By Rosana Schaack | Director
On June 27, 2016, Mrs. Michelle Obama, her mother and two daughters visited Liberia and had a Round Table discussion with 20 adolescent girls, 3 of whom were from THINK. The rest of the 17 girls came from USAID and Peace Corps projects as well as girls from two boarding schools.
The girls talked about challenges they face in being able to go to school and growing up in a developing country in sub-Sahara Africa. They are challenged with harmful traditional practices such as early marriage, teenage pregnancy and Female Genital Cutting (FGC). Some of them engage in transactional sex in order to raise money to support themselves in school.
The girls shared their dreams are and hopes of having more girls getting the opportunity to attend school under the “Let Girls Learn Project” that Mrs. Obama initiated. The girls also thanked the Peace Corps for coming to Liberia to help them with lessons especially in Math that they find difficult to understand.
The Peace Corps in Liberia have been very instrumental in helping girls with tutorial classes at various rural schools and Advancing Youth Program sites implemented by United States Agency For International Development (USAID). CNN journalists are developing a documentary of the stories of 5 of the girls. The documentary will come out in the near future.
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