She is available to go to people's villages to hold workshops or speak to communities about a variety of topics including: girls education, early marriage, female genital mutilation, family planning, among other topics. Marielle, arranged for a regional tourney in the Kedougou region. Typically school starts in the beginning of November, although the teachers in my village had not arrived. In our local language of pula fuuta, Awa spoke to the children about the importance of studying, asked them what they wanted to be (often police officers, doctors, teachers, or health post workers), and then directed questions towards parents if they knew this information that their children just shared. A common problem in my community was lack of school supplies, and she stressed how it is not the children's responsibility to get these things, it is the parents. If they chose to have more children, this includes providing for them, not only with livelihood necessities, but as well as educational opportunities. Since school hadn't started the children promised to take out their books from last year, and review material they had learned. They also confirmed that they would study in the afternoons before the sun goes down rather than studying by flashlight, or not at all. It was a really great talk that lasted about two hours (it takes longer to drive out to my village). I think it went really well and am so happy that we were able to arrange this to happen!
