Needed: School Lunches!

If you have ever wondered what a noon meal (of beans, rice or spaghetti) means to a village girl, especially one trying to get an education, you will appreciate the stories of Fatimata and Salmatou, two students at the Lycee Modern de l’Amitie where 98.5% of students passed year-end exams this year.

Fatimata :

I was orphaned at a very early age and do not remember my parents.  I have been raised by my grandmother.  She sells small amounts of millet, beans and peanuts from her fields in order to feed me and my siblings.  During drought years, my grandmother collects gravel which she sells to whoever would buy it.  I am now in middle school.  I am so grateful to receive a noon meal at my school.   At home, we prepare one meal per day – in the evening.  If there is anything left over in the morning, we eat it for breakfast.  If not, I go to school with nothing to eat.  I am fortunate to attend the Lycee Modern de l’Amitie where I know I will have a noon meal (of beans, rice or spaghetti).   The canteen means everything to the many of us who come from indigent families.

Salmatou :

I come from a village 18 kilometers from my school.  When I entered primary school, I benefitted from the Lambs Support Girls’ Education Project (run by Association NEEED to enable young village girls to enroll in primary school).  I was given a lamb which my parents helped me to raise, sell and replace each year in order to support my education.  During the rainy season, the lambs find grass to eat.  However, the dry season is hard.  We give the lambs dry millet stalks, dried peanut plant leaves and seed husks of the millet.  I have been able to acquire nine sheep over the years as some of my lambs got pregnant and gave birth to twins before I had to sell them.  I sell one whenever I or my family really need to.  For example, now I live with an aunt in a village 8 kilometers from school.  By selling a lamb, I was able to buy a bicycle to get to and from school.  Along with the other students, I stay at school all day and use the midday break to study my lessons.  My hope is to finish secondary school and study gynecology at the university.  

On behalf of both girls, Thank You for giving them a noon meal and such encouragement on their educational journeys.

Please remember these girls on #GivingTuesday (November 27)!