Update from Koyan's School

Thank you so much to all who have donated to the desk project! We have already raised about 25% of the project funds! Aw ni ce, aw ni baara!

Here is what is going on at the school recently: Sadly, there is a national teacher’s strike. This means that the one teacher provided by the government is not working, although fortunately the two community-paid teachers are working. On Sunday I am starting a program with the sixth grade girls on “Life Skills” which is a curriculum developed by Peace Corps to empower girls. The lessons cover goal-setting, the importance of education, birth-control, and HIV/AIDS. I am really excited about this since I have come to realize what a big problem girls’ self-esteem is here, as well as early pregnancy.

The other night I was sitting chatting with my host family under the moonlight as usual when my host’s second wife, Mama, brought up a subject she returns to constantly: how her husband is no good since he wanders around at night meeting up with his girlfriends instead of staying at home with the family. According to Koyan custom, women cannot leave the house at night (because their husbands are afraid they will have boyfriends) but men can. However, my host is especially bad and is away from home a lot, often spending the night at a friend (perhaps girlfriend)’s house. Mama directly asked me to tell Fablen (my host) to stop going out at night. I told her that it wasn’t my place to get involved in that. I told her that what she should do is start some small business, like selling fried dough at the market, to make her own money. If she is not dependent on Fablen for money, I feel like that would give her more power in their relationship. I also told her to work hard at studying Bambara. Of course, I felt very powerless since in general this is not something I know that much about (marital problems!), but I do feel like there would be less women in Mama’s situation if more girls were educated and able to support themselves financially, which is something I can try to help with.