The Kamono Group
Update

January 2006

Last year we posted a request by Moctar Tembely, Director of the School at Yadjangia, for funding for two outdoor schools to enhance the facilities available for educating children at Yadjangia. Girl students added to the school population by the Kamonnon Group project had created an overcrowding problem and they were in serious need of funds to add classrooms to the building. We are very happy to report that, thanks to the generous support of donors like you, this goal has been achieved!

The school is still in need of funding to help pay for further construction at the school so please visit the request page for information on how you can add your support for this important project. Thank you.

January 2005

For four years this project has been changing the lives of the Kamono girls and a new future is opening up for them. Instead of the prescribed life of pounding millet, milking goats and hauling water day in and day out; enduring the suffering of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) by 8 or 9 and forced marriage by 14, these girls are in school on a steady march towards a different life. They work harder than most students; before school they pound millet, haul water and take care of the family. After school they have more chores, homework and often tutoring. Never have I seen a group of students more determined and focused than this group of girls. They are eager and learning French, Dogon, math, reading, writing, geography and history. Seeing the misery around them, many want to work in public health. Some want to become teachers; all want to improve the quality of life in Mali. They are born to parents, born to a different era. None can read or write. Most have never traveled beyond the boarders of their region and nearly all go to the local “sorcerer” for magical cures and only occasionally, if ever are seen by a doctor or nurse. But these girls are children of the 21^st century—daughters of globalization and the ways of their parents do not belong to them; the future of Mali does.

You may remember we first met these girls in 2001 when we visited their village on a photographic field trip. During Sahara’s interview with the Dogon girls she discovered that many girls between 8 and 15 years old had never been to school, though their dream was to become educated. They were beyond the age of school admission and had no options. In response to this, Sahara founded Le Groupe Kamono and raised money to send them to school. The organization also supports their teacher, Adama Segara, since he provides them with remedial instruction and helps them to up to grade level. It costs $35 to send one girl to school for one year.

Now, four years later, the girls have done so well that by fall semester of 2004, nearly all were at grade level and have been recognized and integrated into the Malian educational system. Eleven had to repeat a grade this fall and all the rest were promoted. Adama continues to work tirelessly with the girls individually if they need extra help, but many of the Kamono girls are now in different classes, according to grade level and have different teachers.

Of the original 35 girls, 5 were sadly lost last year to “Le Mariage Precoce,” or forced marriage, which can happen as early as 14. It is no coincidence that all of the girls are now 13 and under. Forced marriage is a complicated issue and can occur for a number of reasons. The families are extremely poor and some can’t afford to keep the girls at home any longer. In some instances, daughters have been promised years earlier to a man the family has some connection with. Most mothers today are torn because they see a different future emerging in Mali and want their daughters to be part of the winds of change. All women are powerless in deciding their daughter’s futures. It is the men, often even the uncles who decide. But now we have taken steps to protect them.

Protecting Girls Against Forced Marriage and Female Genital Mutilation

Many of the original Kamono girls are now 13 and we have thought about what could be the best way to protect them from forced marriage. We have a new association or board in the village made up of district chiefs and various other association presidents. It is a legal organization, much like the Sol Project nonprofit, recognized by the Malian government. Each association member has signed a contract stating they will personally protect the girls from both forced marriage and  (FGM) both of which are now outlawed by the Malian government but hard to enforce in many of the rural districts. The parents will also sign a contract agreeing to protect their daughters from these horrors as a condition of our continued support. If they break the contract, board members are obligated to contact the Malian gendarmes, (police) and they will go to jail.

The girls will also be invited to sign an agreement pledging to finish school all the way through to their university studies before deciding to get married. This was the decision of the village association and the teacher. Why not? They have their whole lives to get married and have children if that is what they want to do. Education is the only way to give these girls and the future of Mali a fighting chance. Mali is one of the poorest countries in Africa. Studies have shown the best way to raise the standard of living, reduce domestic violence and lower the burden of multiple births, for any community, is by educating the girls.

The families of the Kamono girls are so excited and thrilled to have their daughters be part of this, they are very open, positive and responsive to change. And since we have made sure it is the responsibility of the entire community to watch over and protect these girls, we feel confident that the chief and the villagers will keep to their word.

 Safe and Clean Drinking Water

We found that all the Dogon villages in the plains below Bandiagara draw their water from clean natural aquifers. Those are huge underground lakes and streams that have crystal clear and safe water.  Each of the 4 districts of Yadjangia has 1 large diameter well and 1 hand pumped well. Of the 4 hand pumped wells, only 1 was working for the entire village of over 2,000 residents. All 4 large diameter wells deliver contaminated water. The 1 working hand pumped well was located about one kilometer from the school, too far away to be of much use during lunchtime or recess.

Water contamination results when wind blows dirty sand, dust, debris and garbage into the large diameter wells making it unsafe to drink. People are hauling water out of them all day long, with the wind blowing and animals passing, so having a cover for a well being used that much, would not make a big difference. There are a variety of pathogens and often worms along with single celled organisms in the water. “Creatures even fall in and die,” the director of the school told me. “And it’s very dangerous for children to be near the wells.”

23 New Students

 Candidates for the Kamono Group were gathered from the four districts of Yadjangia and selected based on our criteria of having missed their opportunity to enter school as a result of both age and resources. Thanks to the generous support of the Groupe Kamonnon donors, we were able to invite 23 new girls into the group, bringing our total to 53!

The school director Moctar Tembely, the Kamono Group teacher Adama Sagara, my mom and myself ceremoniously invited the new students into the Groupe Kamono.  Thanks to the generous support of Jose Hanagan, the girls were presented with bright, new, turquoise colored, 100% cotton t-shirts with “Groupe Kamono” stitched onto the breast. The girls were delighted and so were we all! Thank you Jose! You can see them wearing their new t-shirt in the Kamono video.

Check back to watch the Kamono Video once we have it up and streaming!

 

"The Kamono Group" Fund Information

"The Sol Project" is a 510 (c) 3 and the nonprofit group administering the "Kamono Group" project created by Sahara Sunday Spain in January, 2001.

Contributions are tax-deductible to the full extent under the law.

Make checks payable to: Kamono Group Account # FN 61218-MG

Contributions should be mailed to: Attn: Mark Schreiner UBS Financial Services 1 California Street, 20th floor San Francisco, CA 94111