Meet the girls of Prosperity Girls High School

In recent trips to Sierra Leone, I’ve met women in many roles – from government and media leaders to small business owners, from professionals like nurses, teachers and accountants to village traders.  Opportunities are opening up for women in Sierra Leone, as they have in most parts of the world.  But education remains one of the biggest hurdles for young Sierra Leonean girls in achieving their dreams and goals. 
 

The girls of Prosperity Girls High School in Rotifunk, Sierra Leone are at the edge of this new world of opportunity.  About 200 girls are expected to enroll in PGHS from across Bumpeh Chiefdom, Moyamba District as they ready for the 2012-13 school year, the school’s fourth year.  To date, they’ve covered the first three levels of secondary school, or what’s known in Sierra Leone as Junior Secondary School (JSS).  Each year, the school has been adding another grade as girls advance.  The new school has been a success, with enrollment quadrupling since it started three years ago.

A number of girls now come from surrounding villages and board in Rotifunk with a guardian.  Also, a donor paid for school fee scholarships, enabling many girls to attend last year who could not otherwise afford to.

The age range for junior high school is typically 12 to 14, but a number of PGHS students are older because their educations were interrupted by Sierra Leone’s 10-year civil war.  Or because their families had trouble paying for school fees, school uniforms and supplies for their girls to attend, as they struggle to rebuild their lives after the war.

Kadiatu T. is a good example of what can happen when a village girl has the opportunity for education.  Kadiatu has been raised by her mother after her father left the family when Kadiatu was very young.  Her mother is a trader living in one of the small villages outside Rotifunk.  She makes a meager living by buying small amounts of vegetables and palm oil from local farms to sell in the Rotifunk market.

Kadiatu is in JSS3 or ninth grade.  She is one of the best students in the school.  Kadiatu always comes in first place in her class and is serious about her education.  She’s progressed smoothly through three grades at PGHS in three years, and at 16 years old, she’s become fluent in English. 

Kadiatu took the national exam that will allow her to become a member of the first PGHS group graduating to senior secondary school.  As this is written, exam results are not yet available. Kadiatu often takes a leadership role in the school, chairing school committees and acting as class monitor. She lives at home with her mother, walking two miles each way to school every day from her village.

Village girls living further away who want a secondary school education have little choice but to find a guardian family in town willing to board them.  These girls then often have after-school jobs, doing chores, cooking or farm work for their guardian families in exchange for their board.

Seventeen-year-old Frances S. is one of these girls, now in JSS2 (eighth grade). Frances comes from a village downriver in the chiefdom.  The Bumpeh River runs the length of Bumpeh Chiefdom from Rotifunk down to the sea.  It provides a transportation route for villagers who would otherwise have limited access. 

 Frances started school late and attended primary school in her home village.  She’s a promising student who had to leave PGHS two years ago when her parents couldn’t afford to pay her school fees.  After sitting out that year, she returned and repeated JSS2 last academic year as one of the scholarship recipients.  Frances has done well.  She’s above average, coming in consistently as one of the top five in her class in all subjects.

Frances lives with a primary school teacher in Rotifunk.  One of her PGHS teachers helps with tutoring; other teachers pitch in lunch money to help her.  Her parents have difficulty feeding an extra mouth when she returns home, so visits are rare. 

The scholarship she receives, together with the support of Prosperity Girls High School and Rotifunk teachers, are allowing Frances to transcend her family circumstances and embark on a new life.

Mabinte K. is the first girl in her family of eight children to attend secondary school.  She’s considered the best athlete at PGHS and the fastest girl in races.  Principal Kaimbay says they depend on Mabinte for victory when competing with other schools, and she never fails them.

Mabinte’s parents are farmers in a small village of 15 homes about three miles outside Rotifunk.  Her father also teaches at a primary school there, and feels it’s important for his girls to get an education. Fourteen-year-old Mabinte is in JSS2 and her younger sister is in JSS1.  Eight girls from this small village are attending Prosperity Girls High School.  Mabinte maintains good academic standing while walking three miles each way to school, and then helping out on her family farm.

The girls of Bumpeh Chiefdom and their families make big sacrifices to pursue an education.

The cost of sending a child to school can be one of the single biggest expenses a family has in subsistence farming communities like those of Bumpeh Chiefdom.  When the average annual income in Sierra Leone is reported as only $734 and three quarters of families in the country live on $2 a day or less, $50 for school fees is a big burden.   And that’s for one child. The girl child has often been left out when it comes to family funds for education.

Getting to school is another big hurdle for chiefdom girls coming from villages outside Rotifunk. Public transportation is unavailable or unreliable, and if available, the daily cost added to school fees, uniforms and supplies would be too much for a low-income family.  Girls living 3 or 4 miles away or more choose instead to walk daily, adding to an already long day, with chores at home and homework still to come.  Not to mention the hot tropical sun and an empty stomach.  Students will

typically eat their one big meal of the day only when they return home.

 

For girls coming from longer distances, finding a local family who will house and feed them is a major hurdle.  It’s also a challenge for girls to live independently, sometimes without full adult supervision at an early age.  To offset costs, girls must often work after school, doing chores for their host family.

With all these barriers, completing secondary school education in Sierra Leone is indeed an accomplishment for both a girl and her family.  Only one in six girls has typically made it.  The Sierra Leone government and local communities like Rotifunk are now putting special emphasis and resources on educating the girl child.  The country is seeing more girls enroll in secondary school and dropout rates are heading down.

Importantly, girls and their families now want the opportunities education can bring for the girl child.