Girls At Risk Training Center is Up and Running!!

Our Girls At Risk Training Center is up and running!  After many long days of painting, buying supplies and writing curriculum, we opened our doors to sixty girls--thirty in the morning and thirty in the afternoon--and our excitement grew exponentially as we actually got to meet the girls that we will be working with for the next two years!

 the ever beautiful Fatima

Miriama (the younger sister of my friend Anina) practices reading a simple story

 

Our morning class is taught in Tamasheq and the afternoon class is in Zarma.  While the morning class is filled entirey with Tuaregs, anyone is welcome in either class as long as they understand the language of instruction!  However, it is very interesting to take note of the very obvious cultural differences between the two classes!

I love Raichatou's spunk and humour!

 

Four days a week--Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday--two local teachers and our Directrice of Sewing run the show.  They are teaching the girls two sew by hand and later with machines, to do embroidery and to knit and crochet.  So what about Wednesdays?  Well, that's when Chantelle, Aminata, Tarayshad and I steal the show!

a few of the girls posing in front of the mural with their ID badges

 

the other half of my dynamic teaching duo--Aminata!

 

Each Wednesday, the four of us teach French, literacy, math and health and hygiene topics!  We've divided the girls up into three groups--the girls who cannot read or write at all.  These girls work with Tarayshad, learning the basics.  Then Aminata and I team teach the girls who know their numbers and letters but have a very basic understand of math and French, while Chantelle works with the advanced girls in both math and French.  Then we all come together to learn about health and hygiene. 

This past week, to kick things off, we started by talking about wholistic health--what does it mean to be a healthy person?  Does it just mean being physically healthy, or does it include emotional, intellectual, and spiritual health?  We drew up a little diagram on the blackboard and then had the girls paint it on big sheets of paper that were then hung on the wall.  The middle of the circle says "Life" and then on rays coming out like a sun, we wrote the girls' ideas of what constituted wholistic health. 

Raichatou Youssouf listing as Chantelle teaches about wholistic health

 

painting the diagram with the girls

 My Raichatou painting her part of the diagram

We have a great time with the girls and are excited to give them a fun environment to learn in and watch them flourish...as long as we don't get crushed by all the administrative work--homework and tests to grade, curriculum to write...when did I suddenly become a teacher?  I must be Ron Brown's daughter!

let the grading begin!!