10,000 girls

I spent five days in Kaolack working at the NGO (non-governmental organization) 10,000 girls (www.10000girls.org). It is by far the best NGO or project I have visited in Senegal, bar none. It is the only NGO that I have visited that is run by Senegalese people. In addition, they are not getting stuck in the rut of micro-finance. It is also not being administered from a faraway European or American. It is the only place that I can confidently say helps people. In addition, their whole premise, helping girls stay in school and succeed is amazing. The project was started when a little nine or ten year old girl knocked on an American woman, Viola Vaughn’s, door. She begged Viola to help her stay in school. At first Viola was hesitant to immerse herself in such an undertaking but she relented. She was able to teach the girl and her two friends how to teach themselves the information they are given in school. Six years later there are 1,700 girls in the program. The project is hoping to increase the number to 2,400 this year. The project has several compartments. One is an after-school program in Kaolack as well in five other zones of villages. The project also supports in-school programs targeted to help girls. The project runs with the help of five businesses. These businesses are run by women who have been excluded from school. Some never went to school and are illiterate while other only went up until middle school. The businesses that they run exceptionally well are: a bakery that caters and makes pancakes and other American delights, a local rice and high-end cashew selling project, a trucking/ transit business for their cashews and for local farmers, a sewing shop that makes quilts, sheets, tablecloths, etc, and a guest house in Kaolack. All of these projects are completely overseen by the women with a little bit of organizational help from Viola. The proceeds are split in half one half goes to the women and the other half goes to the school.
My job while there was to help with organizing ways to thank people who donated to the project. I created a newsletter with updates about the project and the businesses. As well as other little organizational tasks did at the school and in the bakery. I accompanied Viola to a village south of Kaolack where they want to create an after-school program. The village is a bit dysfunctional because they have electricity but no hook-ups and noThe most rewarding experience I had, other than talking to Viola, was