In our last blog post, we shared how Aminata, 23, and her 12-year-old daughter Kadiatu are back in school after enduring extreme poverty, child labor, early motherhood and other unfathomable challenges.
Thankfully, these hardships were not the end of their story.
In fact, through In School, you are helping them gain the tools they need to write their own happy ending.
Your generosity + their perseverance = HOPE
Shortly after mother and daughter donned their uniforms and went back into the classroom last year, In School began providing monthly cash assistance to support their education.
That’s because Kadiatu’s school uses our attendance monitoring software, which helped school leaders recognize that she faced many risk factors for missing school.
You see, Aminata is more than a mother — she is responsible for other children beyond her own daughter. She has also been the primary caregiver for her 14- and 15-year-old siblings since their father died two years ago. The young family survives by scraping together a small income by selling water and firewood in their village.
It remains very difficult for them to make ends meet, especially when they are spending time in class instead of working.
But as Aminata knows, getting an education will help them make more money in the long run.
Your support through In School reached Aminata just in time
“The time when the money came, I didn’t have anything … nothing at all,” she says. Aminata reports that she uses the cash support to buy food and occasionally to pay for transportation so they don’t have to walk such a long distance to school.
“The money helps us because now we have time to study,” she says, adding, “A person who is hungry and doesn’t have enough food to eat doesn’t think clearly or focus well.”
There could not be a more hard-working or deserving recipient than Aminata. In the evenings, she uses a small blackboard to teach her siblings and help Kadiatu with her homework.
“When night comes,” she says, “I’m happy that we’re both holding onto our books.”
Aminata’s dream is to go to college so she can get a job and care for her family. Kadiatu, in turn, hopes to return the favor and provide for her mother one day.
Mother and daughter have been through extreme hardships, and they face many challenges ahead. But today they are a success story in progress — and your generosity is helping them write it!