Educate a Girl, Educate a Nation - Sierra Leone

Dear friends,

Have you seen the movie - "Deja Vu" by Denzel Washington? 

It's the fascinating story of the bomb that blew up a New Orleans ferry. Futuristic technology is used to roll back time. Then the actors take action to prevent an almost certain disaster. 

The ability to prevent the occurrences of negative events has fascinated me for a while.

One of the sad outcomes of the Ebola Epidemic is that there was an uptick in teenage pregnancy. This happened when school-going girls were home.

In response to that, we together helped to provide counseling and remedial education to 100 pregnant girls. We helped remedy the situation and provide support - after the fact. We helped girls learn when they were not able to go to school. We also helped them return to school. This was the best we could do in the circumstances.

So, when schools closed down this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic we knew we had to do something in advance to try to help to prevent a Deja-Vu.

We knew the steps we could take to help prevent the reoccurrence of a disaster - hundreds of teenage pregnancies. We knew we had to take action. A failure to take action would result in an unfortunate Deja-Vu - hundreds of teenage pregnancies.

So we reached out to our immediate beneficiaries and provided sensitization and counseling.

Then we also create a catchy radio announcement or "Jingle" to alert families nationwide in Sierra Leone of a potential, impending disaster.

The message was broadcast three times each day on the following radio stations and for the following length of times:

You can listen to the ad/message here on YouTube.

Your support helped to pay for this ad/broadcasting fees.

Thanks for joining us in ensuring that girls do not become pregnant.

Thanks for helping girls stay in school.

Thanks for helping to ensure a better future for young girls

Thanks for helping to create a brighter future

Thanks for helping to make a difference!

Our recurring donors are making a continuous impact and we are truly grateful for the ongoing support. If you are not yet a recurring donor, we warmly invite you to consider setting up a recurring donation.  Even a few dollars a month will go a long way.  Please also share this with your contacts and invite them to consider supporting this ongoing project.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at GlobalGiving@developafrica.org.

With great appreciation,

Sylvester and the Develop Africa team

Links:

• Pregnancy Awareness MP3 file
• Listen to the ad on YouTube
• Start a recurring donation-Educate a Girl, Educate a Nation

Project Supporters,

We are truly grateful for every donation and supporter of these young ladies, like Isata, in Freetown.  We are so thankful to be a part of her story.

Then in 2010:

Isata was born in August 1999 in a very poor home. Her mother and father worked but struggled to care for their six children and they lived in a slum dwelling.   Access to clean water and electricity continues to be a challenge for her community.  Isata has been able to attend school the past ten years thanks to Develop Africa's scholarship program.

Janet, a coordinator for Develop Africa said, "One day Isata and her mother went to sell charcoal in my compound. At eleven years old Isata had not started schooling. Upon inquiring, I found out that she was not going to school because her mother could not afford her school charges. I asked the mother to enroll Isata in school with the assurance of sponsorship.  I enrolled Isata in the Develop Africa sponsorship project."

Isata pictured below is from 2010 when Isata started school.

Had Janet not enrolled Isata in school through Develop Africa's scholarship program,  she would never have gone to school and would still be hawking charcoal with her mom.

Now in 2020:

Thanks to Janet's help, Isata is attending the Government Model Secondary School and she is in her second year in senior high school. Isata desires to become a nurse because she loves taking care of sick people.

Isata said the reason she would like to be a nurse is that she "would like to contribute to the development of health services in my society"

Develop Africa is confident that Isata will be a future nurse thanks to generous donors like you that are supporting  Develop Africa's girls' sponsorship/scholarship program.

Our recurring donors are making a continuous impact and we are truly grateful for the ongoing support. If you are not yet a recurring donor, we warmly invite you to consider setting up a recurring donation.  Even a few dollars a month will go a long way.  Please also share this with your contacts and invite them to consider supporting this ongoing project.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at GlobalGiving@developafrica.org.

With great appreciation,

Amy and the Develop Africa team

Links:

• Start a recurring donation-Educate a Girl, Educate a Nation