Promoting girls

Support courses

During the vacations at the end of December, the eight pupils in Year 6 received a week of tutoring. An exam preparation course is held once a week for Year 6 from the end of January until the national school exam at the end of May. These revision sessions are held to familiarize the students with the exam (understanding the instructions and conditioning through the repetition of mock exams). We wish this project every success.

Summer Camp 2023

...for our 26 sponsored girls of the elementary school

Knowing that the Fodécariah elementary school has been unable for 3 years now to teach the fundamentals (learning to read, write and calculate) to prepare the 400 children for secondary school, we have decided not to wait any longer for ministerial advances and to take the lead.

We regret to inform you that 14 of our sponsored girls, aged between 14 and 16, whom we've already been supporting for over 8 years in our program, having repeated or even quadrupled their 6th year, have unfortunately not passed their primary school leaving exams. When our volunteer teacher tried to give them remedial lessons 2 months before the exam, she realized that they hadn't even mastered the alphabet!

It was our local partners, teachers at the secondary school, who were also distraught by the deterioration in the level of primary school pupils, who advised us to organize this summer camp, so that our 26 sponsored primary school girls could acquire the basics they needed to have a real chance of passing their secondary school entrance exams.

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Mr. Urbain Fatewa Mara, contract teacher, teaches French at the Fodécariah secondary school, manages the school library and writes novels in his spare time.

(see news item of 10.05.2020)

Would you like to buy his latest book of poetry "„Le Chemin Des Esprits Libres“

He is giving himself 2 months to motivate our sponsored girls to want access to knowledge. His aim is to motivate girls to learn, and to give them a taste for reading and writing.

The first step is to learn the alphabet. Thanks to the alphabet books in our youth center and the syllabary book we've provided, the girls are systematically learning the basics, and then learning how to make words, sentences and, why not, poetry!

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Mr. Sékou Camara, teaches computer science at the Fodécariah secondary school and manages the computer center.

Together with Madame Konaté, his volunteer work consists of supervising our 15 sponsored girls at the college.

He supports Mr. Mara in certain afternoon activities, showing cartoons and motivating them to express themselves.

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For 2 months, the girls will be concentrating on their learning. They'll be immersed in the French language, learning in small groups from morning to night, according to their level, and in plenary sessions to consolidate what they've learned.

Given that French is the language of administration, and therefore the language used in all school curricula, it's vital that they be exposed to this language in the classroom from primary school onwards.

Giving our sponsored girls a perspective means first and foremost teaching them to express themselves in French, not just to pass exams but to have a real chance of gaining access to a paid profession.

Depending on the level of our 26 remaining girls in our primary program, they were divided into small groups, allocated to different classrooms in the college, which is normally closed during the summer vacations, so that they could learn the missing basics and go into them in greater depth at their own pace.

During these 2 months, unlike their normal school situation of a hundred students per class, silent and docile, here they can train quietly and be helped by Mr Mara with patience and indulgence.

And of course, there's nothing like encouraging participation on the blackboard to learn the basics.

Learning the basics should be encouraged even in the computer room, with fun games taken from holiday notebooks. They were excited to discover computers, so we hope that some of them will find their vocation in computing. In any case, they already understand much better why it's important to know how to read and write!

And in the afternoon, the learning continues with sports activities and games to consolidate the morning's learning. A range of activities such as foot races to find the right word, ball tosses for arithmetic, coloring sessions and, of course, daily readings of African fairy tales.

The joy of learning through play, the pleasure of discovering letters, then words, then sentences, and the creativity that begins to flourish... artists in the making!

Viewing cartoons and African tales in the computer room in the late afternoon. This session starts with listening and understanding. Then they answer questions and gradually take ownership of the story, recounting the content with their own vocabulary.

Similar to summer camps, there's nothing like a full stomach for learning. They eat their meals together, morning, noon and night. To liven up the camp, we've included baguette, sweetened condensed milk and spread in the morning, extra sardines and hard-boiled eggs to break up the monotony of rice & sauce at lunchtime, and porridge for the evening meal. Of course there are peanuts and seasonal fruit for the ten and four o'clock breaks!

The cook in action preparing the peanut sauce, a cook who does her best to delight the taste buds by diversifying the meals between rice, potatoes, beans and, above all, the distribution of fruit.

A small group of girls eating porridge

Manager	Cook	Supervisor

And last but not least, our heartfelt thanks to all the volunteers who have enabled our 26 learners to have the best possible conditions in which to concentrate on their learning and their future:

• Frau Sitan Barry, the cook, who prepares meals and little surprises for our 26 hungry mouths (fruit, chocolate spreads, French fries, porridge...).
• Frau Dandjo Keita, the tutor who accompanies our 6 protégés from neighboring villages.
• Herr Oumar Traoré, economics teacher at Fodécariah high school, on contract with the government, who managed the financial side of this summer camp and planned the sweets and treats budget.

Termination of the project
Dear Godparents,

first of all we wish you all the best for the New Year. We wish good results for our project for the new organization and school success for all the girls who are cared for by our sponsorship.
We have decided to close the program. We will of course continue to make improvements and really take care of the remaining girls seriously, as we promised. The budget to finish this mission is guaranteed today.
So we have decided not to sell the annual calendars for the time being.
We have made an initial distribution for this year (rice, school supplies, aprons and shoes, school fees...) for the remaining 62 girls in our program.
A school follow-up was established to identify and help students in difficulty. Commitments were signed with the school principals to this effect. Attendance monitors were established to ensure academic success.
We will provide detailed information on budgets and results once a year at the end of the year. We thank you for your participation and commitment, which will provide a better future for many of these little girls.

Almut Hildebrandt
Laurence Chaminaud.
(January, 2023)

Why this project?
Illiteracy is still very high in Guinea:
4th -last in the world at Atanango mit 68%
47.4% of young women at Knoema

That girls are even more affected by illiteracy than boys, we can also observe in Fodecariah:

• Only 1/4 of girls attend primary school
• Only 1/10 of the girls attend secondary school

As we know that women are a guarantor for stability and peace in their own country, and also usually a mirror for social development, our NGO wants to invest in the future of the country with this promotion of girls and create more equality in education.

Bettina Rocholl, paediatrician and association member, has been taking care of our girls' promotion for years.
You can read through their detailed report for 2020 here.

Our Concept

• Each girl receives an impregnated mosquito net to prevent malaria when she enters the programme.
• During their school education, the girls receive 100 € (4 × 25 €) per year for rice, clothes, shoes and school materials.
• The parents or guardians sign a contract in which they promise to send the girl to school regularly.
• We support the girls until they reach secondary school level I (= 10 years of schooling).
• The financial support remains anonymous to take the pressure off the sponsored girls to be grateful.

The Execution

• The number of girls that are promoted through this program is decided annually on the basis of the amount of money donated.
• The parents or guardians must sign a binding contract.
• The association issues a document each year containing the names and pictures of the promoted girls, and a short description of their social situation.
• The association produces a calendar each year. The proceeds from the sale of the calendar by members of friends of the association should support at least three or four girls.
• Concerts for solidarity are organized regularly.
• The association hopes to set up 10-year sponsorships.
• The association publishes a financial report each year, which contains information on the donations received.
• Annual lottery in Fodéricariah at the end of September
• In 2016, we distributed impregnated mosquito nets to all girls.

Report 2021

By Bettina Rocholl, October 2021

Dear supporters of our girls project

I would like to report to you again about the progress of our girls' project in Fodecariah (Republic of Guinea) during the last school year. Our association "Bildungsförderung in Oberguinea e.V." has been supporting poor families from the village there for 8 years so that they can send a girl to school. School attendance is by no means a matter of course for children in Guinea, especially for girls. They have to help in the fields and in the gardens, supervise the little brothers and sisters, etc.

The children receive a larger amount of rice and beans or potatoes from us 3 times a year, they receive clothes and are paid school materials and school fees. The school fees increase from year to year. One of the reasons for this is that the state does not send enough teachers to the schools, so that the parents' associations (they exist at every school in Guinea) try to make up for the shortage by hiring teachers themselves and mostly completely untrained assistant teachers. This costs a lot of money, although an 'assistant teacher' receives only 50 euros per month. But the people are poor.
The classes are more than full with 70-80 children. These conditions do not allow fruitful teaching in large parts.
In addition, the schools were initially closed for Corona from spring 2019 until the summer vacations. After the vacations came the big campaign in Guinea for president (83-year-old Alpha Condé used a constitutional amendment to win another term and was recently voted away by the military). But the population joined in the election campaign, and school was out of the question. In fact, the school in Fodecariah was not opened until shortly before Christmas. What is completely unthinkable in our country, nobody is upset about it there.
The learning success was accordingly modest, 18 of our girls did not pass the year. We are not satisfied with this and have to look for solutions such as more tutoring. It also means a higher financial burden for us, because we would like to bring the girls to the secondary school certificate.

Unfortunately, there were some unpleasant incidents and, sadly, deaths in the community last year.
A former employee - dismissed for corruption, but quite influential in the village - schemed massively against us, so that initially no applications for our stipendia came from the population. However, our local employee was able to solve the difficulties to some extent, so that in the end 10 girls could be admitted to the elementary school. On the recommendation of the primary school director, we made it possible for another 2 gifted girls to attend college (secondary school) - a direct hit, the girls are very good and motivated students. In addition, we also supported 4 girls who wanted to attend high school.

One of our younger girls from elementary school died last year. She must have been sick. But it was impossible for me to find out what had happened. Nobody asks anymore, they just accept it - "Inshallah" they say. The girl's father asked us to take the second daughter instead, and we did.

2 of our girls got pregnant that school year, a 12 year old and a 13 year old. Again, it was not really possible to find out what took place and what relationships the girls have with the fathers. The girls are very unenlightened, not very self-confident. One can only speculate how these pregnancies come about. Both girls have since given birth and, contrary to expectations, have also returned to their schools. The baby of the older girl died shortly after birth, cause - of course - unknown.
A third death concerns the mother of one of our secondary school students. She unfortunately did not pass the school year, perhaps also for this reason. It is always difficult to accept these many deaths. But the mortality rate is high and the medical care in the countryside is completely insufficient.

In another family the hut burned down, all survived, but all the family's belongings were destroyed. The girl got the equipment for the school year and food once again.
One girl got married or was married, which is actually not allowed according to our admission contracts. At least the family of the man who is studying in Mali "allows" her to continue attending the school. Hopefully she will not get pregnant so soon.

The cooperation with our on-site employee is going well. The young woman who is supposed to help him does not yet meet all expectations, but it is getting better and we are getting along.

This year we were again able to buy rice from local farmers, as well as sweet potatoes and beans from the region. Tailors and dressmakers from the village sew the girls' clothes. It is important to us that our money benefits the people in the village and in the region. In this way, we support not only the girls but also, to a modest extent, the local economy and at the same time promote the acceptance of our project.

Perhaps I have told a bit too much in this letter about the difficult sides of the very hard life of the people in Fodecariah. But the children, who are out in large hordes, are always cheerful and very lively. And we have been able to participate in several big and great festivals with lots of music and dancing.

On behalf of our association, I would now like to thank you all very much for your constant loyal support of this project, without which we would not be able to do anything against hunger, nothing against the lack of education and especially nothing for the future of the disadvantaged girls.

Kind regards from ...and the whole association.

Donation account: Sparkasse Karlsruhe
Bildungförderung in Oberguinea e.V.:
Zweck Mädchenförderung
DE22 6605 0101 0108 0523 41

Report 2020

By Bettina Rocholl, November 2020

In 2012, we started our support for girls in the village of Fodecariah in Upper Guinea. School attendance for girls is not the rule there. They help early in the household, with the supervision of their siblings and with work in the fields. Often they are married off at the age of 13. Our aim was to set an example and enable some poor girls to attend school. We started with 4 girls. In the last school year there were 53, 48 of them in primary school and 7 in secondary school, who can go to school with all your help. We calculate with 100 Euros per child per year, and that over 10 years. With this money we finance the not inconsiderable school fees, parents' contributions, school materials, clothing, mosquito nets and a contribution to the children's meals. Well managed, this money is enough for the time being. Our scholarships are very much in demand and are awarded annually by lottery.

In December 2019, my husband, our son Nikolaus (who helped at the primary school for 3 months in 2012) and I visited the village to get an idea of the status of the project. At the beginning of the school year, we had to replace 2 long-time employees in the village because there was suspicion of corruption, a permanent problem in this country.

First, we made an unannounced visit to the primary school and were delighted to find that all our scholarship holders were present except for one child who had reported sick. We met the very committed new primary school headmaster who is very supportive of our project.

The first class is taught by a young assistant teacher, who is also our new person in charge of the girls. Because of the severe shortage of teachers, the parents' association hires helpers who have no proper training. They receive 50 Euros per month, a trained primary school teacher receives 150 Euros.

So the young woman - together with the new representative of our association in Fodecariah - takes care of the organisation of the project and the purchases for the girls. So fabric is bought in large quantities at the market and one of the local tailors sews the school dresses. Most of the older girls sew their own dresses. This way it is cheap and supports the local small businesses.

Until now, a 50 kg bag of rice was bought for each child, and this 2 to 3 times a year. In the meantime, we have trouble getting bags of rice for more than 50 girls at the same time. So this year we bought beans and peanut oil and reduced the amount of rice. We think this is better because the rice is imported from Thailand, so it does not support the local farmers, and the diet is very one-sided. Most poor families never or rarely eat meat, even eggs are expensive. Cheese and milk I have never seen, also does not keep without refrigerators. So the beans add more protein and iron to the food.

We then organised a parents' meeting - an absolute novelty, such a thing is not usual there. We organised it as a "reception" with lots of biscuits and Christmas biscuits and cakes brought from Germany. Our aim was to establish a more direct contact with the families, to present ourselves as responsible persons, to explain once again the purpose and aim of the girls' promotion and to answer possible questions. Again and again we had to explain in the village why we do not also support boys in our programme.

We spent another day conducting eye tests for all the girls. We found out that the children have excellent eyesight (lots of daylight, little TV, reading) but some complained of eye pain. We soon understood that this was due to the many wood fires and the burning of rubbish and plastic, which creates real smog.

As a last event, I offered an educational workshop for the older girls, simply explaining the anatomy and function of the female genital organs with pictures. As I was still a stranger to the culture, I did not allow myself to talk about the delicate subject of circumcision. I had brought along various materials for menstrual hygiene, also self-sewn sanitary pads and patterns for the same and a pair of colourful panties. The material was literally snatched out of my hands. And I had to learn from a nurse that often women come to the health centre for childbirth who don't bring any templates with them and don't receive anything like that at the centre. There is simply no material-

In the end, we came to the conclusion that our girls' project is currently running well and successfully. The accounts and receipts presented to us by the new project leaders in the village were also correct down to the smallest detail. So we can continue our work with conviction.

We would therefore be very pleased if you would continue to support our work with sponsorship, calendar purchases or donations. Nothing works without you !!!

We would like to thank you once again from the bottom of our hearts for all the contributions in any form! We wish everyone good health and a positive end to the year in these so special times !

Kind regards from ...and the whole association.