, a 9th grader at Judge Memorial Middle School. “I am very happy with this debate because many parents will understand what we go through to succeed at school and our parents will get involved in our education. My mother is one of the leading women. Her commitment comes from a feeling of personal regret. To strengthen this commitment, she volunteered as soon as she heard about the network of women leaders. When I was in 6th grade, my father opposed my education. He wanted me to give up, believing that my place was at home with my mother. Thanks to her courage and determination I was able to continue [at school]. That's why I decided that if God gave me girls [children in the future], they will go to school and they would have the chance to be educated. I think my mum, who is one of the leading women, will do everything to change the mentality of other women.”

Enlisting the help of mothers in the village is helping make sure girls get into school and stay there. We can’t do it alone, and we know nothing is more powerful that a mother!