Help 250 Youth Recover From Ebola in Guinea

Your support is helping to make this an exciting period of growth for MindLeaps in Guinea. At the beginning of the New Year 2019, over 75 children were enrolled at our center in Conakry, well surpassing our projected goal of 50 students. As word spreads throughout the community, more and more children are attracted to the dance classes in our safe, welcoming space.

Our 2019 action plan has been launched to expand the dance program to six days a week to accommodate the increased number of students. The hours of English instruction at the center have been augmented as well. Additionally, the MindLeaps meal program continues to be an important support for children’s health. Free nutritious meals including porridge, spaghetti, and rice dishes are served daily to all the youth participating in classes at the center. For many, this can be the main meal of their day.

In December, the Conakry center hosted a visit from members of the MindLeaps international team, including Eugene Dushime, International Coordinator from Rwanda, and Rebecca Davis, Founder and Executive Director. Among planning and budget sessions, the international team and Conakry staff made time to visit the various public schools where thirteen students – MindLeaps’ first group in Guinea to be sponsored for school – have been studying since October 2018. They also visited the vocational training center where four girls are enrolled in the dressmaking program. The team observed classes at each school and met with students. It was rewarding to see how well these young people had adapted to the academic environment and how they were thriving.

As always, professional development of MindLeaps’ teaching staff is an ongoing priority. While at the Conakry center, the international team worked with dance instructors to help them hone their skills in the use of Tracker, MindLeaps’ software system designed to gather data from children’s dance moves and chart changes in cognitive skills and social-emotional learning.

The end of the year also saw the departure of Anna Defent, visiting international MindLeaps trainer who had spent November and December at the center in Conakry instructing local trainers in the MindLeaps contemporary curriculum. Anna is a graduate of The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, currently living in London and working as a professional contemporary dancer. She studied the MindLeaps methodology in New York City and was asked to join the team in Guinea as a guest trainer. Anna describes her experience as “an absolute honor – to teach the children, and see their smiles and their progress each day. Guinea is such an inspiring country, full of dance, rhythm and heart. My time with MindLeaps has reminded me how important dance is and why I have chosen it as my career.”

At MindLeaps we are committed to the importance of dance, and have seen how it can, and will continue to, open up the future for vulnerable youth in Guinea.