Sierra Leone: Catching Up With Adamsay,
AGSP Scholarship Recipient
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"I
felt overwhelming happiness
within me. I jumped and shouted
with joy when I heard my
name called by the head teacher." (Adamsay,
2005)
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In 2005, World Education interviewed 14-year-old Ambassador's
Girls Scholarship Program (AGSP) scholar
Adamsay from Sierra Leone. At the
time, she was an orphan who lived
with her grandmother. Upon the death
of her parents, Adamsay was forced
to stay home and help her grandmother
with house work because there was
no money to send her to school.
Luckily, a small NGO in her community
knew her story and recommended that she
become an AGSP scholar. The AGSP program
provides scholarships, mentoring, and
parent and community awareness programs
to promote and support girls' education,
and HIV and AIDS awareness activities
to prevent and mitigate the spread of
HIV/AIDS, as well as kits of basic school
supplies such as uniforms and textbooks.
With this support, Adamsay returned to
school. As a result, her self-esteem
and hope for the future grew. With her
goal of finishing school restored, Adamsay
dreamed of one day becoming a lawyer.
Five years after Adamsay graduated from
AGSP, World Education returned to visit
her and learn about what she had been
up to since AGSP. With her grandmother's
encouragement and her own determination,
Adamsay successfully worked her way through
junior secondary school, and had less
than two years left of senior secondary
school. Unfortunately, since her secondary
school was in another town, Adamsay had
to move away from her grandmother to
live with a farmer who agreed to care
for her.
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"My
grandmother said to me, 'Granddaughter,
I know the constraints that
you face due to the death
of your parents. Study hard
so you can have a better
future than I have had, than
your parents had.'"
(Adamsay, 2011)
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Today, Adamsay is making great strides
toward finishing secondary school—a
tremendous feat in Sierra Leone, where
only 17 percent of girls are enrolled
in secondary school. But with no parents
to support her, she must take two weeks
out of school each semester to work on
a local farm in order to pay for her
school fees. In addition to the work
she must make up from missing school,
she is often late with her fees, and
punished.
Adamsay is also shunned by students for
being poor, and has only one friend.
This friend copies notes for her when
she has to take time out of class to
work, and sometimes even brings a home
cooked meal to her when she is hungry.
At the farmer's house, Adamsay helps
with chores and shares a small bedroom
with six other people. Although generous,
the farmer also struggles to make ends
meet, and often there is not enough food
for his own family, so Adamsay goes without.
While Adamsay had dreams of becoming a
lawyer, she realized the education needed
for a legal career was more than she
could afford. She is now planning to
be an accountant. Adamsay looks forward
to the day when she can provide for her
grandmother and take care of her in a
way that neither of them has yet experienced.
The work of World Education, USAID
and our in-country partners for the
Ambassadors' Girls' Scholarship Program
is ending in this form, though it
is hoped that some version of it
will continue. AGSP was successful
in enabling many students to stay
in and succeed at school. However,
we have learned from scholars like
Adamsay that their challenges are
significant and that much more work
is needed to ensure a brighter future
for these girls. To learn more about
AGSP, visit
their program page and watch
the slideshow. To support our
local partners in educating girls
in West Africa, make
a gift here. Our local partners
will interface directly with the
AGSP scholars like Adamsay.
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