Educating Girls Means
Stopping Sexual Abuse
Our first surprise was that abuse keeps girls from school. Naledi started from a chance encounter. While traveling, we fell into discussion with a passionate, young, school principal. In time, she mentioned she was upset because girls beyond her village could not attend school. A river blocked their path necessitating a very long walk before sunrise to reach a bridge. The tragedy was that girls were getting raped in the dark on the way to school. To protect them, she wanted to build a dormitory where girls could stay during the week allowing them to come and go from home in the safety of daylight. When we learned fulfilling this dream would cost only $10,000, we were dumbfounded. So little money could do so much good? It felt like we had found a bag of magic beans where one small seed planted could grow a vast vine to the sky.
Educating Girls Means
Providing Menstrual Care
Our next surprise shouldn’t have been a surprise. If you have nothing to contain your menstrual bleeding, it is no surprise you can not go to school. If you miss three to five days of school every month, it is no surprise you start to fall behind. If you start to fall behind, it is no surprise the voices persuading you to leave school for other pursuits come to sound more reasonable. But still it is surprising to learn that up to 80% of girls drop out of school by age 13, and that the simple key to keeping 60% of them in school can be to provide menstrual care.
Educating Girls Means
Harnessing Technology
Another surprise is that high tech can be the answer even for the lowest-income, resource-poor communities. We may be able to build a simple thatched school for a very modest budget, but the teacher is expensive and possibly unavailable in rural areas. A very basic, electronic tablet can be bought for as little as $50 and shared across four or five girls. Combined with a simple solar panel and internet access, it provides the girls with the best teachers in the world.
Education Matters – Zimbabwe
Education Matters’ USAP school is a residential...
Chikukwa Project – Zimbabwe
The Chikukwa Project examines the conflux of...
Bwindi Plus School – Uganda
Bwindi Plus School in rural Uganda was Naledi’s...
Naledi * 69 Vista Verde Way * Portola Valley, California 94028 * USA * Email:info@naledi.ngo