Fighting for Girls’ Education in Africa

School should be a safe place for children. It should not be a place to die. The recent killings in Garissa, Kenya and in Peshawar, Pakistan, as well as the kidnappings of 276 girls in Chibok, Nigeria, remind us of the value of education. These young women and men at school were the future of their countries.

When Malala Yousafzai told the United Nations, “The extremists are afraid of books and pens, the power of education frightens them. They are afraid of women,” she was right.

It’s one of the reasons for the attacks on the Chibok girls. Because extremists know that if you educate those girls, they will learn to speak out. They will learn to fight and they will never stop. Unless you kill them.

And when you see a girl with a book, she will be changed, not only in the family, but in the nation. So if you want to destroy a nation, destroy the girls. To build our nations, our continent, build up our girls.

As the founder of Tilwalte School for nomad girls in northern Mali, the issue of girls’ safety is one of the main challenges I face every day. Parents are afraid to send their girls to school because they are scared that extremists will come to kill their child. Most of my girls moved to the refugee camps in Mauritania where they feel safer. Out of the 59 girls who were studying at Tilwalte, 34 of my girls left for Mauritania. Now Tilwalte is left with 25 girls.

“Twenty-eight million girls between the ages of 5 to 15 are not in school. Many of them don’t even dream of school.”

Because Tilwalte School’s girls have to face the threat of guns, we have started work on a new program called the Tilwalte Peace Network, which will hopefully launch in summer 2016. The aim of the program is to train girls as peace ambassadors in the communities. We will bring five young women from each of the eight regions of northern Mali for one week of peace-building and leadership training. Those girls will go back to their respective communities to train dozens more peace ambassadors. Programs like these will educate people about the importance of peace in our communities, and hopefully, turn our schools into safe places for girls.

My life commitment is that no girls should ever struggle to get basic rights such an education

Because schools can be safe places for girls. Education makes girls independent, reduces child mortality, contributes to development of the family and the GDP of the nation. It has also led to the reduction of early marriage.

School is what stopped my friend Fatoumata’s marriage.

When I was in grade eight, my friend Fatoumata was a brilliant student, very motivated with an electric personality, with a thirst for knowledge and helping others. She never missed class.

So I was surprised when I didn’t see her for almost a week. My teacher and some of my other friends went to give her a visit to see what was going on. We heard that she was being forced to leave school because a man was going to marry her. But Fatoumata ran from her home, she left for a year. She was sleeping between her friends’ houses. She believed that by attending school she could escape the marriage.

Now Fatoumata is caporal chief in the military. She is sacrificing her life for the nation.

Twenty-eight million girls between the ages of 5 to 15 are not in school. Many of them don’t even dream of school. Gender inequality in school attendance still exists. My vision is to decrease this number to zero. My life commitment is that no girls should ever struggle to get basic rights such an education.

Fatoumata and I could have been among those 28 million girls. My parents had to break social norms and my dad had to join the army, sacrifice his own life for my twin sister and me.

“Out of the 59 girls who were studying at tilwalte, 34 of my girls left for mauritania. Now tilwalte is left with 25 girls.”

Today, I am here at Trinity College with a full scholarship from The Mastercard Foundation, studying human rights. I want to give justice to the people, to myself. My rights as a girl were violated, and I need to study human rights deeper so I can get those rights back.

Above all, I am committed to these girls with books, to realizing the dream of thousands of girls in Mali to access education and become independent.

Fatima Al-Ansar is a Mastercard Foundation Scholar. A survivor of the northern Mali rebellion, she is an activist for girls’ education and the founder of Tilwalte School for nomad girls. Fatima is currently studying human rights at Trinity College in Hartford, USA.