Help 250 Youth Recover From Ebola in Guinea

You are receiving this Project Report since you are a current supporter of the MindLeaps GlobalGiving Program: “Help 250 Youth Recover from Ebola in Guinea”.

Rebuilding After Ebola

Guinea was faced with several challenges before the outbreak of Ebola.  This West African country ranks 182^nd on the UN Human Development Index.  Before Ebola, 42% of the population was under the age of 15 years, and the youth literacy rate was 45%.  

With the onset of the outbreak, the basic development challenges have only increased.  In particular, youth need additional services ranging from basic nutrition to educational support and psychosocial counseling.  MindLeaps is concentrated on attracting street children and vulnerable youth to safe community centers in the city of Kindia, and providing these essential services.

Resilience

Those foreigners who visit MindLeaps in Guinea remark on the resiliency of the youth: “These children believe they will overcome obstacles.”  Indeed, every weekend, youth fill the community center in Yewole, a village in the city of Kindia, because they want the chance to learn English.  We constantly here the kids say, “If we had understood English, we could have learned about Ebola before it happened.” 

During the weekdays, these same youth come to the community center to participate in MindLeaps dance classes (traditional Guinean dance and Western styles).  “Dance makes us feel happy and free,” one youth remarked after his first classes at the center.

As these youth start to feel a love of life again and the passion to learn, MindLeaps' next step is to sponsor them to attend boarding schools in Guinea.  With a complete education, these youth will not only recover from the Ebola crises, but they will thrive and leap into the future!

Your support makes these services available to the most needy youth in Guinea today.  Together, we are building their future.

Thank you!

You are receiving this Project Report since you are a current supporter of the MindLeaps GlobalGiving Program: “Help 250 Youth Recover from Ebola in Guinea”.

What Happened Last Week?

On December 28 – exactly one week ago – Guinea was declared free of Ebola.  Although this is wonderful news, it really means our work is just beginning.  In the two-year fight to contain the virus in West Africa, 115 health workers died and 8 workers were killed by a team of hostile locals in the Eastern part of Guinea (http://oceansidepost.com/2016/01/03/ebola-epidemic-halted-in-guinea.html).

A lack of understanding of the disease was one of the main reasons that locals resisted international care.  MindLeaps’ work is targeting youth and their families to ensure that a more knowledgeable community is developed in the aftermath of this epidemic. 

Education is a driver of economic development, but it is also key to prevent the loss of lives in the future.  Now that the emergency situation is over, it’s time to educate communities for long-term prevention. 

The Story of Salifou

Salifou has been a student at MindLeaps before it was even called “MindLeaps”.  Back in 2011, working under the name “Rebecca Davis Dance Company”, we set up classes in the town of Kindia to serve youth exactly like Salifou – teenagers who attended school irregularly and floated between extremely poor living conditions at home and on the streets.

Like so many kids living in West Africa, Salifou was fascinated with dance and acrobatics, so he was willing to join our dance program that kept kids at the community center instead of wandering the streets.  Salifou learned that English language classes were available to students who attended regularly and rice meals provided for kids who stayed all day.  It was a way for Salifou to become “connected” to a different type of home.  

Over the years, Salifou became a student leader in our program.  In 2014, he was promoted to “teaching assistant” in the English class.  In 2016, MindLeaps is preparing Salifou and other top students to become teachers of the dance curriculum in order to serve more children in multiple communities in Guinea.

Salifou can continue to be a role model for new children because of your support.  Without this critical provision of meals, teaching stipends and community classes, Salifou’s life would have fallen apart forever as the country struggles to meet the needs of the post-Ebola crisis.  Your dollars give Salifou the confidence and support he needs to continue his life-changing path.

What’s next?

MindLeaps still needs to raise more funds to provide critical support to the family members of the children that participate in our program.  Please consider sharing our project and helping us build support in this post-reconstruction period.  

Lives cannot be lost now.

Thank you!