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