Help 250 Youth Recover From Ebola in Guinea

New School Year in Guinea

It's the beginning of the school year in Guinea and with it comes a lot of exciting news for MindLeaps. Last year, we were able to send 16 MindLeaps students to school. This year, we are sending an additional 52 students to Primary, Secondary, and Vocational Training schools! Thanks to your support, we are now able to sponsor the education of 68 young people in Guinea. To aid in this transition, MindLeaps International Coordinator, Eugene Dushime has traveled to our center in Conakry. Dushime, the fomer country director of our Rwanda program, has mastered the massive task of organizing the transition to school, a task that also includes the organizing of new backpacks, pencils, notebooks, and other necessary school supplies.

In a country with a literacy rate of only about 32% for adults aged 15 years and over (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2014), the abilty for a child to go to school is rare. Your generosity allows nearly 70 vulerable youth the opportunity for brighter futures. Thank you!!

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MindLeaps Success Story

Only a few years ago, Saifou was a MindLeaps student in Guinea. Now, as a member of the International MindLeaps Team, he travels all across the continent delivering the MindLeaps program to vulnerable children in many countries. This month, he had the opportunity to travel to Kenya to help lauch a new program in Kisumu. This project was especially exciting because it marked the launch of our new inclusive curriculum that allows the MindLeaps program to better work with students with greater and different learning needs. Even more exciting is that for the first time, each of the 5 MindLeaps countries were represented in a single program. The team included trainers from Guinea, Mauritania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenya!

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NYC Train The Trainers Comes to Guinea

For the first time, our New York City based Train The Trainers program for professional dancers is formally heading to the field. After a 2-week intensive training in NYC this summer, trainers will travel to Guinea for Tier 2 of their training in December. While in Guinea, the trainers will have rigorous 8-hour days that are filled with intensive dance movment and teaching. They will gain experience working in the field learning from experienced MindLeaps staff and working with MindLeaps students. We are excited for the first iteration of this training program to happen at our shining Conakry center. Check back with us in the new year to hear stories from the week!

The children joining the MindLeaps program in Conakry have faced constant challenges and instability in their lives – often with no secure housing, no educational opportunities, and unpredictable living conditions.

MindLeaps becomes an important anchor for them – a point of attachment, engagement and support, giving them hope and aspirations for a better future. They find a welcoming, safe space, where the MindLeaps program puts them on a path to achieve their goals through the development of cognitive skills and the opportunity for formal education. Two MindLeaps students, sisters Kadiatou, 15, and Aminata, 13, are currently facing a situation threatening their home, but in spite of their difficulties, continue to come regularly to classes at the center. They’ve said “We would be more afraid of losing the opportunities offered by MindLeaps than losing our home.” MindLeaps gives them something they can count on.

The young people at MindLeaps in Guinea are individuals, each with their own story.

10-year-old Alhassane had never attended school before coming to MindLeaps. In the mornings he would do chores at home and then go to the market to find his mom, to see if she had money for his breakfast. The rest of the day he spent aimlessly wandering the streets. After joining MindLeaps, he has been able to learn dance and study English. At MindLeaps, Alhassane says he has found a place where he can learn. Otherwise, he says “I would be hanging around in the street, maybe trying to find a lady in the neighborhood to help me learn the alphabet.”

Young Laye had also never attended school. Every day he got up and first fetched water for his family, then went off into the streets looking for people who would pay him something to get water for them. With the support of MindLeaps, Laye no longer spends his days in the streets. He has learned his numbers and the alphabet, and is now able to write.

Pierre is 8 years old and his family could never afford the fees to send him to school. He fetched water in the morning and if he had nothing to eat at home, he went from neighbor to neighbor looking for food. MindLeaps has opened up a new world to him. Now Pierre can come to a place where education is free and he is able to get at least one meal a day. The support MindLeaps provides is making it possible for him to learn and grow.

MindLeaps is a comfortable space, offering social support as well. Ousmane is a young boy who had never attended school and would spend his days outside, playing idly or sitting by his mom as she tried to sell small items on the street. At MindLeaps, he learned to dance and most important, gained self- confidence. He has made friends and says that without MindLeaps, he would most likely be isolated, just keeping to himself.

Your generosity is helping MindLeaps give these children a sense of belonging and purpose. They are developing cognitive and social skills that will open the door to a brighter future for themselves and their communities.