World Vision Promotes Education in Mali
Nearly a third of boys and half of girls in Mali never have the opportunity to attend school.
Some villages simply don’t have a teacher or a school building. In other villages, parents don’t understand the value of education. Parents worry that if their children go to school, they will leave the village and not return. They think girls are destined for marriage anyway so it’s not important to educate them.
Child Sponsorship Pays for Education
In 2004, child sponsorship paid for the construction of 18 new classrooms and seven literacy centers in Mali. World Vision staff members also launched public awareness campaigns and initiated discussions about education with village leaders. In total, 57,495 boys and 43,976 girls living in World Vision project areas attend school.
Educating Women is Key to Survival
According to UNICEF, educated girls are less likely to die during childbirth because they know more about health-care practices, nutrition, and birth spacing. As mothers, educated women are more likely to have healthy, nourished children—and they’re more likely to send their own children to school.
Sarata’s Story
Fewer than half the children in Sarata Coulibaly’s village in southeastern Mali attend school and only a third of those enrolled are girls. Last October, World Vision volunteer Amadou Mallé found out Sarata was not in school and intervened. “I spoke to the father. I told him that Sarata’s Canadian child sponsor wants her to go to school. I said maybe one day she can be someone,” remembers Amadou. Sarata’s father finally agreed.
Asked what he hopes for Sarata’s future, her father says she should become the Minister of Commerce for Mali. Sarata agrees that this would be a good profession but she is beginning to have dreams of her own. Speaking no louder than a whisper, Sarata says she will become a teacher.
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